Prepared by

Paul Hoobyar, Watershed Initiatives, LLC
Chris Heider, Watershed Professionals Network, LLC
Ed Salminen, Watershed Professionals Network, LLC

Background

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Region (NMFS-SWR) is actively involved in promoting restoration of salmon and steelhead populations in the Klamath River Basin under the authorities of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson Act), and the Federal Power Act. The agency has also been participating in the FERC Settlement Agreement negotiations and the recently published "Agreement In Principle," which is a product of negotiations by many parties over removal of mainstem dams in the Klamath Basin.

With release of the draft “Proposed Klamath River Basin Restoration Agreement for the Sustainability of Public and Trust Resources and Affected Communities” (“Settlement Agreement”) in January, 2008, the Agreement in Principle in November, 2008, and the signing of the KBRA and the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement in February, 2010, NMFS-SWR sees the need to assist in developing an understanding of where data exists in the Basin on a variety of natural resource values including salmonids, suckers, lampreys, and water quality.

Identifying what data exists and where it's located is necessary in order to achieve a number of goals of the Settlement Agreement, including the Settlement Agreement's Fisheries Program’s goals for reintroduction and restoration of salmonids and lamprey in the Upper Basin, and the Water Resources Program goals of improving understanding of water quantity and quality needs in the Basin. The Settlement Agreement stipulates that “a cohesive and integrated approach to the collection and storing of monitoring data and restoration information” will be described. NMFS SWR has sponsored the development of this online survey to help achieve this goal.

Project Goals & Objectives

NMFS-SWR wants to identify existing repositories of data that address monitoring, research and restoration for fish species and natural resource values in the Basin. The intent is to develop an inventory of what data exists in the Basin, what format the data is in, where that data is hosted, and to include in the inventory either a link to the data, or if the data is privately held, contact information on which entity retains the data.

In order to develop an inventory of current databases, NMFS-SWR has queried other Federal agencies with responsibilities in the Basin (including other agencies with interests in salmon recovery in the Oregon portion of the Basin), tribes, applicable state agencies, academic and university extension programs, and a variety of key stakeholders representing fisheries, agriculture, power generation, water, local government and environmental interests who may have data useful for monitoring, research and restoration of targeted threatened and endangered species and water quality in the Basin.

The primary mechanism for gathering this information will be this on-line survey. This survey is secure, free of viruses and easy for respondents to use. Parties collecting data relevant to ocean fisheries impacted by the Klamath Basin may also be contacted as part of this survey.

NMFS-SWR’s intent is to support the development and success of long-term, Basin-wide programs (e.g. Klamath Settlement, Klamath Watershed Institute, etc.), while developing a near-term inventory of existing databases in the Basin in order to:

Improve understanding of what monitoring, research and restoration efforts already occur in the Basin for targeted species (i.e. salmonids, suckers, lamprey);
Improve understanding of what monitoring, research and restoration efforts already occur in the Basin for water quality and its effects on restoration of the targeted species;
Identify what gaps exist that need to be addressed and what current programs can be applied;
Secure new funding to improve salmon restoration and other ecosystem restoration efforts in the Klamath Basin.