Proposal to Establish Intensively Monitored Watersheds for ...

###TECHNICAL REVIEW DRAFT SRFB IMW-1Skagit RStavis CrSeabeck CrBig Beef CrLittle Anderson CrBear CrChiwawa RWenatchee RCedar RBingham CrGreen RDeschutes RUpper Chehalis RTucannon RKalama RAbernathy CrGermany CrMill CrWind RNCedar Cr10 0 10 20 MilesFigure 1. Map showing the watershed area above current WDFW long-term smolt traps.Skagit basin above Gorge Dam is not shown.4. Multiple, similar watersheds with contrasting land management are preferred. Whiletrue experimental ‘control’ watersheds may not be available, insight into the relativeeffects of different land management or habitat restoration strategies can beevaluated by comparing basins which are similar in all respects but the managementscenario.5. Long-term record of smolt production was preferred. Sites with longer data recordsenable us to construct a history of changes in land use, climate, flow conditions, andother pertinent characteristics. This can be used with the smolt production records tobuild working hypotheses concerning the factors affecting smolt production.Based on these criteria, seven basins in two different WRIAs in which smolts have been trappedwere identified (Table 3; Figures 1 and 2). The four basins forming a Big Beef/Seabeck complex(BBS) are on the Kitsap Peninsula (WRIA 15), and a Germany/Mill/Abernathy complex (GMA) inthe Grays-Elochoman WRIA (25) is on the lower Columbia River.Big Beef Creek on the Kitsap peninsula has the longest data record, to the late 1970s, andincludes escapement estimates (Table 4). Smolt traps have been operated on Seabeck Creek,Little Anderson Creek, and Stavis Creek since the early 1990s. These basins are similargeologically, topographically, and in land use history, but differ in the degree of development andcurrent forest management. Because of this, suitable treatment-reference study designs arepossible.6