Final Exam
AWER 5200
Fall 2006
Instructor: Nick Bouwes
Tuesday Dec. 12, 11:30-1:20
1) Briefly describe what is meant by: (8 points)
a) Status monitoring:
b) Trend monitoring:
c) Implementation monitoring:
d) Effectiveness monitoring:
2) Explain how the following stream habitat characteristics impact salmonids. (6 points)
a) Dissolved oxygen
b) Stream velocity
c) Bottom substrate type
3) What sampling gears or methods would you use to determine (a) relative numbers of
stream-spawning kokanee salmon, (b) egg survival success, and (c) abundance of
outmigrating fry from the Metolius River into Lake Billy Chinook, Oregon. (6 pts)
4) Provide a brief description of 3 of the 10 papers below. Talk about the larger issue
this paper was expected to address, the objectives, approach, results, and implications
to the larger issue. (30 pts)
a) Roni, P., and T. P. Quinn. 2001. Density, and size of juvenile salmonids in
response to placement of large woody debris in western Oregon, and
Washington streams. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
58:282–292.
b) Bernhardt, E. S and 24 others. 2005. Restoration of U.S. rivers a national
synthesis. Science. 308:637-637
c) Fausch, K. D., C. E. Torgersen, C. V. Baxter, and H.W. Li. 2002. Landscape to
Riverscapes: bridging the gap between research and conservation of
stream fishes. BioScience 52: 483-498.
d) Palmer, M. A. and 20 others. 2005 Standards for ecologically successful river
restoration. Journal of Applied Ecology. 42 208–217
e) Torgersen CE, Price DM, Li H.W., McIntosh BA. 1999. Multiscale thermal
refuge and stream habitat associations of chinook salmon in northeastern
Oregon. Ecological Applications 9: 301–319.
f) Hartman G. F., J.C. Scrivener, and M.J. Miles. 1996. Impacts of logging in
Carnation Creek, a high-energy coastal stream in British Columbia, and
their implication for restoring fish habitat. Canadian Journal of Fisheries
and Aquatic Sciences. 53(Suppl. 1): 237-251
g) Sweka, J. A., and K. J. Hartman. 2001. Influence of turbidity on brook trout
reactive distance and foraging success. Transactions of the American
Fisheries Society. 130:138-146.
h) Carpenter, S. R., N. F. Caraco, D. L. Correll, R. W. Howarth, A. N. Sharpley, and
V. H. Smith. 1998. Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorus
and nitrogen. Ecological Applications 8(3):559-568.
i) Rosenfeld J. S., T. Leiter, G. Lindner, and L. Rothman. 2005. Food abundance
and fish density alters habitat selection, growth, and habitat suitability
curves for juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Canadian
Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 62: 1691–1701
5) You have just been hired by the US Fish and Wildlife to review Habitat Conservation
Plans and determine if they are sufficient to allow an incidental take permit for listed
bull trout under section 10 of the Endangered Species Act. The Matchstick timber
company has applied for an incidental take permit for timber harvest in the 10,000
acre Char Creek watershed found in central WA on the east side of the Cascade range
(approximately 50 inches of precip/year). Running through the middle of the
proposed harvest area is the Type 1(permanent fish bearing) HUC 6th Char Creek
with 6 smaller high gradient Type IV (intermittent) tributaries and is within the range
of bull trout. Some of the river is constrained by very steep mountain slopes and
others are more gradual terrain as one moves from stream to mountain. Your agency
has decided to apply similar criteria for the HCP as PACFISH/INFISH strategies for
harvest on federal lands. In your new position, what types of protections and
prescriptions (e.g. harvest system, site prep, reforestation, etc.) will you be looking
for in the HCP to approve a section 10 permit. Explain why these measures are
required for properly functioning bull trout habitat and ultimately why this is
important to bull trout. (20 pts)
6) Watershed assessments are crucial for describing the current state of fish habitat and
the surrounding landscapes, and for prioritizing areas to protect and to restore. In
class, we discussed some models than can aid in watershed assessments. Models,
however, tend to be more accurate if real data is used for variable inputs. Design a
monitoring program for the Wenatchee Basin (~3200 sq km) to evaluate fish habitat
and the landscape. Provide examples of data types (e.g. gradient) that would be
collected and the general protocol approaches to collect this information at different
scales. (15 pts)
7) Draw a diagram of the factors affecting stream temperatures. (10 pts)
8) You have been charged with designing a management plan for Bonneville Cutthroat
Trout in the Logan R. Basin. The major goal of this project is to improve survival of
BCT at all life stages in order to increase the abundance and distribution of this
species within the drainage, and ensure their long-term proliferation. Your boss has a
dataset collected in another basin showing positive correlations between BCT
densities and availability of riffle habitat. Therefore, he has suggested the sole
objective of your management plan consist of creating more riffle habitat within the
Logan R. and its tributaries. Based on the lecture and paper discussion you attended
with Nick Weber, you know that correlative relationships between habitat features
and fish densities (e.g. frequency of use) are often not transferable outside the area for
which they were developed (i.e. between areas with contrasting habitat conditions).
Provide one example of a fish – habitat interaction that may limit the transferability of
a model of habitat quality based on frequency of use information. (5 pts)