Estimating the benefits of widespread floodplain reconnection for Columbia River Chinook salmon

Bond, Morgan H.; Nodine, Tyler G.; Beechie, Timothy J.; Zabel, Richard W.

doi:10.1139/cjfas-2018-0108

Cited by 29 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Mitigation efforts to increase smolt body size and advance migration timing could increase marine survival 46 , 87 . Restoration efforts in freshwater habitats, such as restoring floodplains, riparian planting to reduce stream temperature, reconnecting side-channel habitat 88 , and supporting other natural processes in juvenile salmon rearing areas also enhance/restore freshwater salmon production.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change threatens Chinook salmon throughout their life cycle

et al. 2021

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Widespread declines in Atlantic and Pacific salmon (Salmo salar and Oncorhynchus spp.) have tracked recent climate changes, but managers still lack quantitative projections of the viability of any individual population in response to future climate change. To address this gap, we assembled a vast database of survival and other data for eight wild populations of threatened Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha). For each population, we evaluated climate impacts at all life stages and modeled future trajectories forced by global climate model projections. Populations rapidly declined in response to increasing sea surface temperatures and other factors across diverse model assumptions and climate scenarios. Strong density dependence limited the number of salmon that survived early life stages, suggesting a potentially efficacious target for conservation effort. Other solutions require a better understanding of the factors that limit survival at sea. We conclude that dramatic increases in smolt survival are needed to overcome the negative impacts of climate change for this threatened species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change threatens Chinook salmon throughout their life cycle

et al. 2021

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“…Because the NHD streamline was not always aligned with the lowest point of the DEM, we searched for the lowest elevation point within a 30‐m radius of the upstream and downstream end points of each reach. We calculated bankfull channel width based on drainage area and precipitation (Beechie and Imaki 2014), and floodplain width from the NED (Bond et al 2019). To calculate the percentage of the drainage area upstream of each reach that can supply fine sediment (hereafter referred to as “fine sediment supply”), we used a classification of bedrock geology into nine categories of grain size and erosion resistance and calculated the proportion of the drainage area containing fine‐grained lithologies with low or moderate erosion resistance (Beechie and Imaki 2014).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling riparian species occurrence from historical surveys to guide restoration planning in northwestern USA

et al. 2021

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Successful restoration of riparian habitats and functions depends in part on selection of plant species that are suited to local geomorphic and climatic conditions, which often relies on contemporary reference sites to characterize target riparian vegetation communities. In heavily modified landscapes, a lack of undisturbed sites hinders the description of reference conditions to help guide planning efforts. In lieu of contemporary reference sites, we used historical Public Land Survey data from the late 1800s and early 1900s to document historical streamside vegetation at 1685 sites distributed throughout the Columbia River basin. We used those data to construct a random forest classification model using climatic and geomorphic variables to predict the probability of occurrence of riparian vegetation groups (conifer, deciduous, shrub, and willow) and individual taxa (fir, pine, cedar, cottonwood, alder, sagebrush) for all stream reaches with bankfull width >6 m in the interior Columbia River basin. The most common predictor variables included in the best models for vegetation groups or individual taxa were mean annual precipitation, minimum temperature, elevation, and bankfull width. For some taxa, temperature range and floodplain width were also important predictors. The probability maps indicate that riparian zones were likely dominated by willow species in semi-desert regions and by conifer species in the humid mountain regions. Deciduous species dominated riparian areas in transition zones between conifer forests and semi-deserts. Species distributions suggest that streams in the semi-deserts were likely characterized by little shade and low wood abundance, whereas streams in the humid mountains would have been more heavily shaded with high wood abundance. The transitional deciduous areas were likely shaded with moderate wood abundance. Historical trends in air temperature and precipitation suggest relatively small changes in climate since the time of the surveys, indicating that current species ranges are likely similar to historical species ranges. Hence, these maps can be used to help identify suitable taxonomic groups and expected riparian functions for riparian restoration in the Columbia River basin, with appropriate adjustments made to site-specific restoration designs to account for model uncertainty, future climate change, or land use constraints.

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“…LCM parameter values were determined through a combination of habitat quantity and quality estimates from the habitat analyses (Beechie et al this volume), informed from literature values, and with input from local guidance about fish densities and productivities (S2 in S1 File ). Habitat-derived capacities have been shown to be relatively close approximations to those estimated from empirical fish data [ 14 ]. Life cycle models often include some stochastic elements that introduce natural variability.…”

Section: Life Cycle Model Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying the potential of anadromous salmonid habitat restoration with life cycle models

et al. 2021

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An investigation into the causes of species decline should include examination of habitats important for multiple life stages. Integrating habitat impacts across life stages with life-cycle models (LCMs) can reveal habitat impairments inhibiting recovery and help guide restoration efforts. As part of the final elements of the Habitat Restoration Planning model (HARP; Beechie et al. this volume), we developed LCMs for four populations of three species of anadromous salmonids (Oncorhynchus kisutch, O. tshawytscha, and O. mykiss), and ran diagnostic scenarios to examine effects of barrier removal, fine sediment reduction, wood augmentation, riparian shade, restoration of the main channel and bank conditions, beaver pond restoration, and floodplain reconnection. In the wood scenario, spawner abundance for all populations increased moderately (29–48%). In the shade scenario, spring-run Chinook salmon abundance increased the most (48%) and fall-run Chinook salmon and steelhead were much less responsive. Coho responded strongly to the beaver pond and floodplain scenarios (76% and 54%, respectively). The fine sediment scenario most benefitted fall- and spring-run Chinook salmon (32–63%), whereas steelhead and coho were less responsive (11–21% increase). More observations are needed to understand high fine sediment and its impacts. Our LCMs were region-specific, identifying places where habitat actions had the highest potential effects. For example, the increase in spring-run Chinook salmon in the wood scenario was driven by the Cascade Mountains Ecological Region. And, although the overall response of coho salmon was small in the barrier removal scenario (6% increase at the scale of the entire basin), barrier removals had important sub-regional impacts. The HARP analysis revealed basin-wide and regional population-specific potential benefits by action types, and this habitat-based approach could be used to develop restoration strategies and guide population rebuilding. An important next step will be to ground-truth our findings with robust empirically-based estimates of life stage-specific survivals and abundances.

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Estimating the benefits of widespread floodplain reconnection for Columbia River Chinook salmon

Cited by 29 publications

References 60 publications

Climate change threatens Chinook salmon throughout their life cycle

Climate change threatens Chinook salmon throughout their life cycle

Modeling riparian species occurrence from historical surveys to guide restoration planning in northwestern USA

Identifying the potential of anadromous salmonid habitat restoration with life cycle models

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