Fish,ColdWaterHabitatsandClimateResiliency
StanGregoryOregonStateUniversity
IndependentScien?ficAdvisoryBoardFutureofOurSalmonConference October19,2016
RecognizethevalueofhealthyandecologicallysustainablefloodplainsintheColumbiaRivermainstemandits
tributariesthatisresilienttoan?cipatedclimatechangeimpacts
Whatisafloodplain?
Floodplains ! Floods build rivers ! Floodplains are not
land next to rivers ! Floodplains are THE RIVER
Floodplains and First Foods
! Clean water ! Salmon and lamprey ! Deer ! Cous ! Huckleberry
Willamette River Basin Fish Communities
! Native Fish 35 species
! Non-Native Fish 32 species
NumberofSpecies
Portland Eugene
93%offishcapturedwerena@vespecies
Mean annual temperature in the Willamette Basin projected through 2100 with
three different climate models
2000-2016
“Evaluatetheeffec@venessandfeasibilityofpossibleac@onstomi@gateeffectsofclimatechange,includingselec@vewithdrawalfromcool/coldwaterstoragereservoirstoreducewatertemperaturesorotherac@onstocreateorprotectcoolwaterrefugiainmainstemreachesorreservoirs.”
ColumbiaBasinFishandWildlifeProgramEcosystemFunc@onStrategy
ClimateChangeSub-Strategy
12Source:JohnPalmerUSEPARegion10
Whereisthecoldwater?
FloodplainSourcesofColdWaterRefuges
! Groundwater ! Hyporheic exchange ! Tributary confluences
FloodplainSourcesofColdWaterRefuges
! Groundwater ! Hyporheic exchange ! Tributary confluences
FloodplainAlcoves
SideChannels
FloodplainAlcoves
Two-yearFloodInunda@on
HyporheicFlowsideview
100 m
Cold Water Refuges
! Those portions of a water body where, or times during the day when, the water temperature is at least 2 degrees Celsius colder than the daily maximum temperature of the adjacent well-mixed flow of the water body.
OAR 340-041-0002(10)
Beginning in 2010, the Meyer Memorial Trust and OWEB supported a study of thermal patterns of 200 miles of the mainstem Willamette River and more than 100 sloughs,
side channels, and tributary mouths.
SideChannels
25%ofsidechannelsiteswerecolderthanmainstemBUT
Noneofthesidechannelswere>2ºCcolderthanmainstem
August2016• 175milesofthemainstemWillame]eRiver
Willame]eCrew:BillBoyer,KathrynBoyer
August2016• 43alcoves
56%ofthealcovesweremorethan2°Ccolderthan
mainstemmaximum
August2016Portland Eugene
FishCommuni@es
• Abundanceandnumberofna@vefishspeciesweregreaterthannon-na@vespeciesincoldwaterhabitats.
• Salmonidswere10@mesmoreabundantincoldwateralcovesthaninwarmwateralcoves.
Mean 14.0⁰C
Mean 21.8⁰C
InJulyandAugust,50%ofradiotaggedcu]hroattroutwerelocatedinalcoveswith
coldwaterrefuges.
25%ofradiotaggedtroutwerelocatedadjacenttoalcoveswithcoldwater
refuges.
TributaryJunc@ons
TributaryJunc@ons
Two-yearFloodInunda@on
37
ColumbiaRiveratBonneville(Keeferetal.)
Source:JohnPalmerUSEPARegion10
SteelheadUseofColdWaterinColumbiaRiver
Source:Keeferetal.ascitedbyJohnPalmerUSEPARegion10
39
FallChinookRefugeUse
Source:Gonieaetal.2006ascitedbyJohnPalmerUSEPARegion10
ColumbiaRiverCWRTributaries
40
DataSource:NorWest,USFS
Source:JohnPalmerUSEPARegion10
Li]leWhiteSalmonCWR
41 Source:JohnPalmerUSEPARegion10
It’snotjustabouttemperature!
FloodplainAlcoves
3%ofLowFlowChannel
SideChannels
11%ofLowFlowChannel
Dynamism
! A fundamental property of rivers is dynamism
Dynamism ! But human communities
resist dynamism and view rivers as extensions of property.
! Change is undesirable and uncertainty is abhorred.
FLOOD CONTROL DAMS AFTER 1950 HAVE REDUCED PEAK FLOOD DISCHARGES OF MAJOR FLOODS BY 30-40%
FLOOD CONTROL DAMS AFTER 1950 HAVE REDUCED DELIVERY OF SEDIMENT TO MAINSTEM WILLAMETTE RIVER BY 60% Jim O’Connor, USGS
Pain%ng:CourtesyofAprilWaters,usedwithpermissionwww.aprilwaters.com
Whatarethecharacteris@csofthenewriverofthe21stcentury?
Pain%ng:CourtesyofAprilWaters,usedwithpermissionwww.aprilwaters.com
Anewriverisformingandtheoccurrenceofcoldwaterhabitats
willdependonthedynamicsofthechanneland
floodplain.
