Status Reportfor

The Columbia River Basin Population Crosswalk Geodatabase

and Online Interactive Mapping Application Project

December 2011 through April 2012

Denise Kelsey (CRITFC)

April 30, 2012

Purpose

The Columbia River Basin Population Crosswalk Geodatabase and Online Interactive Mapping Application project is an effort to create an online visualization and query tool that is backed by a spatial database and web mapping software. Fish managers and biologists will be able to use the tool to visualize how similar, or different, are the population or unit naming conventions and boundaries for Columbia Basin listed and non-listed salmon and steelhead as have been defined by the various regional fish resource organizations. Whether we ultimately agree, or agree to disagree, on a single convention for the names and boundaries of fish populations/units, the crosswalk tool will allow managers to locate their efforts within the bounds of their fish populations or units and examine how data collected by another manager relates geographically even if they are using a different fish population unit name. The crosswalk will include the population names and geographical boundaries based on subwatersheds (6th level HUC) developed by tribal, state, federal, and regional processes.

CRITFC launched the project in December of 2011; it will run for one year with a final product ready by the end of November 2012. PNAMP is assisting CRITFC with outreach and coordination of the effort. Project contacts for each organization are: Denise Kelsey, CRITFC () and Kathryn Thomas, PNAMP ().This document is the status report on the progress and issues encountered in the first five months of the project.

Progress

December

  • PNAMP launched a web page on their website for the project ( all official documents generated for the project can be found at the page, along with updates, requests, regional staff list involved in the project, and events.
  • CRITFC worked with PNAMP to develop and discuss a “Request for Participation” message requesting two categories of participation: 1)a Focus Group would help make decisions on the type of data and design of the tools, 2) a Data Builder group,composed of staff from the fish management agencies and tribes,whowill help with the spatial and tabular data about their agency’s populations/units to include in the database.
  • CRITFC and PNAMP staff fielded questions about participation.

January

  • The first announcement about the project and “Request for Participation” received few responses, so CRITFC began to contact individual agency staff by email first and then by phone - and follow up if needed.
  • CRITFC began work on the servers and software, which will support the interactive web mapping application. The application is currently being built on a virtualized Microsoft SQL R2 2008 server running in a VMWare 5.x host. A reverse DNS proxy server is used for security purposes. The web platform is IIS 7.5 and ESRI ArcGIS for Server 10. The application is being built with VS Studio 2008 and 2010.

February

  • Responses to the “Request for Participation” finally started arriving in February and a spreadsheet to track contacts, contact responses, and participants was created by CRITFC and is shared with PNAMP at least once a month.
  • Work to test CRITFC’s firewall and exchange data securelywas begun. A variety of bugs and issues were worked through.
  • Updates on the project were presented at regional meetings (i.e. Data Management Leadership Team Meeting, StreamNet Steering Committee, Coordinated Assessment Workgroup, etc.) by PNAMP and CRITFC staff. Again the regional managers were reminded about the project and the need for participation.
  • CRITFC began to work on putting together datasets for distribution to Data Builders as a check on whether the current in-house datasets of fish population or units represent the fish that they manage.

March

  • In March CRITFC finally received enough responses from a variety of agencies and tribes to organize the Focus Group. The goal was to keep the Focus Group small, but represent a variety of agencies, although we will not turn away anyone that wants to participate. Current agencies on the Focus Group are Nez Perce Tribes, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, CRITFC, WDFW, StreamNet, BPA, and PNAMP.
  • Application and database work began and tasks completed or started are:
  • Designed and created SQL Server Database to store fish unit information including associated tables and stored procedures.
  • Finished work on assigning subwatershed (6th level HUCs) boundaries to the in-house datasets of boundaries and tabular data from the Columbia Basin Hatchery Review and Subbasin Planning/CBFWA fish unitsto the new database design.
  • Created internet reports to display fish units and associated attribute information by subwatershed using Visual Studio 2008.
  • Began work on internet mapping applications to show fish units by species and region using ArcGIS Server software.
  • CRITFC has been in touch and working with several agency and tribal staff on the data for their fish units for inclusion in the application.The agencies and work are:
  • WDFW –Willshare their latest SaSI population spatial data in April - Chum populations are undergoing an update.
  • ODFW –in contact with staff about their Species Management Units and fish distribution data. CRITFC is building the dataset for the crosswalk and will be sharing the product with ODFW in the next month for their edits, comments, additions, etc.
  • Shoshone-Bannock Tribes - CRITFC sent the tribe a geodatabase of the CRITFC in-house Snake River fish unit data. They willreview the information to confirm that the data does or does not represent the fish populations they manage.
  • IDFG – Staff have not responded to the request for spatial data of their fish units.
  • TRT – CRITFC has attempted several times to contact TRT staff, but have yet to create a consistent dialog about data with the Lower Columbia TRT. We have been in touch with the Interior Columbia TRT and are expecting to receive some data from them.

April

  • The first Focus Group meeting to review the Crosswalk application is set for May 4th 9:30 to 11:00AM at CRITFC and by webinar.
  • A draft set of ODFW data for the Crosswalk was put together by CRITFC and is ready for review by ODFW (Jon Bower – needs Cedric’s permission to help).
  • An email sent to Andy Weiss WDFW with the question - SaSI Chum data updates completed? CRITFC has the latest spatial data (except Chum updates) and will be working on converting the data from linear to HUC6 polygons of populations/units boundaries.
  • Interior TRT Damon Hozer has Snake River population data converted to new WBD HUC6 layer and will be sending it. He is working on Upper Columbia, but it may be a while before that is finished. The project needs help getting the Lower Columbia to move on conversions to the new HUC boundaries.
  • CRITFC placed a geodatabase of Snake River Populations for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes to look at and suggest changes for their managed populations on our FTP site – no response to emails or phone calls. Several months ago we were in contact on a weekly basis.
  • Sent emails to IDFG (Evan Brown and Bart Butterfield) and the Colville Tribe (Jennifer Panther and John Aterburn) to remind them of the project and we would like to include their population/units in the Crosswalk.

Issues

  • Although several regional agency managers understand the need for this application/tool and have agree it is important to build, the response to several “Requests for Participation”, personally directed emails and phone calls, have yielded less than satisfactory results. A few agencies with datasets that are important to the effort have not returned phone calls or emails in a consistent manner to discuss the inclusion of their data into the project.
  • CRITFC firewall policy issues have had to be modified to allow for interactive map access and new hardware and software has been brought online to configure the system. Although the policies have been modified and the new equipment has been installed and configured, the new network configuration is not yet stable.

Next Steps

  • Top priority will be to work through the issues with firewall policies and configuration at CRITFC and have a draft application that can be viewed online to demo to the Focus Group in May.
  • Continue to work with Agencies that have been in contact about data for the Crosswalk application.
  • A draft version of the ODFW data is ready for their review. Just need a contact to send it to for their imput.
  • CRITFC will be in contact with WDFW in May to get the latest version of their data and to work with them on converting the data from linear spatial form to HUC6 polygon form.
  • Work with the Data Builder contacts at the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes to get their edits on the Snake population/unit data built for their review.
  • Collect and add the HUC6 data from the Interior Columbia TRT staff that has been in contact with us about their new HUC6 data completed.
  • Continue to contact tribes and agencies to get a response to data requests and participation that have not responded to previous inquiries and are not represented in this project yet. New methods or approaches for requesting help may need to come from the top down.

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