Lower Columbia River Estuary PartnershipHabitat Restoration and Ecosystem Monitoring Programs

• Estuary Partnership science team of three, including habitat restoration program coordinator

• Estuary Partnership, in coordination with CREST and the Science Work Group, has established a foundation for a cooperative, consensus-based approach to ecosystem restoration in the estuary

• Good, productive working relationships with organizations currently involved in habitat restoration – CREST, Ducks Unlimited, Columbia Land Trust, USFW, Sea Resources, LCFRB, the Corps, etc.

Habitat Restoration Program Development

Science Work Group

• Active role in the direction of restoration planning

• Agencies represented from WA and OR provide technical support and guidance

• Monthly meetings

• Project review committee

Restoration Projects 2003-2004

Grays Bay Restoration ProjectsColumbia Land Trust

• Multiple restoration sites (in red)

• Restoration includes levee breaches, tidegate removal, ditch filling, and swale enhancement.

• Reference sites near restoration (in blue)

Lacamas Creek Chum Channel WDFW, Army Corps of Engineers

• This feasibility study assessed site conditions and water quality in Lacamas Creek to determine feasibility of spawning channel construction.

• The plans include removing existing muck and organics in the seeps and replacing them with gravels that will maximize egg-to-fry survival rates for chum salmon.

Blind Slough Tidal Reconnection CREST

Goals:

Railroad Site - Install five 60-inch culverts to improve flow and fish passage.

Blind Slough Levee Site –Breach the levee, install three 60-inch culverts, and install three self-regulating tidegates to improve fish passage.

Product: 10 miles of channels reconnected to tidal fluctuation

Blind Slough Tidal Reconnection CREST

Scappoose Bottomlands Conservation and Restoration PlanThe Wetlands Conservancy

Goal : Produce a tool for identifying, prioritizing and selecting restoration projects in Scappoose Bottomlands

Product: Conservation and restoration plan, including property appraisals for potential land acquisition

Malarkey and Hogan Ranch Restoration Projects Scappoose Bay Watershed Council

Goals:Malarkey Ranch• Replacement of barriers to

fish passage in tidally influenced channels of Scappoose Bottomlands

Hogan Ranch• Fencing and grazing plan

for livestock management• Reestablishment of native

vegetation

Walluski River Tidal ReconnectionColumbia Land Trust

Goals:• Planning and design for the removal of two tidegates to increase hydrologic interaction between the floodplain and the river. • Tidal channel modification to restore hydrologic features of the site• Re-vegetation to control non-native species.

2003-2004 Project Summary

• Over $750,000 allocated for restoration projects

• 8 major partnerships

• Completed projects will restore over 600 acres of potential habitat

Restoration Projects for FY 2004-2005

• Germany Creek, WA – land acquisition• Skamakowa Creek, OR – dike breach planning and

design• Fort Columbia, WA – tidegate replacement planning and

design• Sandy River Delta, OR – revegetation and wetlands

restoration• Lewis and Clark River, OR – dike breach and

revegetation

Restoration Project Selection

Strategic Restoration Prioritization

Opportunistic Restoration

Project Review

Committee Criteria

Selected Projects

Potential Project List

Project Review Criteria

Monitoring Criteria Monitoring and Evaluation with Relationship to Stated Goals and Objectives Linkages to Reference Site(s) Transferability of Results

Ecosystem Criteria Habitat Connectivity Areas of Historic Habitat Type Loss Improvement in Ecosystem Function Adequate Size and Shape Level of Complexity Accessibility For Target Species

Implementation Criteria Use Natural Processes to Restore and Maintain Structure over Habitat Creation Community Support and Participation Potential for Self Maintenance and Certainty of Success Improvement to Function While Avoiding Impacts to Healthy Ecosystems Avoid Sites Where Irreversible Change Has Occurred Capacity of Sponsor/Partnership Project Context within Broader Management and Planning Objectives

• Restoration strategies depend on site conditions, which vary by subareas

• Prioritization will allow an estuary approach for assigning “value” based on the conditions and needs of site

• Provides relationship and comparison of projects on the ecosystem scale

• Promotes efficient allocation of resources

Strategic Prioritization for Habitat Restoration

Strategic Prioritization for Habitat Restoration

Objective #1: Determine the locations and types of high quality habitats most in need of protection or preservation.

Objective #2: Determine the locations and types of restoration where performance is most predictable and provides the maximum functional and species benefit.

Objective #3: Determine the locations of habitats that are the most difficult or costly to restore.

Subarea Planning Units for Restoration Within the Estuary

Tidal freshwater Mile 105 - 146

Tidal freshwater Mile 46 – 105

Upper Estuary

Youngs Bay

Mouth

Baker Bay

Grays Bay

Cathlamet Bay

Mixing Zone

Landscape Classification System for Habitat Monitoring and Restoration Design

Landscape Classification System for Habitat Monitoring

and Restoration Design

(Level 4) and Primary Cover Class (Level 5)(Level 4) and Primary Cover Class (Level 5)

EmergentMarsh

EmergentMarsh

EmergentMarsh

EmergentMarsh

EmergentMarsh (M)EmergentMarsh (M)

Mud/SandFlat

Mud/SandFlat

Mud/SandFlat

Mud/SandFlat

Mud/SandFlat

Mud/SandFlat

Mud/SandFlat

Mud/SandFlat

Mud/SandFlat

Mud/SandFlat

Scrub-Scrub/Forested

Scrub-Scrub/Forested

Scrub-Scrub/Forested (M)Scrub-Scrub/Forested (M)

Shallow Subtidal Slope

Shallow Subtidal Slope

Mud/SandFlat

Mud/SandFlat

Deep Channel (M)Deep Channel (M)

Scrub-Scrub/Forested

Scrub-Scrub/Forested

UnvegetatedSand(M)

UnvegetatedSand(M)

Habitat Monitoring

Goal: Provide a long-term data set to assess the status and trends of aquatic habitats, Including those used by endangered salmon populations, and apply these data as appropriate to action effectiveness research on estuary habitat restoration.

• Status Monitoring at the Landscape and estuary ecosystem scale- inventorying the estuary ecosystem with spatial datasets- establish a connectivity index and assess trends over time

•Status Monitoring at Estuarine habitat scale- Describe physical and biological characteristics of estuarine habitats- Describe salmon spatial and temporal distribution, species composition,age/size structure, and other metrics relevant to salmonid dependence onestuarine habitats

•Action effectiveness research- Create a list of reference sites that can be used for both status and trends monitoring and action effectiveness research

Phase IPilot monitoring approach to test the unknowns

• What attributes are the best indicators of the status and trends of salmon in the estuary?

• What attributes can be monitored with existing or new geo-spatial information?

• What attributes demand on the ground field sampling?

Estuary Reference Sites

Conventional Pollutants

Toxic Contaminants

Habitat

Toxic & Conventional Pollutants

Conceptual and Quantitative Ecological Risk Models (NOAA Fisheries)

• ID likely sources, modes and routes transport (e.g., sediment transport and deposition, trophic processes), potential exposure and uptake of toxicant by listed salmon stocks, and possible effects on survival and productivity, based on existing toxicological information.

• More quantitative model development supported by ongoing modeling efforts on physical habitat changes, flow, and sediment transport conducted by NOAA Fisheries Fish Ecology Division in collaboration with OSU investigators, Washington DOE studies and this projects own data.

Toxic & Conventional Pollutants

• Quantify the spatial distribution and the temporal variation (seasonal and annual) of contaminant concentrations in water and suspended sediment at selected locations in the Lower Columbia River.

One-year water sampling program (USGS)

•Monthly water quality sampling at Warrendale, Morrison Street Bridge, Beaver Army Terminal

•Seasonal water quality sampling (high and low flow) at Columbia City and Point Adams

•SPMD sampling at all sites plus at the confluence of the Willamette and the Columbia

What are we looking at?Conventionals: Temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, specific conductance, turbidity, suspended sediment, and alkalinity

Nutrients: Total N, Total suspended N, ammonia, nitrite, nitrite + nitrate, total P, orthophosphate, dissolved organic carbon, suspended organic carbon, and inorganic suspended carbon.

Emerging contaminants: 137 pharmaceuticals, hormones, personal care products, and other waste-water contaminants

Currently used pesticides: 54 insecticides, herbicides, & fungicides--low level analysis.

Add’l pesticides and degradates: 138 moderately used pesticides & degradates--polar compounds

Trace elements in water: 18 trace elements and calcium & magnesium

Suspended organic contaminants: 25 elements and total organic carbon and total carbon (including As, Se, and Hg, if sufficient sediment available)

SPMD detects: 21 organchlorine pesticides, 9 PBDEs, 16 polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and 209 PCB congeners

Productivity: Phytoplankton--chlorophyll a and algal species identification

Toxic & Conventional Pollutants

Salmon Sampling (NOAA Fisheries)

• Characterize patterns of exposure for fish from different life histories and ESUs

• Sub-yearling Chinook June to August 2005 at Warrendale, Columbia/Willamette confluence, Morrison Street Bridge,Columbia City, Beaver Army terminal, and West Sand Island • Yearling Chinook collected from Warrendale in March and from West Sand Island inApril

• Juvenile Chum collected from West Sand Island in March.

What are we looking at?

Composite Fish Tissue Samples

•PCB congeners• DDT’s •Organochlorine pesticides• PBDE’s

Whole Fish Samples

•PAH’s will be measured from the bile of fish

•Vitellogenin measured from plasma of fish

•Genetic stock from fin clips

Habitat Monitoring Toxics Monitoring

Action Effectiveness and Status and Trends Monitoring

Ecosystem Monitoring

Action Effectiveness and Status and Trends

Monitoring

Strategic Prioritization for Habitat Restoration

Restoration Projects

Lower Columbia River Estuary PartnershipHabitat Restoration and Ecosystem Monitoring Programs