Today the Monitoring and Data Management Committee (MaDMC) of the Regional Technical Team (RTT) released a memo outlining “Research and monitoring information in the Upper Columbia; what is collected, why it is collected, and what else is needed.” The intent of MaDMC’s recent efforts were to ensure that the necessary monitoring information to guide habitat project development and implementation is being collected and to ultimately establish an information flow pathway from monitoring programs to project sponsors. The attached memo defines what information is needed for fish habitat restoration project development, what information is currently being collected, and provides a recommendation for additional monitoring to better inform project sponsors.
The MaDMC memo draws on information from surveys of project sponsors, monitoring entities, and others involved in project development, implementation, and monitoring. The findings and recommendations summarized in the memo should help inform regional partners and others outside the region (especially funders and decision-makers) about the type of monitoring and information that is most needed in the region to develop and implement habitat projects. Specific recommendations include:
- Ensure a better understanding of how fish respond to habitat actions
- Collect additional information on spring Chinook and steelhead juvenile distribution.
- Perform an empirical study on adult pre-spawning mortality
- Ensure survival bottlenecks between adult entry into the spawning tributary and emigration of juveniles are defined.
- Make information and data more understandable and available
