Clackamas River Bull Trout Reintroduction FY 2010-11 Progress Report

Bull trout were extirpated from the Clackamas River Basin in the 1960’s. The extirpation resulted from environmental and fishery management problems that, at the present time, have been largely mitigated. The overall goal of the Clackamas bull trout reintroduction project is to re-establish a self-sustaining bull trout population of 300-500 spawning adults in the Clackamas River by 2030 that contributes to the conservation and recovery of bull trout in the Willamette Basin and to overall recovery criteria outlined in the Service’s 2002 Draft Bull Trout Recovery Plan. During FY 2010 – 2011 the reintroduction project required a significant amount of planning and coordination between U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service programs and other agencies. The Columbia River Fisheries Program Office (CRFPO) contributed staff time and resources for this project by providing technical assistance during project permitting and development of the implementation strategy; leading the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Committee and development of the M&E strategy; and monitoring the juvenile bull trout translocated to the Pinhead Creek habitat patch. As a result of the cooperative efforts between the CRFPO, the Service’s Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office (OFWO) and other agencies, the project was successfully permitted and implementation and M&E strategies were developed to be experimental in nature and technically sound. A cooperative approach was developed between the CRFPO and OFWO whereby the CRFPO agreed to chair the M&E committee, leading the development of the M&E plan and committee activities. While the CRFPO did not detect any juvenile bull trout in the Pinhead Creek habitat patch, the protocol for assessing occupancy and distribution was established and observations were made about suitable habitat. While the project is anticipated to run for at least 20 years, 2011 marked the start of implementation, monitoring and evaluation activities that will shape future years’ actions in an effort to successfully re-establish a bull trout population in the Clackamas, as well as to inform other bull trout recovery projects elsewhere in their range.