Coleman National Fish Hatchery Adaptive Management Plan

335 Pages·2016·10.12 MB·English

RECLAMATION
Managing Water in the West

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Coleman National Fish Hatchery
Adaptive Management Plan
Public Review Draft
March 1, 2016

U.S. Department of the Interior
Bureau of Reclamation
Coleman National Fish Hatchery
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Adaptive Management Plan
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3 Public Review Draft
4 March 1, 2016
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6
7 Prepared for
8 U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation
9 Mid-Pacific Region, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825
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12 Prepared by
13 Zachary P. Hymanson
14 Bradley J. Cavallo
15 John Clerici
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17 Cramer Fish Sciences
18 13300 New Airport Road, Suite 102
19 Auburn, CA 95602
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Acknowledgments
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2 Numerous individuals contributed to the development of this document. In particular, we
3 acknowledge members of the Technical Advisory Committee commissioned to provide advice
4 and guidance throughout the course of this project: Naseem Alston (NMFS), Matt Brown
5 (USFWS), Amanda Cranford (NMFS), Laurie Earley (USFWS), Gene Geary (PG&E), Scott
6 Hamelberg (USFWS), Doug Killam (CDFW), Mary Marshall (Reclamation), Kevin Niemela
7 (USFWS), Robert Null (USFWS), Trang Nguyen (Reclamation), Jason Roberts (CDFW), Steve
8 Tussing (BCWC), and Jonathan Walsh (PG&E). Their patience and expertise is gratefully
9 acknowledged. An independent science review panel provided critical comments, which helped
10 to improve this document. Several members of the public provided constructive comments and
11 useful information, which also helped to improve this document.
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Public Involvement
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2 An open and inclusive process was used to develop the Coleman National Fish Hatchery
3 Adaptive Management Plan. Two public meetings were held, one early on to aid in scoping the
4 plan, and a second meeting during the public comment period for the draft plan. Public
5 comments and responses to those comments are separately available in a comment log.
6 Members of the public are encouraged to stay engaged as this adaptive management plan is
7 implemented by attending the Greater Battle Creek Watershed Working Group (GBCWWG)
8 meetings. More information about the group is available at http://www.battle-creek.net/, or by
9 writing the Battle Creek Watershed Conservancy, P.O. Box 606, Manton, CA 96059.
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Executive Summary
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2 The Battle Creek watershed, like many in the west, is a complex environment, providing
3 important opportunities for both the natural and man-made environments. Agency and
4 stakeholder representatives with interests in the Battle Creek watershed have worked over the
5 last two decades to reconcile the conflicts between ecological functions and human services.
6 These efforts have mainly focused on conserving and restoring aquatic habitats for native
7 salmonid reproduction and growth, while preserving the use of water resources for hydropower
8 production and water diversions. Mandated fish hatchery operations at the Coleman National
9 Fish Hatchery (CNFH) is another longstanding use that increases the complexity of these
10 reconciliation efforts.
11 Restoration of the upper Battle Creek watershed, motivated through FERC relicensing of PG&E
12 hydropower facilities, focuses on providing fish access to historical habitat for the re-
13 establishment of naturally occurring salmonid populations. The Battle Creek watershed is
14 considered a highly important watershed that historically supported large numbers and a broad
15 diversity of anadromous salmonids. Infrastructure modifications associated with the Battle
16 Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project (BCRP) began in early 2010. The goal of the
17 BCRP is to provide high quality habitat and improve fish passage throughout 48 miles of stream
18 habitat. Once completed, the BCRP will be adaptively managed as described in a project-
19 specific adaptive management plan (BCRP-AMP).
20 The CNFH is located on the north bank of Battle Creek, approximately three miles east of the
21 Sacramento River. The hatchery barrier weir and fish ladder system is the first substantial man-
22 made structure immigrating anadromous fish encounter when returning to Battle Creek. The
23 CNFH is unique among hatcheries in California, in that it is not located immediately downstream
24 from the reservoir dam it is intended to mitigate. Since its establishment in 1942, the CNFH has
25 served as an important mitigation component of the Federal Central Valley Project (CVP),
26 partially compensating for lost natural salmonid production resulting from construction of Shasta
27 and Keswick dams. The hatchery is considered a positive contributor to regional
28 socioeconomics.
29 To provide for better hatchery operations and outcomes, and to partially mitigate for potential
30 impacts to restoration efforts in the watershed, substantial modifications to the CNFH have
31 occurred over the last decade to address long-standing concerns about: (1) the hatchery’s
32 potential to amplify the transmission of fish diseases; (2) adult fish passage through the
33 hatchery’s barrier weir and fish ladder system; and (3) entrainment of natural origin juvenile
34 salmonids emigrating from upper Battle Creek. However concerns remain about the continuing
35 impacts the CNFH may have on the timely restoration of impaired salmonid populations in the
36 upper Battle Creek watershed. In 2004 an independent technical panel examined the
37 compatibility of CNFH operations and restoration of salmonid populations in Battle Creek. This
38 panel recommended development of an adaptive management for the CNFH. This document
39 describes a plan that supports adaptive management of the CNFH, and to the extent possible,
40 integrated adaptive management of the CNFH and BCRP. The overall aim is to maximize
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1 compatibility of the CNFH with the BCRP, thereby contributing to the further reconciliation of
2 ecological functions and human services in the Battle Creek watershed.
3 Coleman National Fish Hatchery Adaptive Management Plan
4 Adaptive management provides a rational approach for addressing issues where competing but
5 uncertain solutions exist, and for which management cannot be delayed until the issues and
6 solutions are fully understood. It is often considered for use in ecological systems where:
7 1. Conflicts exist
8 2. The stakes are high
9 3. There is uncertainty about the best way to proceed
10 Adaptive management is an iterative process that allows for the formal analysis of data and
11 information as a means of framing new choices, providing understanding, and making
12 decisions. The adaptive management cycle used in development of the CNFH-AMP closely
13 follows the cycle developed through the CALFED Ecosystem Restoration Program, which is the
14 cycle used in the BCRP-AMP (Figure ES.1).
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16 Figure ES.1. Diagram of the adaptive management cycle developed for the CNFH-AMP. (Adapted
17 from Healey et al. 2008). The route with thicker arrows generally follows the passive adaptive
18 management cycle used in the BCRP-AMP. The shaded area (upper right) indicates where active
19 adaptive management can occur within the cycle.
20 To develop the CNFH-AMP, a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) comprising the major
21 agency, restoration, and utility stakeholders in the Battle Creek watershed, was consulted on
22 every major element of the AMP. TAC guidance included the following:
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1  Establish the purpose, goal, and objectives.
2  Comment on plan development and organization.
3  Define the Issue/Problem statements.
4  Provide data (and identify data gaps), and more importantly assess the quality of the
5 data available for analysis.
6  Provide technical colleague review of two quantitative life-cycle models, developed to
7 support issue analysis.
8  Provide advice on conceptual life cycle models for the fish species in question.
9  Identify a governance structure to coordinate the implementation of the CNFH-AMP with
10 restoration efforts in the BCRP-AMP.
11 The TAC also identified three critical principals that would guide CNFH-AMP development and
12 implementation:
13  The CNFH will continue to operate to partially mitigate for the loss of anadromous
14 salmonid production associated with the construction of Shasta Dam.
15  The CNFH-AMP assumes restoration of the Battle Creek watershed will occur as
16 described.
17  Implementation of the CNFH-AMP will be closely coordinated with BCRP-AMP
18 implementation, but the two projects will remain separate efforts that operate under
19 different authorities.
20 The CNFH-AMP provides a structure to support future operations of the CNFH in a watershed
21 that has undergone substantial restoration. To the extent possible, the document provides for
22 the coordinated implementation of the CNFH and the BCRP under an integrated adaptive
23 management framework. In order to increase the plan’s ease of use and utility, the main
24 document provides focused information about the need for adaptive management, issue
25 identification and evaluation, and key factors affecting implementation (i.e., funding sources,
26 governance, and decision making). Documents providing relevant technical details and directly
27 supporting information are included as appendixes:
28  Description of the CNFH, its setting and information about the scope of this project
29  Description of a coordinated governance structure for the CNFH and BCRP adaptive
30 management plans
31  Conceptual models and detailed analyses of identified issues
32  Documentation for the Chinook and steelhead life cycle models
33  An integrated monitoring plan
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Table of Contents
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2 Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... iii
3 Public Involvement ..................................................................................................................... iv
4 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... v
5 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... viii
6 List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. x
7 List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. xi
8 List of Appendixes ..................................................................................................................... xii
9 List of Acronyms ...................................................................................................................... xiii
10 Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1
11 1.1 Coleman National Fish Hatchery Adaptive Management Plan Purpose Goal and
12 Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 4
13 1.2 Plan Development and Organization ................................................................................ 8
14 1.2.1 Document Organization.............................................................................................. 8
15 1.3 Literature Cited ................................................................................................................. 9
16 Chapter 2: Framework and Processes for Adaptive Management of the Coleman
17 National Fish Hatchery ........................................................................................................... 11
18 2.1 Adaptive Management Cycle ...........................................................................................12
19 2.2 Governance and decision-making ...................................................................................16
20 2.3 Tools and processes to optimize CNFH-AMP Implementation .........................................18
21 2.3.1 Future issue identification and assessment ...............................................................18
22 2.3.2 Tools and Processes for assessment evaluation and adaptation ..............................19
23 2.4 Funding for Implementation of the Coleman National Fish Hatchery Adaptive
24 Management Plan .................................................................................................................20
25 2.5 Literature Cited ................................................................................................................22
26 Chapter 3: Issue Identification and Evaluation ..................................................................... 24
27 3.1 Issue Statements .............................................................................................................24
28 3.1.1 CNFH Issues Statements ..........................................................................................24
29 3.1.2 BCRP Issues Statements ..........................................................................................25
30 3.2 Summary of Issue Statement Evaluations .......................................................................26
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1 3.3 Literature Cited ................................................................................................................33
2 Chapter 4: Issue Synthesis and Action Evaluation .............................................................. 34
3 4.1 Issue Synthesis ...............................................................................................................34
4 4.2 Tier I Action Identification and Routing ............................................................................44
5 4.3 Making Adjustments: Completing the Adaptive Management Cycle .................................48
6 4.4 Tier 2 Actions ..................................................................................................................49
7 4.4 Literature Cited ................................................................................................................54
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List of Figures
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2 Figure ES.1. Diagram illustrating steps in the CNFH and BCRP adaptive management cycle
3 related to action selection, implementation, and evaluation of performance.
4 Figure 1.1. Schematic diagram of the Battle Creek watershed identifying the modifications to
5 hydropower infrastructure that will be completed through the course of the restoration project.
6 Figure 1.2. Location of Coleman National Fish Hatchery and other notable features of the
7 Sacramento River system between Shasta Dam and Red Bluff Diversion Dam.
8 Figure 2.1. Diagram of the adaptive management cycle developed for use in the CALFED
9 Ecosystem Restoration Program and used in the BCRP-AMP.
10 Figure 2.2. Diagram of the adaptive management cycle developed for the CNFH-AMP.
11 Figure 2.3. Diagram of the proposed decision-making structure to support coordinated
12 implementation of the CNFH-AMP and BCRP-AMP.
13 Figure 4.1. Diagram illustrating steps in the CNFH and BCRP adaptive management cycle
14 related to action selection, implementation, and evaluation of performance.
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