High Level Indicators table

High-Level Indicators Table

The following indicators were approved by the Council in October 2009, and continued to be revised.

November 2010 update: Changes below are highlighted and shown in strike-out text.

Approved by Council October 7, 2009 Council Meeting			Additional information on the indicators
Draft Fish and Wildlife Program Management Questions	High Level Indicator	Fish and Wildlife Program Indicator	Potential Performance Measures Indicators	Timeline for first reporting
Draft Fish and Wildlife Program Management Questions	(Council Report to Congress)	(Recommended for SOTR)	(suggestions for HLI reported to Congress marked as "(Congress)" )	(Depending on data availability)
Biological Indicators
Are Columbia River Basin fish and wildlife abundant, diverse, productive, spatially distributed, and sustainable?	Abundance of Fish and Wildlife	Abundance of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River basin	Annual abundance of juvenile out-migrant, adult, and spawners of hatchery and wild salmon and steelhead by ESU ^(Congress)	2010 report
			Annual abundance of hatchery and wild salmon and steelhead adults returning to the mouth of the Columbia river.	2010 report
			Annual abundance of hatchery and wild salmon and steelhead adults passing dams and entering the Willamette River, mid Columbia River, Upper Columbia River and the lower Snake River	2010 report
		Abundance of pacific lamprey and sturgeon in the Columbia river basin	Annual abundance of harvestable white sturgeon from mainstem^(Congress)	2010 report
			Annual index for pacific lamprey^(Congress)	2010 report
			Annual abundance of Kootenai River white sturgeon	2011 or later report
			Annual abundance of lamprey passing dams and entering the Willamette River, mid Columbia River, Upper Columbia River and the lower Snake River	2010 report
		Smolt-Adult return rates for ESA listed salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River basin	Smolt to adult returns for select populations within an MPG and ESU within the Snake River and upper Columbia River.	2011 or later report
		Abundance of focal resident fish species in the Columbia River basin	TBD	2011 or later report
		Wildlife species abundance and diversity in the Columbia River Basin	Abundance over time of wildlife critical species that have a strong association with salmon	2010
			Functional critical wildlife species diversity over time	2011 or later report
			State agencies bird species diversity and breeding pair counts	2011 or later report
		ESA listed or non-listed status and trend of fish and wildlife in the Columbia River basin	List status as reported by NOAA & USFWS for fish and wildlife	2010
			ESA listed fish ESU/DPS/recovery unit is increasing, decreasing, or stable in abundance	2010
			ESA listed salmonid ESU is at low, med, high risk based on NOAA's risk level	2011 or later report
			ESA listed Wildlife population is increasing, decreasing, or stable in abundance	2011 or later report
Are the actions implemented by the Council Fish and Wildlife Program having the expected biological effect on fish and wildlife and their habitat?	Abundance of Fish and Wildlife	Production of wild fish related to habitat improvement actions	Number of additional juveniles produced due to implementing a given action	2011 or later report
		Predation on fish in the Columbia River basin	Annual number of adult salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, and pacific lamprey consumed by pinnipeds ^(Congress)	2011 or later report
		Predation on fish in the Columbia River basin	Annual number of juvenile salmon and steelhead consumed by piscivorous birds and fish, specifically terns, cormorants and pikeminnow^(Congress)	2011 or later report
Are Columbia River Basin ecosystems healthy?	Ecosystem Health (not yet Council-approved)	Watershed Health for fish and wildlife	TBD^(Congress)	2011 or later report
Are Columbia River Basin ecosystems healthy?		Non-native species distribution	Change in distribution over time.	2011 or later report
Are ocean conditions affecting Columbia River Basin anadromous fish?		Ocean Condition	Trend over time of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), El Nino/Southern Oscillation Index, Pacific Northwest Index (PNI), Spring and fall transition Dates, Ocean Coastal Upwelling Index (CUI)	2010
		Ocean Condition	Ocean conditions and effect on coho and chinook ocean survival	2011 or later report
Is climate change affecting fish and wildlife in the Columbia River basin?		TBD	TBD	2011 or later report
Implementation Indicators
Are mainstem hydro operations meeting the Council Fish and Wildlife Program’s survival and passage objectives?	Hydrosystem Survival & Passage	Salmon and steelhead juvenile survival through Federal Columbia River Power System’s dams	Estimated actual survival of juvenile spring chinook salmon and steelhead survival at snake river and lower Columbia river dams ^(Congress)	2010
			Estimated actual survival of juvenile salmon and steelhead survival in-river^(Congress)	2010
			Estimated actual survival of juvenile salmon and steelhead survival through the FCRPS system^(Congress)	2010
			Differential post-Bonneville dam survival of in-river versus transported juvenile salmon and steelhead (D-value)^(Congress)	2010
		Salmon and steelhead adult survival through Federal Columbia River Power System’s dams	Estimated actual survival through FCRPS for SR Fall Chinook, SR Spring -Summer Chinook, SR Sockeye, SR Steelhead, UCR Spring Chinook, UCR steelhead, MCR steelhead, LCR steelhead, CR Chum, LCR Chinook, LCR Coho^(Congress)	2010
Is harvest consistent with the Council fish and wildlife program’s vision?	Council Actions	Harvest numbers and rates per year for salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, and resident fisheries.	Annual commercial, tribal, and recreational mainstem harvest number of hatchery and wild salmon, steelhead and sturgeon in the Columbia River ^(Congress)	2010 for mainstem; 2011 or later for tributary
			Harvest rates for ESA listed fish^(Congress)	2010, for salmonids 2011 or later for other fish
		Contribution of Council’s Fish and Wildlife program funded hatcheries to Columbia River basin and Ocean fisheries	TBD	2011 or later
Does artificial production complement resident and anadromous recovery and harvest goals within the Columbia River basin?	Council Actions	Implementation of artificial production recommendations supported by the Council Fish and Wildlife Program’s	Report on percent of hatcheries meeting PNI, NOS, HOS recommendations under HSRG and HGMP	2011 or later
	Council Actions	Abundance of hatchery parr/smolts released complement abundance of wild parr/smolts in-stream	TBD	2011 or later
Are the fish and wildlife losses associated with the development and operation of the Columbia River Basin’s hydrosystem being mitigated as described by the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program? (added Nov 2010)	To be developed	Define indicator for successful occurrence of Resident fish substitution to replace anadromous fish species loss due to hydrosystem	TBD	2011 or later
	To be developed	Define indicator for wildlife losses	TBD	2011 or later
Are Council program actions coordinated within the program and with other programs?	Council Actions	Wildlife habitat units acquired relative to loss by dam.	Annual Total minimum estimated and credited Habitat Unit (HU) acquired summed across all key species and dams^(Congress)	2010
		Wildlife habitat units acquired relative to loss by dam.	Cumulative HU to-date summed across all key species and dams^(Congress)	2010
		Number of instream fish passage improvements	Annual and cumulative number of partial and full fish passage barriers removed per target species ; Annual and cumulative number of new fish screens installed and replaced by target fish species^(Congress)	2010
		Potential maximum additional miles of fish habitat made accessible	Annual and cumulative potential maximum number of miles of habitat accessible by target fish species from removing a passage barrier structure^(Congress)	2010
		Amount of water conserved by conservation activities and water transactions for instream use.	Water conserved for fish annually and cumulatively in acres-feet and cubic-feet per second by installing a well, pipeline, sprinkler, and a line diversion ditch	2010
			Water secured for fish annually and cumulatively in acres-feet and cubic-feet per second by acquiring water instream, leasing land, or purchasing land.	2010
		Amount of land protected for fish and wildlife	Annual and cumulative number of riparian miles protected on purchased and leased land for salmon, steelhead, resident fish and wildlife.^(Congress)	2010
		Amount of land protected for fish and wildlife	Annual and cumulative number of acres per habitat type protected on purchased and leased land for salmon, steelhead, resident fish and wildlife^(Congress)	2010
		Amount of land receiving actions aimed at improving habitat for fish and wildlife	Annual and cumulative number of miles improved for salmon, steelhead, resident fish and wildlife by one or many of these actions increasing instream habitat complexity, removing vegetation, planting vegetation, fencing, spawning gravel, as well as realigning, connecting, and/or creating a channel	2010
			Annual and cumulative number of acres per habitat type improved for salmon, steelhead, resident fish and wildlife by removing vegetation, planting vegetation, erosion and sedimentation control, control burn, enhance floodplain/remove modify, breach dike, as well as realigning, connecting, and/or creating a channel.	2010
		Managing predation on adult and juvenile fish	Percent change in pikeminnow mortality, average size of pikeminnow; number of pikeminnow removed, and counts of pikeminnow rewards paid.	2010
			Number of pinniped deterred from BON raceway	2010
			Tern and cormorant colony size, and number of breeding pairs	2010
		~~Define indicator for successful occurrence of Resident fish substitution to replace anadromous fish species loss due to hydrosystem~~	~~TBD~~ (removed Nov 2010)	~~2011 or later~~
		Define an indicator for: Progress in implementing action to address subbasin plan objectives and needs (limiting factors, priority reaches, etc)	TBD	2011 or later
		Coordination of Council Fish and Wildlife Program with other fish and wildlife entities, activities, and programs in the basin	TBD^(Congress)	2011 or later

Background

The Council approved, during its October 7, 2009 Council meeting in Idaho, three High-Level Indicators (HLI) to communicate to Congress on the biological and implementation progress accomplished by the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program.

The Council approved the following three HLI:

Abundance of Fish and Wildlife,
Hydrosystem Passage and Survival; and
Council Actions.

The Council chose to postpone its decision on the fourth HLI, Ecosystem Health, until it is defined more clearly. This motion was passed:

Motion from F&W Committee as Adopted by Full Council
October 7, 2009-10-27
Sun Valley, Idaho

That the Council:

Approve three High-Level Indicators in the Council's report to Congress: 1) Abundance of Fish and Wildlife, 2) Hydrosystem Survival and Passage, and 3) Council Actions

Approve fish and wildlife program management questions as a working list

Recommend that CBFWA include the fish and wildlife Program indicators in the status of the Resource report; all as presented by the staff and recommended by the Fish and Wildlife Committee and approved by the Council [with changes adopted by the Members at today's meeting]

The Council understands that the information for these indicators is either currently available or will be collected within existing budgets and that no additional Council funding obligation will result from the adoption of the indicators unless first approved by the Council.

High-Level Indicators Table

Biological Indicators

Implementation Indicators