CoastCoho JuvenileSpatial DistributionMonitoring Design

Spatial Design

Temporal Design

Response Design

Inference Design

Evaluation Thresholds

References

Spatial Design

The design is described in detail in Stevens (2002). A GIS coverage of streams was used as a frame for the population. The coverage was based on USGS 1:25,000 topographic maps, modified by ODFW to correspond to the target population of streams for each population. Inference is made only for Monitoring Areas (MA; equivalent to Strata with the exception of the Lakes Stratum which is part of the Mid-South Coast MA). Generalized Random Tessellation Stratified designs (GRTS) achieve a spatially-balanced random point distribution (Stevens, 1997; Stevens & Olsen, 1999; Stevens & Olsen, 2003; Stevens and Olsen, 2004) and this approach was used.

Temporal Design

A rotating panel design was used to accommodate the need for repeat visits while continuing to expand the scope of the sample every year. Sets of panels are visited on different cycles. The design consists of 40 panels, with one panel defining sites visited every year, 3 panels defining sites visited on a 3-year cycle, 9 panels defining sites visited on a 9-year cycle, and 27 panels defining sites visited on a 27-year cycle. An equal number of sites were allotted to each panel. The three-year cycle parallels the coho life cycle.

Response Design

Field crews identified and enumerated juvenile salmonids in pools in a one kilometer stream reach encompassing the GRTS point. Before 2010 all pools larger than ≥6 m2 in surface area and ≥40 cm in maximum depth were snorkeled. The depth criterion was lowered to ≥20 cm in the 2010 field season in response to results from the Smith River Verification study (Constable and Suring, in prep.) which suggested that lowering the maximum depth threshold to ≥20 cm would allow surveyors to sample a larger and more consistent portion of the juvenile coho and steelhead populations.

Snorkeling was conducted during the minimum flow period from July to October using a single pass of one to six snorkelers, depending on stream width. Juvenile coho, chinook, steelhead ≥90 mm, and cutthroat ≥90 mm were counted in each pool. Presence was noted for dace, shiners, and trout <90 mm. Sites with poor water clarity were electrofished using a single pass without block nets to determine pool occupancy for coho and site occupancy for steelhead and cutthroat. To assess repeatability and quality control supervisory staff resurveyed ≥10% of the wadeable sites in each MA.

Inference Design

Site occupancy

The percent of sites with at least one fish, calculated by dividing the number of sites with fish by the number of surveyed sites for each MA, ESU, or DPS.

%Occ = SitesOcc/SitesTotal * 100

Where SitesOcc = Number of successfully-surveyed sites that meet the occupancy threshold

And SitesTotal = Total number of successfully surveyed sites.

Evaluation Thresholds

Juvenile distribution is not one of the six criteria identified for assessment under the Coast Coho Conservation plan, and there are no established goals for this metric.

References

EPA. 2009. Aquatic Resource Monitoring.

Nickelson, T. E., J. D. Rodgers, S. L. Johnson, M. F. Solazzi. 1992. Seasonal changes in habitat use by juvenile coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch in Oregon coastal streams. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 49:783-789.

Rodgers, J. D., M. F. Solazzi, S. L. Johnson, and M. A. Buckman. 1992. Comparison of three techniques to estimate juvenile coho salmon populations in small streams. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 12:79-86.

Stevens, D.L., Jr. (1997). .Variable density grid-based sampling designs for continuous spatial populations’. Environmetrics 8: 167-195.

Stevens, D.L. (2002). Sampling design and statistical analysis methods for integrated biological and physical monitoring of Oregon streams. OPSW-ODFW-2002-07, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Portland, Oregon.

Stevens, D.L. (2006). Spatial properties of design-based versus model-based approaches to environmental sampling. 7th International Symposium on Spatial Accuracy Assessment in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences.Edited by M. Caetano and M. Painho.pp. 119-125.

Stevens, Jr., D. L. and A. R. Olsen. (1999). Spatially Restricted Surveys Over Time for Aquatic Resources. Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Statistics 4:415-428.

Stevens, Jr., D. L. and A. R. Olsen. (2004). .Spatially Balanced Sampling of Natural Resources. Journal of the American Statistical Association 99:262-278.

Stevens, Jr. D.L., and N.S. Urquhart. (2000). Response Designs and Support Regions in Sampling Continuous Domains. Environmetrics 11:13-41.

Stevens, Jr., D.L., and A. R. Olsen. (2003). .Variance Estimation for Spatially Balanced Samples of Environmental Resources.Environmetrics 14:593-610.