Maps & Tools

Below are links to maps and tools that have been developed to show or interpret information about Upper Columbia and listed spring Chinook, steelhead, and bull trout. GIS spatial data related to some (but not all) of these maps can be found through the Data Portal. Source of the map and data are indicated below. Contact greer.maier@ucsrb.org for questions related to map content.

Tools:

• RTT Prioritization
• Upper Columbia Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT)
• Upper Columbia Fish Passage Prioritization Tool
• Snow 2 Flow Tool

Tools

RTT Habitat Prioritization Tool

The Upper Columbia Regional Technical Team and UCSRB are working together to update the regional Biological Strategy for prioritizing habitat actions (restoration and protection). Prioritization is a critical component of the Biological Strategy, which was last updated in 2018. The objective of this strategy is to provide a consistent, repeatable, systematic, and well-documented approach for prioritizing restoration and protection actions and locations for restoration and protection. This strategy will provide a transparent prioritization process that will assist restoration practitioners and managers with making decisions. The Upper Columbia Prioritization strategy includes three steps: Step 1: Prioritize watersheds (HUC12); Step 2: Prioritize actions at the reach scale; and Step 3: Assess feasibility of actions. Associated maps, documents, and tool products will be regularly posted below. Products are labeled as draft until finalized by the RTT. 

• Upper Columbia Habitat Prioritization Strategy (11-12-19)
• Step 1 Results- Excel Table of Results and Data (10-11-19)
• Step 1 Results- Map of Results and Data (10-11-19)
• GIS data and maps- Link to Data Portal

Upper Columbia Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT) Tool

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (CCT) through their Okanogan Basin Monitoring and Evaluation Program (OBMEP) has developed EDT models for the Okanogan and Methow subbasins. The EDT model is being used to evaluate habitat for salmon and steelhead and identify priority habitats and limiting factors. The model evaluates habitat across the salmonid life-history to create habitat analogs to the Viable Salmonid Population (VSP) metrics. The model uses available information to assess the impacts of past and future changes in habitat on fish production and weight these decisions based on the certainty in the model inputs.

Links to the OBMEP EDT Report Cards:

• Okanogan EDT Report Card
• Methow EDT Report Card

More information and reports on EDT can be found at https://www.cct-fnw.com/reports2  & https://www.monitoringresources.org/Document/Method/Details/3973

Upper Columbia Fish Passage Project Prioritization Tool

In the spring of 2018 UCSRB and Aspect Consulting, LLC developed a GIS-based tool for prioritizing barriers in the Upper Columbia. The tool uses readily available data layers to generate information about fish, habitat, and barrier status that is used to score and rank fish passage projects. The project was supported by numerous partners and the Regional Technical Team (RTT) subsequently adopted the prioritization approach for use across the region. The tool has been run for the Wenatchee subbasin and is planned for the Methow, Entiat, and Okanogan following barrier assessments in those areas by Cascade Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group (CCFEG). The project was funded by CCFEG and Washington Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) through SRFB funding. The objective of the Fish Passage Prioritization Strategy is to provide a consistent, repeatable, systematic, and well-documented approach for prioritizing fish passage projects. This intent is to provide a transparent prioritization process that will assist restoration practitioners and managers with making decisions. The intent is to revise this strategy periodically as new information becomes available or the need for revisions arises. Because the prioritization strategy has been built by Aspect Consulting, Inc. into an ArcGIS tool, changes can be made to the underlying metrics, weightings, or scoring systems and the tool can be rerun with new barrier data sets at any time. More information can be found through the links below. Questions about the barrier prioritization tool can be sent to Greer Maier, Science Program Manger, at greer.maier@ucsrb.org

• Final Report (01-09-19)
• Final Table of Results- Wenatchee (01-09-19)
• Link to Online Map of Results

Snow2Flow Snowpack Decision Support Tool

The Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board (UCSRB), in partnership with the Washington State Department of Ecology’s (DOE) Office of the Columbia River and Ecotrust, has developed a free, online decision support tool that will help forest and stream restoration practitioners support salmon recovery across North Central Washington. The easy-to-use website informs salmon recovery by assessing the effects of forest restoration activity on snowpack retention and subsequent water supply and timing.

UCSRB has a whole-watershed, Ridgetop-to-River approach to salmon recovery. Water availability, especially during the late summer, is one factor that affects salmon populations in the Upper Columbia. One of several approaches to increasing the amount of water available for instream flow in the late summer is by increasing the capture and duration of storage of mountain snowpack. This tool builds on Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation model (DHSVM) to identify both how forest restoration activity affects downstream flows, and where to target upstream restoration activities to benefit specific in-stream locations.

There are three use cases:

1. Identify good treatment areas by selecting the stream you wish to increase flow to
2. Identify good treatment areas by region and other landscape considerations, or
3. Explicitly draw your intended treatment area to see how streamflow will be impacted

Results will appear in two parts:

1. Forest Management Summary: which is details about the landscape impacted, including fractional coverage, landforms, and Habitat Characteristics, and,

2. Flow Results: Once you have selected a virtual gaging station (dots on the map along the stream), you will be presented with:

A. A summary of basin characteristics, hydrologic characteristics, 3 proposed management scenarios, and flow estimation confidence, and,

B. A wide variety of graphs illustrating the impacts of the 3 proposed management scenarios on flow against the current baseline.