An Update on Kokanee Conservation and the Lake Sammamish Urban - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Bringing Back the Little Red Fish:

An Update on Kokanee Conservation and the Lake Sammamish Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership

for the

WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council

David St. John King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks and the Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group david.st.john@kingcounty.gov

September 18, 2014

Photo: Bill Priest, King County

Focus

• Our goals
• Our partnership for recovery
• Kokanee population facts and figures
• Action priorities
• Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership

Kokanee Conservation Goal “Prevent the extinction and improve the health of the native kokanee population such that it is viable and self- sustaining, and then supports fishery opportunities”

Kokanee Work Group Active Partners

• Watershed residents
• King County
• City of Sammamish
• City of Issaquah
• City of Bellevue
• City of Redmond
• Friends of Issaquah Salmon Hatchery
• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
• US Fish and Wildlife Service
• Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park
• Snoqualmie Tribe
• Trout Unlimited
• Washington State Parks
• Save Lake Sammamish
• Friends of Pine Lake
• Darigold

Photo: Roger Tabor, USFWS

• smaller form of sockeye salmon
• life cycle is three or four years
• lives in natal streams for only a few months after hatching
• does not go to the ocean – rears in Lake Sammamish
• Lake Sammamish kokanee are genetically unique

Photo: Roger Tabor, USFWS

Kokanee Biology

Fall Winter Spring Summer Fall Winter Spring Summer Fall Winter Spring Summer Fall Winter Spring Summer Spring Summer

Kokanee Biology

Adults return to spawn Fry migrate to the lake Three summers growing in the lake

>90% of our kokanee currently follow this life history…

Kokanee Distribution – Historic and Current

Lewis Creek Ebright Creek Laughing Jacobs Creek Key Current Spawning Areas

These creeks have consistently supported spawning since 1996. Other areas, including for example the lakeshore and Pine Lake, Tibbetts, and Vasa Creeks, are also known to periodically support spawning. * - Spawning periodically takes place in other streams as well

Kokanee Diversity

• Early Run – August to October run timing; Issaquah

Creek focused

• Middle Run – September to November run timing; Lake

Washington and Samm River tribs

• Late Run – November to January run timing; Lake

Sammamish tribs except Issaquah(?)

• Shoreline spawners

EXTIRPATED EXTIRPATED

Anecdotal historical return counts in or above this range

Red line is minimum viable population threshold: 500 fish

Actual spawner count with 7 day stream life

Kokanee Abundance

Hatchery releases

1006 112 145 548 1056 1066 3055 7088 737 498 981 109 53 2495 82 987 15823 308 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 96-97 97-98 98-99 99-00 00-01 01-02 02-03 03-04 04-05 05-06 06-07 07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14

3 summer life history

Includes wild and hatchery origin Includes wild origin

• nly

1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 96-97 - '99-00 97-98 - '00-01 98-99 - '01-02 99-00 - '02-03 00-01 - '03-04 01-02 - '04-05 02-03 - '05-06 03-04 - '06-07 04-05 - '07-08 05-06 - '08-09 06-07 - '09-10 07-08 - '10-11 08-09 - '11-12 09-10 - '12-13 10-11 - '13-14

3-year Running Average Escapement

3-year Running Average

Kokanee Abundance

1,424 9% 14,399 91%

Hatchery Origin Escapement Wild Origin Escapement

100 32% 208 68%

Hatchery Origin Escapement Wild Origin Escapement

Origin of 12-13 and 13-14 Returns

2012 – 2013 Return: Total Escapement = 15,823 9% of hatchery origin 2013 – 2014 Return: Total Escapement = 308 32% of hatchery origin

• >2/3rds of returns were wild origin fish (… but only 40% in E, LJ, and L in 13-14)
• ‘13-14 wild origin return was >double the wild origin return in its brood year
• The ‘12-13 hatchery return was larger than the total return in 13 of 16 prior years
• Further hatchery proportion growth could indicate a growing habitat problem

Suspected Limiting Factors

• Stormwater impacts – high flows in fall/winter
• Predation – coho on fry, cutthroat/others on later stages
• Fishing – intentional or unintentional due to poor species

identification by anglers

• ???

Better fish and habitat data would increase certainty!

Subbasin %age forest cover change 1991-2006 acres forest loss 1991-2006 North Fork Issaquah

• 30.1

547 East Fork Issaquah

• 3.6

188 Middle Issaquah

• 3.5

109 Fifteenmile

• 1.5

41 Lower Issaquah

• 0.9

41 Upper Issaquah 2.8

• 200

East Lake Sammamish

• 18.9

922 Tibbetts

• 6.7

173 McDonald

• 1

20 Total 1841

Habitat Trends – Lake Sammamish Subbasins

From 2011 WRIA 8 Land Cover Change Analysis

Population Status Recap

• Abundance: @20% of historic levels on average, at best
• Distribution: spawning primarily in only three creeks
• Diversity: two of three unique runs extirpated
• Productivity: unknown
• Still NOT legal to catch and keep kokanee on Lake

Sammamish!

Priority Action: Supplementation

• Primary funder is US Fish and Wildlife Service, with

contributions from WDFW and King County

• Scoped to run for twelve years of production, through

2021

• 2007-2009, not enough spawners - 2009-2010 was first

year of production

• Five consecutive years of production
• Employ stream-specific systems to reduce straying
• All fish marked for monitoring

Priority Action: Supplementation

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10,000 fry per bucket 50,000 fry per key stream

Priority Action: Habitat Restoration

• Ensure enough habitat quality and quantity when

supplementation program ends

• Seven of eleven near term kokanee/chinook restoration

projects are done or underway

• Summer 2014 “Kokanee Blueprint” will identify the next

wave of habitat projects

Before After (2012)

Priority Action: Habitat Protection

• Heavily reliant on work by jurisdictions to implement

effective regulatory programs:

• Stormwater programs
• Critical Areas Ordinances
• Shoreline Master Programs
• Developing incentive/non-regulatory approaches in

jurisdictions:

• TDRs
• Acquisition

Priority Action: Public Engagement

• Increase awareness of kokanee and their decline
• Encourage action now to prevent further degradation
• Build constituency to sustain long term efforts

Results of Action?

tripling Ebright Creek spawning area via Pereyra culvert + supplementation program + hatchery coho release delay + angler education (+ ???) change in population trajectory? + restored access to and habitat in Zaccuse Creek + restored run in Issaquah Creek + effective land use and stormwater management (in & out of UGA) + growing community support consistently productive population?

New Opportunity – Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership

• New US Department of Interior initiative
• Program goal: Engage urban communities in wildlife

conservation in partnership with the Service.

• “Create an urban refuge initiative that defines excellence

in our existing urban refuges, establishes the framework for creating new urban refuge partnerships and implements a refuge presence in 10 demographically and geographically varied cities across America by 2015.”

New Opportunity – Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership

• Lake Sammamish is one of eight pilot Urban Wildlife

Refuge Partnerships nationwide, chosen in 2013

• The Kokanee Work Group is the local host entity
• Will help build community and regional stewardship of

the resource

• Builds on and augments our capacity to engage key

constituents

• Does not add regulatory requirements or involve federal

acquisition of land

New Opportunity – Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership

• NEW Interpretive Plan is complete and moving forward
• NOW priorities include:
• Engaging public and private UWRP partners
• Implementing one on-the-ground action in 2014
• Piloting educational programing
• Develop short list of projects for funding opportunities
• Create work plan
• @$100,000 awarded Summer 2014 to begin taking

action

New Opportunity – Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership What is the right connection to and level of involvement of the WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council?

Questions?

David St. John david.st.john@kingcounty.gov (206)477-4517