The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon

Presented by Rebecca McCoun, Tribal Biologist

The Importance of Pacific Lamprey (Skakwal*) to the Confederated Tribes

of Grand Ronde

• Subsistence • Spiritual• Medicinal• Trade & Gift Giving• Way of Life

“Skakwal” is Chinook Jargon (also known as chinuk wawa)

Cultural ImpactDecline of species has had at least three negative impacts for the Tribes of

Oregon:

• Loss of fishing opportunities in traditional fishing areas.(Members of the Grand Ronde Tribe traditionally used the Salmon River & other coastal streams to harvest lamprey. These systems no longer have harvestable lamprey populations and it is illegal to harvest what is present.)

• Tribes must travel greater distances to harvest lampreyWith the decline of lamprey many more tribes are relying on the lamprey at the Willamette Falls. Tribes from all over Oregon come to harvest lamprey at the Falls in June and July of each year.

• Loss of cultureWith the decline many young tribal members do not know how to catch and prepare lamprey. Many young tribal members are losing important myths and legends associated with lamprey.

Pacific Lamprey Conservation• Pacific Lamprey are culturally revered and intrinsically linked

with the long history of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde

• The Grand Ronde Tribe wants to see the remaining Pacific Lamprey populations protected, conserved and historic populations restored.

• The Grand Ronde Tribe is taking an active part in the study of the Pacific lamprey so that the species and its habitats can be effectively conserved and managed.

Pacific Lamprey Background• In 2003 (USFWS) received a

petition to list Pacific lamprey

• In 2004, the USFWS announced the petition did not contain sufficient information to warrant further review

• USFWS encouraged additional data gathering.

Upstream Migration of Pacific Lamprey in the Willamette Basin (2006-2012)

Project Objectives:

1. Determine timing and movement patterns during upstream migrations

2. Identify over-wintering locations

3. Determine relative use of primary tributaries for spawning

4. Formulate management recommendations

CTGR Pacific Lamprey Research2006 CTGR Pilot Lamprey Study

• USGS/PGE tagged 109 Pacific lamprey at the Willamette Falls. Fish were released below the Falls. Only 24 passed the Falls.

• CTGR placed 9 fixed receivers on the Upper Willamette tributaries and on the main stem Willamette to track migration.

• Boat tracked main stem as well.

• Tracking took place late 2006 and in 2007.

• CTGR detected 5 of the 24 fish that passed while boat tracking. An additional tagged fish was detected at the Tribe’s fixed receiver site on the Santiam.

COLLABORATION 2008 - CTGR tagged and tracked lamprey with fixed receivers & by mobile

tracking.

2009 & 2010 - CTGR & Cramer tracked fish using the fix telemetry sites. - CTGR and OSU worked together to boat tracking. - OSU conducted aerial tracking.

June 2011 - CTGR took over downloading 11 receivers for Cramer.

CTGR tagged 120 lamprey in the spring and summer of 2011. Currently tracking lamprey with fixed receivers and by boat.

____________________________________________________

Tagging Summary

2008 (CTGR) 2009 (CTGR, CRAMER, PGE,OSU) 2010 (CTGR, CRAMER,OSU) 2011(CTGR)

111 206 219 120

2008 Tagging –At the Falls

Tagging –At ODFW Fish Ladder2009, 2010, 2011

Molalla River at Veolia Water

Treatment Plant

Boat tracking- Bernert’s

Landing, West Linn(Lamprey Study Release Point)

River Mile Mainstem Tributary Organization

24 Clackamas CFS

Willamette Falls

26 Tualatin CTGR

28 West Linn CTGR

30 Rock Island CFS

37 Molalla CTGR

37 Pudding CFS

46 Champoeg Park CFS

54 Evergreen CTGR

55 Yamhill CTGR

87 Eola CFS

106 Buena Vista CFS

108 Santiam CTGR

108 NF Santiam CFS

108 Luckiamute CTGR

119 Calapooia CTGR

131 Corvallis CFS

133 Mary's CTGR

148 Long Tom CFS

161 Harrisburg CFS

175 Mckenzie CTGR

180 Eugene CTGR

187 Coast Fork CFS

Fixed Site Locations

2008 Tracking Results In August 2008 111fish tagged

17 fish detected in Upper Willamette River Tributaries.

36 additional tagged fish weredetected boat tracking.

We detected a total of 62 of the 111 fish tagged and released.

56% Detected

Detection Sites

Number of Lampreys Detected

in 2008

Tualatin River 0

Molalla River 4

Yamhill River 8

Luckiamute River 3

Santiam River 3

Calapooia River 0

Mary's River 0

McKenzie River 0

Willamette near West Linn 8

Willamette near Dundee 0

Willamette in Eugene 1

Willamette River Boat Tracking 36

Total 62

Important to Note In 2008 all the lamprey were tagged in August.

Sample did not capture entire run.

Protocol at that time was to tag lamprey with a girth of 10cmor larger. (Moser et al. (2002) and those outlined by USGS in the scope of work for Willamette Falls(Mesa et al. 2005)

14 fish detected close to release site had girths of 10 cm orslightly under. (Dropped tag, fish mortality ?)

Tagging protocol was changed in 2009 to have the minimum tagging girthof 10.5cm.

2009 Tracking Results 57 out of 150 lampreys tagged by

PGE passed the Falls. (5 of PGE’S tags were not detected again after passing)

149 lamprey tagged by Cramer were released above the Falls.

Total Sample Size above the Fallswas 206.

We detected 51 of these fish inUpper Willamette River Tributaries.

We detected 135 fish in the main stem.

90% Detected

Tributary Detection Sites

Number of Lamprey Detections

Tualatin 1

Molalla 4

Pudding 2

Yamhill 6

Luckiamute 2

Santiam 8

North Fork Santiam 10

South Fork Santiam 4

Mary's River 3

Long Tom 1

McKenzie 2Coast Fork 5

Total 51

2009 Tags – Last Detection Location in Main Stem

Location Last Detected Number of Tagged Fish

RM 29-50(Upstream of Tualatin to

Newberg Pool)21

RM 51-100 (Newberg Pool to just below Independence)

50

RM 101-150(Upstream of

Independence to the Long Tom)

32

RM 151-180 (Long Tom to Eugene)

16

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Tualatin

Molalla

Pudding

Yamhill

Luckiamute

Santiam

NF Santiam

SF Santiam

Calapooia

Mary's River

Long Tom

McKenzie

Coast Fork

Number of Fish

Trib

utar

y Upper Willamette Tributaries Used by

2009 Tagged Fish

Tributary Entry for 2009 Tagged Fish

33 of the 206 moved up into tributaries the year they were tagged.

Tributary Number of Fish

Tualatin River 1

Molalla River 3

Pudding River 2

Yamhill River 4

Luckiamute River 2

Santiam 5

NF Santiam 8

SF Santiam 3

Calapooia River 1

Mary's River 1McKenzie 2

Coast Fork 1

Month of Entry # of Lamprey

May 9June 5July 12

August 1November 2Unknown 4

Total 33

Tributary Entry for 2009 fish Continued into 2010

Tributary Number of Fish

Molalla 1Yamhill 2Santiam 3

NF Santiam 2

SF Santiam 1

Calapooia 2Mary‘s 2

Long Tom 1

Coast Fork 4

Total 18

Month of Entry # of LampreyJanurary 7February 2

March 7April 1May 1Total 18

18 of the 206 fish entered into a tributary the following winterand spring of 2010.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Num

ber

of F

ish

Month of Entry

Months of Tributary Entry for 2009 Tagged Fish

What is going on with the Pudding?

Entry Date # of Fish6/26/2009 16/27/2009 26/28/2009 26/29/2009 26/30/2009 187/1/2009 87/2/2009 17/3/2009 37/4/2009 37/6/2009 17/7/2009 1

0

5

10

15

20

Num

ber

of F

ish

Dates of Entry

Number of Fish that Visited the Pudding River in 2009

Temperature Refuge?Attracting Agent –Pheromones?Main stem Avoidance Behavior?

2010 Tracking Efforts

CTGR tagged 119 Pacific lamprey and released them above the Falls

Cramer tagged 100 lamprey and released them above the Falls.

Total Sample Size above the Falls is 219.

69 of the 219 fish entered into tributaries

95% Detection

Tributary Detection Site

Number of Unique Hits

Tualatin 2Molalla 8Pudding 0Yamhill 7

Luckiamute 2Santiam 16

NF Santiam 18SF Santiam 7Calapooia 4

Mary's River 0Long Tom 0McKenzie 4Coast Fork 1

Total 69

Location Last Detected Number of Tagged Fish

RM 29-50(Upstream of Tualatin to Newberg

Pool)9

RM 51-100 (Newberg Pool to just upstream of

Independence)52

RM 101-150(Upstream of Independence to the

Long Tom)42

RM 151-180 (Long Tom to Eugene) 29

2010 Study : Last Detection Location in Main stem

0 5 10 15 20

Tualatin Molalla PuddingYamhill

Luckiamute Santiam

NF Santiam SF Santiam

Calapooia Mary's River

Long TomMcKenzie Coast Fork

Number of Detections

Trib

utar

yUpper Willamette Tributaries used by 2010 Tagged Fish

Tributary Entry 2010 Tagged Fish

Tributary Number of Fish

Tualatin 2

Molalla 8

Pudding 0

Yamhill 6

Luckiamute 0

Santiam 13

NF Santiam 16

SF Santiam 5

Calapooia 3

McKenzie 3

Coast Fork 1Total 57

57 of the 219 moved up into tributaries the yearthey were tagged

Month of Entry # of Lamprey

May 3June 18

June/July 3July 9

July/August 4August 10

September 1November 5December 1Unknown 3

Total 57

Tributary Entry of 2010 fish continued into 2011

Entry Month # of LampreyJanuary 1March 4April 2May 2

Unknown 3Total 12

12 fish tagged in 2010 movedinto tributaries the following winter and spring of 211

Tributary Number of Fish

Yamhill 1Luckiamute 2

Santiam 3NF Santiam 2SF Santiam 2Calapooia 1McKenzie 1

Total 12

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Num

ber

of F

ish

Month

Month of Entry for the 2010 Tagged Fish

2011-2012 Lamprey Research Continues…

CTGR tagged 120 fish from April through August of 2011.

CTGR will continue to track the 2011 tagged fish using fixed receiver sites & boat tracking through the summer of 2012.

2011 Preliminary Results CTGR tagged 120 lamprey and released them

above the Willamette Falls.

As of October 2011

-10 have not yet been detected

-20 have entered tributaries

-90 are still in the main stem UpperWillamette

Tributary # of Fish

Yamhill 3

Molalla 5

NF Santiam 4

Calapooia 3

McKenzie 5

Total 20

0 5 10 15 20 25

30

46

87

106

131

161

180

Number of Fish

Riv

er M

ile

Fish as of October 2011Main Stem Location (Snapshot in time)

Eugene

Harrisburg

Corvallis

Buena Vista

Salem

Champoeg

Rock

Island

Willamette River Mile Number of Fish

30 2246 1287 19106 7131 18161 2180 10

Total 90

Behavior Category (Types of movement captured in data) 2009 2010

Not detected again after release 18 12

Quick/Fallback/Hold 8 20

Quick/Hold/Fallback 8 18

Moves up/ Hold 53 20

Moves up 26 27

Moves Up quickly/holds/moves up 8 21

In and out of Pudding/ Moves Upstream 10 0

Variation (entering different tribs). In a Sturgeon? 4 7

Moves up/moves down/moves back up/holds 2 1

Quick into Tributaries 33 57

Fish that move into tributaries the following winter/spring 18 12

Gradually move up/ gradual or quick fallback 4 5

Gradual move up/Holds/ Continues moving up 4 19

Study Objectives: Review1. Determine timing and movement patterns during upstream migrations

2. Identify over-wintering locations

3. Determine relative use of primary tributaries for spawning

4. Formulate management recommendations

Discussion Range of Migration behavior: Spectrum.

- We see lamprey that move quickly into tributaries shortly after released above the Falls.

- Others move up quickly and stay in the main stem. - Some lamprey move up into tributaries the following winter and spring. - We see fallback behavior occurring in both the tributaries and in the main

stem. (Active or Passive?)

Are lamprey holding over in both the main stem and in tributaries?

Is spawning occurring in both main stem and in tributaries?

Did the fish that moved quickly up into tributaries after tagging overwinter below the Falls?

Will fish that hold over above the Falls spawn in Upper Willamette tributaries & in the main stem with lamprey that held over the previous winter below the Falls?

Thank You• USFWS & ANA (Administration of Native Americans) – for Grant Funds

• The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde – for their strong support for the project

• Cramer Fish Sciences- Shady Duery & Ian Courtier – Key Collaborator 2009 & 2010

• Oregon State University – Ben Clemens, Tiia Workman ,Carl Schreck, Fish & Wildlife Department student volunteers for technical assistance and collaboration efforts- Key Collaborator 2009 & 2010

• The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs – Cyndi Baker & Carson McVay for trapping all the 2010 lamprey at the Falls

• ODFW – for the use of the Willamette Falls fish ladder

• USGS – Matt Mesa for equipment & technical assistance

• PGE – Tim Shibahara for equipment and technical assistance

• University of Idaho - Eric Johnson for surgery training & Mark Morasch for technical assistance.

• Normandeau Associates – Chris Karchesky for technical assistance

• Private Landowners & businesses who are allowing us access to the river system.

• To all those working on Pacific lamprey conservation and research