Wigwam River Juvenile Bull Trout and Fish Habitat Monitoring Program : 2001 Data Report.
The Wigwam River juvenile bull trout and fish habitat monitoring program is a co-operative initiative of the British Columbia Ministry of Water, Land, and Air Protection and Bonneville Power Administration. The Wigwam River has been characterized as the single most important bull trout spawning stream in the Kootenay Region. This report provides a summary of results obtained during the second year (2001) of the juvenile bull trout enumeration and fish habitat assessment program. This project was commissioned in planning for fish habitat protection and forest development within the upper Wigwam River valley. The broad intent is to develop a better understanding of juvenile bull trout and Westslope cutthroat trout recruitment and the ongoing hydrologic and morphologic processes in the upper Wigwam River, especially as they relate to spawning and rearing habitat quality. Five permanent sampling sites were established August 2000 in the Wigwam river drainage (one site on Bighorn Creek and four sites on the mainstem Wigwam River). At each site, juvenile (0{sup +}, 1{sup +} and 2{sup +} age classes) fish densities and stream habitat conditions were measured over two stream meander wavelengths. Bull trout represented 95.1% of the catch and the mean density of juvenile bull trout was estimated to be 20.7 fish/100m{sup 2} (range 0.9 to 24.0 fish/100m{sup 2}). This compares to 17.2 fish/100m{sup 2} (+20%) for the previous year. Fry (0{sup +}) dominated the catch and this was a direct result of juvenile bull trout ecology and habitat partitioning among life history stages. Site selection was biased towards sample sites which favored high bull trout fry capture success. Comparison of fry density estimates replicated across both the preliminary survey (1997) and the current study (Cope and Morris 2001) illustrate the stable nature of these high densities. Bull trout populations have been shown to be extremely susceptible to habitat degradation and over-harvest and are ecologically important as an indicator of watershed health. As such, the upper Wigwam River watershed remains relatively pristine, and maintains high water quality and high habitat capability. Conservative angling regulations have been successful in preventing over-harvesting. To date, the forest licensee has harvested 36% of the allowable cut identified in the forest development plan.
- Research Organization:
- Bonneville Power Administration, Portland, OR (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- 00005672
- OSTI ID:
- 796867
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/BP-00005672-1; TRN: US200214%%662
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Mar 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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