EPA's Vessel General Permit and Small Vessel General

supported steelhead within this DPS were the Sanpoil, Spokane, Colville, Kettle, Pend Oreille
and Kootenai rivers (ICBTRT 2003).
All upper Columbia River steelhead are summer-run steelhead. Adults return in the late summer
and early fall, with most migrating relatively quickly to their natal tributaries. A portion of the
returning adult steelhead overwinters in mainstem reservoirs, passing over upper-mid-Columbia
dams in April and May of the following year. Spawning occurs in the late spring of the year
following river entry. Juvenile steelhead spend 1 to 7 years rearing in fresh water before
migrating to sea. Smolt outmigrations are predominantly year class two and three (juveniles),
although some of the oldest smolts are reported from this DPS (7 years). Most adult steelhead
return to fresh water from sea after 1 or 2 years.
Status and Trends
NMFS originally listed Upper Columbia River steelhead as endangered in 1997 (62 FR 43937).
On January 5, 2006, after reviewing the status of Upper Columbia River steelhead and noting an
increase in abundance and more widespread spawning, NMFS reclassified the status of Upper
Columbia River threatened (71 FR 834). In accordance with a U.S. District Court decision,
NMFS reinstated the endangered status of Upper Columbia River steelhead in June 2007 (62 FR
43937). NMFS appealed the Court’s decision, and on June 18, 2009, the District Court revised
its ruling, effectively reinstating threatened status for Upper Columbia River steelhead (74 FR
42605). Thus, consistent with the court’s rulings and the NMFS’ listing determination of
January 5, 2006, Upper Columbia River steelhead are listed as threatened under the ESA.
Since the 1940s, artificially propagated steelhead have seeded this DPS to supplement the
numbers lost with the construction Grand Coulee Dam. Abundance estimates of returning
naturally produced Upper Columbia River steelhead have been based on extrapolations from
mainstem dam counts and associated sampling information (e.g., hatchery/wild fraction, age
composition). Early estimates of steelhead in this DPS may be based on runs that were already
depressed due to dams and steelhead fisheries. Nevertheless, these early dam counts are the best
source of available data on the former size of the populations within this DPS. From 1933-1959
counts at Rock Island Dam averaged between 2,600 and 3,700 steelhead adults, which suggested
the pre-fishery run size likely exceeded 5,000 adults destined for tributaries above Rock Island
Dam (Chapman et al. 1994 as cited in Busby et al. 1996). Using counts at Priest Rapids Dam
(located below the production areas for this DPS) as an indicator of DPS size and trends suggests
that the total number of spawners has increased since NMFS’ 1996 status review. The 1992-
1996 average annual total returns (hatchery plus natural) of steelhead spawners was 7,800, and
the 1997-2001 average is 12,900 steelhead (hatchery plus natural). The natural component
increased in these same periods from 1,040 to 2,200, respectively (Good et al. 2005).
While the total number of naturally produced fish in this DPS increased between status reviews,
the proportion of naturally produced steelhead to hatchery-origin fish has declined. Total
escapement increased in the combined estimate for the Wenatchee and Entiat rivers to a
geometric mean of 3,279 spawners (900 natural spawners) over NMFS’ previous estimate of
2,500 hatchery and natural steelhead spawners (1989 to 1993, natural component 800 steelhead)
(Good et al. 2005). Estimates of the hatchery contribution to this population increased from 65%
to 71% of total escapement. (Good et al. 2005) A comparison of estimates for the Methow and
Okanogan rivers during the same periods indicate that the total escapement increased from 2,400
123