Mobrand to Jones and Stokes. Sustainable Fisheries Management Use of EDT

Transcription

1 Sustainable Fisheries Management Use of EDT Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment EDT EDT designed to provide a practical, science-based approach for developing and implementing watershed plans. Provides decision makers with the technical information needed to develop plans that will achieve their goals. EDT has been used to develop fish and wildlife plans for many watersheds throughout the Pacific Northwest. Origins in 1995 Lichatowich, J., L. E. Mobrand, L. Lestelle, and T. Vogel An approach to the diagnosis and treatment of depleted Pacific salmon populations in freshwater ecosystems. Fisheries 20(1): Mobrand to Jones and Stokes Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment 1

2 Fisheries 1995 Beginnings of Development of Institutional Framework Identify Objectives Patient-Template Analysis and Diagnosis Identify Treatment Alternatives Evaluate Alternatives Analyze Risks Apply Treatment Design and Implement Monitoring and Evaluation EDT Process Treatment Alternatives Analyze Risks What we know and don t know Evaluation of Alternatives using Frameworks, theories And hypotheses Most Applications Watershed and Salmonid Recovery Planning Hydro project relicensing (e.g., Cowlitz and Deschutes relicensing) and damage assessment (e.g., mining effects in the Clark Fork, Montana). The EDT tools currently adapted for use over the WEB 2

3 EDT Mobrand and Associates- Jones and Stokes EDT - a database and an expert system. Once baseline watershed and population information are entered into the database, the expert system translates this information into population performance parameters (abundance, productivity, and diversity). Lars E. Mobrand, Ph.D. Ph.D. in biomathematics from the University of Washington. Sub basin Planning Sub basin planning generally occurs in two phases: assessment and action plan development. In the assessment phase, you may analyze baseline information to identify opportunities for, and constraints to, population restoration and protection. 3

4 4

5 Assessment Describe the environment Each sub basin (watershed) is divided into reaches. Each reach is described in terms of habitat attributes--such as water quality, flow, and riparian function. Create an accurate sub basin dataset. Segments Each segment or reach of a stream is rated individually Systematically examine conditions along a stream from the perspective of the fish. Locate areas where conditions are particularly good or bad and identify things that need to be fixed. In particular, EDT identifies the restoration value and the protection value of each reach. Prioritization 5

6 Sub basin Assessment Aquatic Terrestrial Fish Population Habitat Artificial Production Wildlife /Terrestrial Habitat Aquatic Aquatic Environment Fish Population Habitat Artificial Production Population Assessment. Fish populations delineated. Status assessed in terms of trends, viability or extinction risk. For populations listed under the Endangered Species Act, the federal Technical Recovery Teams will take lead in identifying populations and their status. Aquatic Environment Habitat Assessment. The potential and limitations of aquatic habitat identified to explore potential and to assess restoration and protection priorities. Habitat assessment describes attributes constraining fish populations and identify opportunities for improvement. Relies on habitat assessment tools such as Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT). Aquatic Fish Population Habitat Artificial Production 6

7 Aquatic Environment Fish Population Aquatic Habitat Artificial Production Artificial Production. Hatcheries are a major contributor to the abundance and status of fish populations in many subbasins and will be key components of many management plans. In NW Columbia Basin the Council s Artificial Production Review Evaluation (APRE) supplies much of the information on artificial production for the assessment Terrestrial Environment Wildlife Habitat Relationships. This will provide descriptions of wildlife-habitat types to support a common understanding for their delineation, inventory, and management. The Council will make these available for all subbasins in the Canadian and U.S. portions of the Basin for current and historical conditions Terrestrial Environment Species Richness. Associated with each habitat type will be a listing of the species found in that habitat type for both current and historical conditions. This will highlight key areas for conservation. Key Ecological Functions. Key Ecological Functions (KEFs) refer to the principal ecological roles performed by each species in the ecosystem or subbasin. KEFs refer to the main ways organisms use, influence, and alter their environments. 7

8 Environmental Attributes Using Tools, the habitat quality is rated using a set of rules that relate conditions, such as water temperature, to the survival of a life stage of the focal species. The rules are developed by consulting with scientific experts in the habitat needs of the focal species and by referring to the scientific literature. Rules and Habitat Assessment EDT has rules that describe these relationships for each Environmental Attribute (i.e. flow, temperature sediment, etc.) for each life stage of several fish species. The quantity of habitat is assessed as the total area of different stream unit types in a reach weighted by their relative usage by a life stage. Habitat Rules From Web Chinook salmon- on webs Coho salmon Chum salmon- Steelhead Trout - Bull trout - Available Cutthroat trout - Interior rainbow (redband) trout - Sturgeon being considered 8

9 Organizing Information for Assessment Watershed versus Stream Based Approaches Watershed approach - subbasin is described in hydrologic units, and a stream approach that focuses on the stream reaches. Building on the region s efforts in the Framework Project, the NWPPCouncil is encouraging the use of the watershed approach in subbasin planning. Watershed Approach In the watershed approach, the subbasin is divided into polygons. Each polygon represents a drainage system consisting of a portion of the stream and the associated terrestrial drainage area. The polygon is the fundamental information repository and contains information on both aquatic and terrestrial environments. Watershed Approach Advantage - watershed approach integrates aquatic and terrestrial information. Relatively straightforward to incorporate spatial data from a Geographic Information System. A polygon could be characterized as having so many miles of stream with some proportion of riffles and pools and some riparian condition. 9

10 Polygons Also describe land use, amount of terrestrial habitat types, wildlife species associations, road density, and so on. The system readily lends itself to consideration of watershed processes that affect aquatic conditions such as runoff, sediment movement and land use impacts HUC code systems Hydrologic delineation system in the Columbia Basin is the Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) system developed by the U.S. Geological Survey. An advantage of this system is that it is inherently scaleable. By this, we mean that it is a simple matter to move from a large-scale focus, such as an entire subbasin, to consideration of finer scale issues that might occur within a small subwatershed. HUC systems Large river such as the Columbia River is a HUC-2, a tributary like the John Day River is a HUC-3, the North Fork of the John Day is a HUC-4. In several recent projects the HUC-6 has been used as the principal unit for capturing environmental data. HUC-6 data can easily be aggregated to form larger scale HUCs. HUCs can also be hydrologically linked with others both upstream and downstream. 10

11 Disadvantage Watershed Available level of resolution. The systems at present only delineated to the HUC-6 level. It is possible that for some species and some issues the HUC-6 level will not provide sufficient detail. Finer Scale While finer scale considerations are theoretically possible, the process of delineating finer scale HUC units is technically complicated and is not likely in the near future. However, it is possible to subdivide HUC units to accommodate local situations and increase the level of resolution. Other Users of HUC system Power Planning Council s Framework Project in order to integrate terrestrial and aquatic systems. Forest Service s Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Program (ICBEMP) for similar reasons. 11

12 Stream Approach Information is associated with linear segments of a stream termed reaches. A reach is a geomorphically identifiable segment of a stream delineated between tributaries or by major changes in valley form or land use. The most elaborate system of this type is the River Reach System developed by the Environmental Protection Agency and used in NWPP Council s protected areas process. Stream Approach Can be linked to the HUC system and thus offers many of the same advantages. However, biologists also frequently devise other special-purpose reach demarcations. Mile-by-mile and pool-to-pool are two common examples. Information about the stream is associated with each reach. Stream Reach Data Proportion of the reach represented by riffles, pools and so on, as well as characteristics of the riparian zone insofar as they affect conditions in the reach. However, other terrestrial conditions are not explicitly associated with reaches. 12

13 Stream Reach Advantages of the stream approach are that it is relatively simple and appeals to planners and field biologists focused on specific stream habitats and fish populations. Reaches can be readily identified by field surveys or, in some cases, by the use of maps. Dissection of the stream into smaller and smaller tributaries is relatively straightforward and the level of detail is always apparent. Disadvantages are that it reinforces the division between aquatic and terrestrial planning and management. A separate system must be developed to consider terrestrial habitats and conditions. While integration with terrestrial systems is possible, it must be forced and is often not done. SubBasin Planning EDT was developed with the stream approach in mind and the reach is frequently described as the basic data repository for EDT information on the stream environment. However, because both reaches and HUC-6s are linearly organized along the course of a stream, either system can be used organize information in EDT. 13

14 While EDT is typically used with a conventional stream approach, in the Council s Framework Project Columbia Basin subbasins were divided into HUC-6 units and were analyzed using EDT. Sub Basin Plan A subbasin plan has two major parts: an assessment and a management plan. The assessment is the scientific basis for the management plan and identifies constraints, problems and opportunities within a subbasin. Assessment characterizes existing biological conditions within the subbasin and comparing these to the biological potential of the subbasin Development of Management Plan The gap between current and potential forms the basis for identifying constraints, problems and opportunities. The management plan is the response to the assessment. The key components of the management plan are first, the identification of potential strategies, and second, an analysis of the extent to which these strategies will result in changes that fill the gap between the subbasin s existing biological conditions and its biological potential. 14

15 Management Plans Addresses solutions at a strategic level, i.e.. it is not a laundry list of desired projects but, instead, is a set of strategies that indicate types of solutions. Actions will be proposed each year to address strategies described in the plan in response to problems identified in the assessment Bringing Data from Assessment Together Many types of information relating to the status of fish and wildlife and their habitats within a subbasin Focus on conditions and actions within a subbasin Assessment and analysis set the subbasin in the context of conditions outside the subbasin. Describing the Environment and Habitat in EDT EDT distinguishes the environment in a stream from the habitat of a focal species in that environment. Habitat is a derivative of the environment relating to the productivity and capacity of the focal species. 15

16 Stream Environment EDT starts with detailed description of the stream environment. The stream is divided into sections that are the pixel size of the picture being created. These may be stream reaches or watershed sections such as HUC units. For each stream section, the size of the environment is described in terms of the Stream Unit Types such as riffles, pools. Quality of Environment The quality of the environment in each section is described with the Environmental Quality Attributes, which are factors such as temperature, flows, sediment and so on. Some of these, like flow and temperature, are shaped by month within a year, but most are single descriptive values. Altogether, there are eight Stream Unit Types, and 35 Environmental Quality Attributes. These along with some general geographic descriptors form the basic inputs to EDT. Rate Habitat To rate the quality of the habitat, EDT employs a set of biological rules (see EDT Information Sheet 3) that relate the Environmental Quality Attributes to the survival of one or more life stages of the focal species. Various combinations of the Environmental Quality Attributes are collected to form Habitat Attributes. 16

17 Habitat Attributes Model has Habitat Attributes For example, the attribute of Habitat Diversity is formed by bringing together the survival relationships for a life stage (e.g. juvenile rearing over the summer) with Environmental Quality Attributes of gradient, natural and artificial channel confinement, riparian function and woody debris. Models relate the survival of the juvenile summer rearing life stage to habitat diversity, which is a function of gradient, confinement, riparian function and woody debris. To rate the quantity of habitat, we sum up the amount of different stream unit types in a reach and weight them according to their potential value to a life stage. For example, small cobble riffles are weighted heavily for the spawning life stage, whereas primary pools receive zero weight for this life stage. EDT Environmental Quality Attributes Natural confinement Metals in water Temperature max Fish species introductions Artificial confinement Metals in soil Temperature min Harassment Bed scour Pollutants in water Temperature spatial variatio Hatchery outplants Embeddedness Nutrient enrichment Turbidity Fish community richness 17

18 EDT Environmental Quality Attributes Fine sediment Natural flow regime Water withdrawals Predation pressure Obstructions Regulated flow regime Salmon carcasses Benthos community richness Woody debris Riparian function Within year high flow Alkalinity Within year low flow Gradient Icing Dissolved oxygen Diel flow pattern Fish pathogens EDT Stream Unit Types General Geographic Descriptors Stream and reach name Backwater pools Subbasin name Beaver ponds Large cobble/boulder riffles Primary pools 6HUC Pool tailouts Channel length (for the reach) Glides Channel width (by month for the reach) Off-channel areas Small cobble riffles EDT Habitat Attributes Channel stability Sediment load Food Competition Habitat diversity Temperature Pathogens Water withdrawals Key habitat Flow Predation Obstructions Oxygen Harassment Chemicals Salinity Predation 18