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Published: 1995

Total Pages: 396

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This document contains summary reports of stream habitat surveys, conducted in Idaho, by the Bureau of Fisheries (BOF, now National Marine Fisheries Service) from 1938-1942. These surveys were part of a larger project to survey streams in the Columbia River basin that provided, or had provided, spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and steelhead (Rich, 1948). The purpose of the survey was, as described by Rich, 'to determine the present condition of the various tributaries with respect to their availability and usefulness for the migration, breeding, and rearing of migratory fishes'. The Idaho portion of the survey consisted of extensive surveys of the Clearwater, Salmon, Weiser, and Payette River Subbasins. Current estimates of the loss of anadromous fish habitat in the Columbia River Basin are based on a series of reports published from 1949-1952 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The reports were brief, qualitative accounts of over 5000 miles of stream surveys conducted by the BOF from 1934-1946 (Bryant, 1949; Bryant and Parkhurst, 1950; Parkhurst, 1950a-c; Parkhurst et al., 1950). Despite their brevity, these BOF reports have formed the basis for estimating fish habitat losses and conditions in the Columbia River Basin (Fulton, 1968, 1970; Thompson, 1976; NPPC, 1986). Recently, the field notebooks from the BOF surveys were discovered. The data is now archived and stored in the Forest Science DataBank at Oregon State University (Stafford et al., 1984; 1988). These records are the earliest and most comprehensive documentation available of the condition and extent of anadromous fish habitat before hydropower development in the Columbia River Basin. They provide the baseline data for quantifying changes and setting a benchmark for future restoration of anadromous fish habitat throughout the Basin. The summaries contained in this book are exact replicates of the originals. Due to discrepancies between the field data and the summaries, the database should be used to assess pool and substrate conditions. This data is available from the Bonneville Power Administration. The Bureau of Fisheries survey is unique because it is the only long-term data set that quantifies fish habitat in a manner that is replicable over time; no other similar work is known to exist. Other surveys, such as Thompson and Haas (1960), inventoried extensive areas in a manner that was mostly qualitative, subjectively estimating physical characteristics like bank cover and stream shading. Spawning, rearing, and resting habitat were not systematically quantified to allow comparisons over time. Knowledge of the past and present quantity and quality of anadromous fish habitat in the Columbia River Basin is essential to any effort to enhance fish populations. Habitat condition is a key element in monitoring and evaluating progress towards the doubling goal. Integration of this information into the Columbia River Fish and Wildlife Plan can provide the baseline information to greatly enhance understanding of past, present, and future habitat conditions in the basin to provide for improved management decisions.