In response to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s September 2013 request, the ISRP reviewed a “Report of Progress from 2009 ISRP Wildlife Categorical Review and Final Report for Contract #5297” for the Upper Columbia United Tribes Wildlife Monitoring and Evaluation Program (UWMEP; project #2008-007-00). The report covers the project sponsors’ Analysis of Terrestrial Vertebrate and Vegetation Response to Ecological Restoration.
This project was first proposed and reviewed in the Wildlife Category Review process. The ISRP concluded that the project met scientific criteria (ISRP 2009-17) but offered the qualification that the project should provide a preliminary analysis of data to better assess statistical procedures, analytical approaches, and results in two years. The Council agreed with the ISRP’s recommendation and specifically recommended, “The UCUT M&E project be advanced as a ‘pilot’ monitoring program to be reviewed and evaluated on its applicability to a greater geographic area based on an ISRP review of results after three years of work.”
The ISRP finds that the progress report meets the previous qualifications from the Wildlife Category Review by providing a very good summary of analytical approaches and a thoughtful and rigorous preliminary analysis of data. The ISRP believes this wildlife M&E approach can be used in other areas. However, if the use of the approach is expanded to other areas, the ISRP recommends that the sponsors develop a companion document where the analytical approaches are explained in more detail. This companion document can be provided to the ISRP during the next review process.
