At the Council’s June 2008 request, the ISRP reviewed the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Grande Ronde Basin Fish Habitat Project Summary Report, 1984-2007 submitted in response to the ISRP’s final FY 2007-09 review of the Blue Mountain Oregon Fish Habitat Improvement project (1984-025-00). We found the FY 2007-09 proposal "Fundable (qualified)" with the qualification that the ISRP should review a special report, or annual report, that presents an analysis of the data from this project together with a summary of the conclusions about benefits to the focal species and management recommendations for further habitat treatments.
Subsequently, the Council recommended the project for FY 2007 funding with FY 2008 and 2009 funding contingent on the sponsor completing the accomplishments report called for in the ISRP’s recommendation and receiving favorable ISRP and Council reviews. ODFW responded with a comprehensive 317-page report describing habitat actions dating back to 1984.
ISRP Recommendation: Meets Scientific Review Criteria. The report is excellent and is the sort of results reporting that the ISRP has been requesting to substantiate scientific merit. The report should be a good resource for other sponsors in the Columbia Basin and perhaps could serve as a model for reporting and analyzing results. The ISRP appreciates the tremendous amount of work the sponsors did in preparing the report.
The plan to begin developing an integrated monitoring plan for the subbasin should lead to a significant improvement in monitoring efficiency and provide a more complete evaluation of incremental and overall project effectiveness. The sponsors and other cooperators in the subbasin are to be commended for recognizing the value of such an approach and for pursuing it to improve their monitoring efforts as an integral element to scientifically defensible project management.
