Project abstract templateaward purposethe purpose of this award is to restore ESA listed salmon and steelhead in the grande ronde basin

This $692,624.14 Cooperative Agreement award from the Bureau of Reclamation under the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (CFDA 15.517) program aims to restore ESA-listed salmon and steelhead populations in the Grande Ronde Basin of Oregon. The key activities include:

1. Targeted PIT tagging of juvenile salmonids to estimate hatchery and natural origin predation
2. Developing a release group study to address overall mortality in the valley
3. Evaluating the impacts of hatchery release pulses on outmigrating natural salmon
4. Assessing avian predator use and physical stream characteristics in key foraging areas

The expected deliverables from this 5-year project include recommendations to the Bureau of Reclamation and other regional stakeholders on optimal restoration strategies and project types to improve juvenile salmon and steelhead survival rates in the Grande Ronde Basin. The award recipient is the State of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

This work will fill a distinct data GAP in knowledge of the lower grande ronde valley. This data and other information will be used to plan a longterm restoration of the valley to recover ESA listed fish. IT is a key component that needs to be done to inform the type of actions and projects required to increase juvenile survival in the valley. Activities to be performedthe activities for this project INCLUDE1TARGETED PIT tagging of juvenile SALMONIDS2ESTIMATE total hatchery and antural origin PREDATION3DEVELOP release group study to address overall valley MORTALITY4EVALUATE potential impacts of hatchery release pulses on outmigrating natural SALMON5UNDERSTAND avian predator use of catherine creek and upper grande ronde 6EVALUATE physical stream characteristics of high use foraging areas for avian predatorsexpected deliverables or outcomesit is expected that this project will provide recommendations to the bureau of reclamation and other practitioners in the basin on the areas and conditions where projects and project type should occur that could have the greatest improvements to survival rates on juvenile chinook salmon and steelhead.intended beneficiariesgeneral public tribes. Subrecipient activities if known or specified at time of awardn a