The Independent Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) has a basic responsibility to evaluate the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (Program) of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (Council) on its scientific merits in time to inform amendments to the Program. After 40 years of implementation, the Program has guided significant improvements to fish passage, habitat protection and restoration, hatchery operations, and supporting research, monitoring, and evaluation. At the same time, the Basin is challenged by declining native fish populations, threats to biodiversity, and ongoing ecosystem degradation. The Program’s scientific framework, goals and objectives are critical to guiding the Program’s actions and evaluating their performance to improve fish and wildlife populations and their habitats, and meet mitigation responsibilities.
This ISAB report reviews the 2014 Fish and Wildlife Program and its 2020 Addendum, updating findings from the ISAB’s 2018 Review of the 2014 Program. In the 2020 Addendum, the Council amended the 2014 Program to 1) further define Program goals and objectives, 2) develop indicators to measure Program performance, and 3) establish implementation priorities.
In this review of the 2020 Addendum and 2014 Program, the ISAB commends the Program for several valuable improvements that strengthen the scientific basis of the Program.
Important Accomplishments
- Development of more quantitative Program Objectives
- Strategy Performance Indicators that will track progress continuously for selected key metrics on the Council’s online Program Tracker
- Progress of the Upper Columbia United Tribes and support by the Council and BPA to develop plans to reintroduce anadromous fish above Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams.
The ISAB also identifies several areas that could be strengthened and recommends approaches to track progress toward achieving the mitigation goals of the Program.
Major Recommendations for Improvement
- Develop a standard analytical process and annually report the total run size of salmon and steelhead to track progress toward the goal of 5 million salmon and steelhead by 2025.
- Establish Strategy Performance Indicators to be tracked for each salmon and steelhead stock for the major subbasins.
- Establish a process to identify the multiple M&E activities within geographic areas, describe what is being monitored, and how the monitoring is being evaluated and reported.
- Assess how climate-related changes in temperature and flow variability could affect natural production, habitat conditions, and likely ranges of species, which could reduce the effectiveness of Program measures and investments. Develop anticipatory approaches to evaluate options for adaptation to climate change.
- Design an eDNA monitoring program for the Columbia River Basin and develop performance indicators based on the resulting monitoring information.
The 2018 ISAB Review of the 2014 Fish and Wildlife Program found many strengths in the Program ― mainstem passage research, Protected Areas, reestablishing anadromous fish in the blocked areas, life cycle models, and public engagement. The 2020 Addendum focused primarily on improving the Program’s Goals and Objectives; therefore, many of the ISAB’s recommendations for other sections of the 2014 Fish and Wildlife Program remain relevant and important to address in future revisions.
In this review of the 2020 Addendum and 2014 Program, the ISAB also notes several additions that strengthen the scientific basis of the Program, the most important of which are more quantitative Program Objectives and new Strategy Performance Indicators that will track progress continuously for selected key metrics. Several Program objectives relate to contributing to achieving various abundance and distribution targets. Tracking these targets is hampered by data availability and funding for monitoring, thus new cost-effective methods, such as eDNA, and collaborations with other sources of data and information will be important additions to the Program. The ISAB’s 2024 Review emphasizes increased support for reintroductions of salmon and steelhead in the blocked areas, new methods for climate assessment and monitoring non-native species, improvements in strategies for RM&E, and other actions to strengthen the Program.
