High-Level Indicators and Descriptions

High-level Indicators are a set of quantitative metrics selected to communicate the progress of the Columbia River Basin Fish & Wildlife Program to the region's Governors and to Congress. While currently under public review, there are 17 High-level Indicators that fall into two broad categories of indicators: Biological and Implementation.

March 2009: Updated list to add Data Source column
July 2008: Council endorsed this list for further development

Indicator	Description	Data Source
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
Abundance
1. Total adult salmon and steelhead returns to the Columbia	Adults & jacks passing Bonneville Dam (1938-present): Excel (30k) or PDF (20k) Smolt counts, Lower Granite and McNary to Bonneville: Excel (60k) or PDF (10k) Will include returns to mouth of the river and lamprey if available.	Fish Passage Center
2. Abundance of adult fish in the Council's program	Number of salmon, steelhead, lamprey, resident fish, …	Status of the Resources, CBFWA
3. Fish population status and trends for each ESU, especially listed ESUs	Based on NOAA definitions and USFWS (Bull trout and sturgeon)	NOAA, although data is not yet available
Habitat Productivity
4. Productivity of wild fish in select watersheds targeted by Council program	Juveniles/spawner for anadromous and resident fish. Will focus on adult fish in and juvenile fish out.	Focus on adult fish “in” and juvenile fish “out”. Juvenile fish counts could be added to Streamnet and Status of the Resources/
Harvest and Hatcheries
5. Harvest number and rate	Totals for all spring, summer, fall Chinook, sockeye, steelhead, lower river sturgeon and for each listed ESU and by fishing type as well as hatchery and natural	In-river harvest and rate information from the ODFW and WDFW Joint Staff Report on the stock status and fisheries for fall chinook salmon, coho salmon, chum salmon, summer steelhead, and white sturgeon; ODFW and WDFW Joint Staff Report stock status and fisheries for spring Chinook, summer Chinook, sockeye, steelhead, and other species, and miscellaneous regulations; ODFW and WDFW Joint Staff Report concerning stock status and fisheries for sturgeon and smelt Ocean harvest estimated from PSMFC’s coded wire tag database.
6. Harvest of hatchery fish in the Council's Program	Number by species and by hatchery for all hatcheries receiveing BPA funds	PSMFC’s coded wire tag database
7. Relative fitness of supplemented stocks from hatcheries in the Council's Program	Possible measures may include relative reproductive success (RSS), percent natural influence (PNI), or the number of natural origin spawners compared to control streams.	Being developed by the Ad Hoc Supplementation Workgroup and ISRP. May include number of natural origin spawners. Completion goal: 2009.
Hydro survival
8. Survival rates through the hydrosystem for adult and juvenile fish passing in-river and barged	From LGR to Bonneville and McNary to Bonneville, total system survival and individual hydroelectric facility	NOAA
Life-cycle mortality
9. Life stage survival estimates for representative populations of Chinook and steelhead	Mortality rates at each life stage: egg to smolt, freshwater passage (reservoirs, dams), estuary, ocean, harvest, freshwater return. Include SARs.	To be determined. It will incorporate data from other HLIs.
Wildlife
10. Wildlife habitat units by dam: lost and acquired	Measured in habitat units.	Bonneville Power Administration’s PISCES database.
IMPLEMENTATION INDICATORS
Passage Barriers
1. Instream passage improvement. Additional habitat made accessible	# of miles of habitat accessed, number of barriers removed	Bonneville Power Administration’s PISCES database. Specifically combining work elements #84, 85, 184
Water
2. Water conservation and irrigation practices and water transactions. Additional water available for fish, anadromous and resident	Acre-feet/yr., # of miles of primary stream reach improvement	Bonneville Power Administration’s PISCES database. Specifically combining work elements #82, 149, 150, 164
Land
3. Land acquisition/conservation easement. Additional land acquired or leased for fish habitat	# of riparian miles protected, # of acres	Bonneville Power Administration’s PISCES database. Specifically combining work elements #5, 92
Habitat Improvement
4. Habitat	Miles, acres. Increase Instream Habitat Complexity, Realign, Connect, and/or Create Channel, Create, Restore, and/or Enhance Wetland, Enhance Floodplain, Install Fence, Plant Vegetation, Practice No-till & Conservation Tillage Systems, Upland Erosion & Sedimentation Control…)	Bonneville Power Administration’s PISCES database. Specifically combining work elements #29, 30, 40, 55, 180, 181
Screens
5. Installed fish screens	Quantity of water protected in acre-feet	Bonneville Power Administration’s PISCES database. Specifically, work element #69
Predators
6. Number of juvenile salmon saved from all predators	Include pikeminnow, avian predators, sea lions and others as appropriate.	Pikeminnow project: 2007 37% reduction in predation, about 5 million fish. Avian predation is available and sea lions are pending.
Watershed Health Indicator
7. Number and percentage of targeted watersheds that provide adequate fish habitat	Need to develop watershed health indicator for fish. Should include measures of water quality.	Being developed through Executive Summit, Task 3.