Habitat effectiveness survey of existing, historical, and potential beaver habitat in the Upper Columbia Basin, Methow Subbasin proposal 200726100

FY07-09 proposal 200726100

Section 1. Administrative

Proposal title	Habitat effectiveness survey of existing, historical, and potential beaver habitat in the Upper Columbia Basin, Methow Subbasin
Proposal ID	200726100
Organization	Pacific Biodiversity Institute
Short description	The first phase of this project is a survey of existing and historical beaver habitat accompanied by an evaluation of existing habitat effectiveness models.
Information transfer	A database and GIS information will be compiled and prepared for dissemination. A final report will be prepared and published. The final report, database and GIS information will be and distributed both on CD-ROM and on our web site.
Proposal contact person or principal investigator

Contacts

Contact	Organization	Email
Form submitter
George Wooten	Methow Valley Citizens Council	gwooten@okanogan1.com
All assigned contacts
Peter Morrison	Pacific Biodiversity Institute	peter@pacificbio.org

Section 2. Locations

Province / subbasin: Columbia Cascade / Methow

Latitude	Longitude	Waterbody	Description
			Methow Watershed

Section 3. Focal species

primary: Steelhead Upper Columbia River ESU
secondary: Chinook Upper Columbia River Summer/Fall ESU
secondary: Bull Trout
secondary: All Wildlife
Additional: American beaver

Section 4. Past accomplishments

Year	Accomplishments

Section 5. Relationships to other projects

Funding source	Related ID	Related title	Relationship

Section 6. Biological objectives

Biological objectives	Full description	Associated subbasin plan	Strategy
Data Gaps	assess current versus historical beaver abundance	Methow	[Strategy left blank]
Natural Factors Limiting Fish Production	improve overall spawning and rearing habitat	Methow	increase the number of beaver
Recommendation	improve beaver populations in the subwatershed	Methow	assessment of the loss of beaver activity in the Chewuch subwatershed in general, Eightmile Creek in particular, to determine the extent of loss of maintenance of channel function, and water and sediment storage

Section 7. Work elements (coming back to this)

Work element name	Work element title	Description	Start date	End date	Est budget
Submit/Acquire Data	Assess current versus historical beaver abundance and distribution	Assess current versus historical beaver abundance and distribution	3/1/2007	11/30/2007	$79,240
Biological objectives Data Gaps			Metrics

Section 8. Budgets

Itemized estimated budget

Item	Note	FY07	FY08	FY09
Personnel	[blank]	$79,240	$0	$0
Totals		$79,240	$0	$0

Total estimated FY 2007-2009 budgets

Total itemized budget:	$79,240
Total work element budget:	$79,240

Cost sharing

Funding source/org	Item or service provided	FY 07 est value ($)	FY 08 est value ($)	FY 09 est value ($)	Cash or in-kind?	Status
Forest Service	beaver transplant facility	$5,000	$0	$0	In-Kind	Under Development
WDFW	beaver transplant facility	$0	$10,000	$5,000	In-Kind	Under Development
Totals		$5,000	$10,000	$5,000

Section 9. Project future

FY 2010 estimated budget: $0
FY 2011 estimated budget: $0

Comments:

Future O&M costs:

Termination date:
Comments:

Final deliverables:

Section 10. Narrative and other documents

Revised Proposal 200726100 - Habitat effectiveness survey of existing, historical, and potential beaver habitat in the Upper Columbia Basin, Methow Subbasin

Jul 2006

Reviews and recommendations

FY07 budget	FY08 budget	FY09 budget	Total budget	Type	Category	Recommendation
NPCC FINAL FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS (Oct 23, 2006) [full Council recs]
$0	$0	$0	$0	Expense	ProvinceExpense	Do Not Fund
NPCC DRAFT FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS (Sep 15, 2006) [full Council recs]
$0	$0	$0	$0		Basinwide
NPCC DRAFT FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS (Sep 15, 2006) [full Council recs]
$0	$0	$0	$0		ProvinceExpense
NPCC DRAFT FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS (Sep 15, 2006) [full Council recs]
$0	$0	$0	$0		ProvinceExpense

ISRP PRELIMINARY REVIEW (Jun 2, 2006)

Recommendation: Response requested

NPCC comments: This proposal presents an alternative to ‘heavy-handed on site management activities’, by re-introducing beaver back into river systems. The ISRP applauds the authors for their inclusion of historic information including an attempt to reintroduce the species back into the system in the 1930s. The earlier reintroduction attempt failed, but the authors believe the re-introductions were not placed at logical locations. The authors want to begin with the existing habitat effectiveness model, but use specific data collected from the study area to refine beaver habitat characteristics in the model. The ISRP agrees that this is a worthwhile concept but seek a response that provides more detail on the specific types of habitat and stream data (and the metrics) that will be collected and how the data will be specifically analyzed in phase 1 and phase 2. The ISRP assumes use and non-use sites will be the backbone of the overall analyses, but need more details in a response.

ISRP FINAL REVIEW (Aug 31, 2006)

Recommendation: Fundable

NPCC comments: This project is a potential step in beaver reintroduction as a management technique for improving anadromous fish habitat. Specifics about inputs for the beaver model were presented as requested (including a data sheet) and a considerable amount of recent literature cited. The fact that they would be utilizing information from other ongoing beaver studies in the region is a plus for the project. However, some of the details are not clear about how habitat suitability for beaver will be analyzed or how factors limiting successful colonization by beaver will be determined; i.e., sites now unused by beavers include both suitable and unsuitable sites, and how will these two categories be separated? We remain uncertain if the approach/model will be adequate (but there a few guarantees anywhere) but think it should be given a try. The approach is creative and not heavy-handed!