Northeast Oregon Bull
Trout Studies
 The
Native Fish Investigations Project began researching questions pertinent
to the conservation of bull trout in 1995. The intent of this research
is to provide scientific information about the general ecology of bull
trout. This will allow threats to existing bull trout populations to
be correctly evaluated and management decisions pertaining to bull trout
conservation and recovery to be effectively implemented and monitored.
Data will also be collected to measure the expected biological outcomes
of various management actions and to describe the relative health of
bull trout populations. Such data include bull trout distributions at
various life stages, description and availability of habitats critical
to each life stage, population abundance, genetic description of populations
and their relationships to each other, identification of migratory corridors,
and description of the interactions between bull trout and sympatric
brook trout. Some of these data have already been incorporated into
draft recovery plans, and new data will help refine those plans.
Our
initial emphasis focused on life history, population structure, and potential
limiting factors of bull trout such as the influence of temperature and
interactions with brook trout. Field activities occurred throughout the
range of Oregon bull trout, and were concentrated in the John Day, Walla
Walla, and Grand Ronde River basins. Current and ongoing research also
evaluates methods to estimate abundance, and monitor populations at a
landscape scale.
Current
and Past Research Objectives:
 Current
1) Characterize the fine-scale population structuring of bull
trout within the John Day River and Grande Ronde River subbasins.
2)
Estimate the abundance of migratory and resident adult bull trout in
Mill Creek, a tributary to the Walla Walla River, and compare this abundance
to counts of redds.
3)
Determine the seasonal movements of fluvial bull trout of the Umatilla
and Lostine Rivers.
4)
Employ a pilot study to evaluate an EMAP probabilistic sampling design
to characterize the status, trends, and distribution of adult bull trout
populations at the Provincial and Subbasin scale in the Columbia Plateau
Province.
Past
1) Determine the genetic characteristics of Oregon bull trout
populations. (Spruell
et al. 2003)
2)
Determine distribution of juvenile and adult bull trout and associated
habitats in portions of the Grande Ronde, John Day, Deschutes and Walla
Walla subbasins.
3)
Determine relationships between stream temperature and distribution
of bull trout.
4)
Determine fluvial and resident life history patterns in the upper John
Day and Walla Walla subbasins.
5)
Characterize relationships among bull trout and sympatric species. (Gunckel
et al. 2002)
6)
Establish guidelines to monitor the abundance of bull trout using spawning
surveys.
Annual
Reports and Publications
Weeber, M.A.,
S.J.
Starcevich,
S.E. Jacobs, and P.J. Howell.
2007.
Migratory
Patterns, Structure, Abundance, and Status of Bull Trout Populations
from Subbasins in the Columbia Plateau and Blue Mountain Provinces.
2006 Annual Report. Project 199405400. Bonneville Power Administration,
Portland.
Moore, T.L.,
S.J.
Starcevich,
S.E. Jacobs, and P.J. Howell.
2006.
Migratory
Patterns, Structure, Abundance, and Status of Bull Trout Populations
from Subbasins in the Columbia Plateau and Blue Mountain Provinces.
2005 Annual Report. Project 199405400. Bonneville Power Administration,
Portland.
Starcevich,
S.J., S.E. Jacobs, and P.J. Howell.
2005.
Migratory
Patterns, Structure, Abundance, and Status of Bull Trout Populations
from Subbasins in the Columbia Plateau and Blue Mountain Provinces.
2004 Annual Report. Project 199405400. Bonneville Power Administration,
Portland.
Sankovich,
P.M, S.J. Starcevich, A.R. Hemmingsen , S.L.Gunckel, and P.J. Howell.
2004. Migratory
Patterns, Structure, Abundance, and Status of Bull Trout Populations
from Subbasins in the Columbia Plateau and Blue Mountain Provinces.
2003 Annual Report. Project 199405400. Bonneville Power Administration,
Portland.
Sankovich,
P.M., S.L. Gunckel, A.R. Hemmingsen, I.A. Tattam, and P.J. Howell.
2003. Migratory
patterns, structure, abundance, and status of bull trout populations
from subbasins in the Columbia Plateau. 2002 Annual Report. Project
199405400. Bonneville Power Administration, Portland.
Spruell,
P, A.R. Hemmingsen, P.J. Howell, N. Kanda, and F.W. Allendorf. 2003. Conservation
genetics of bull trout: geographic distribution of variation at microsatellite
loci. Conservation Genetics 4: 17-29.
Gunckel,
S.L., A.R. Hemmingsen, and J.L. Li 2002. Effect
of bull trout and brook trout interactions on foraging habitat, feeding
behavior, and growth. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
131: 1119-1130.
Hemmingsen,
A.R., S.L. Gunckel, P.M. Sankovich, and P.J. Howell. 2002.
Bull
trout life history, genetics, habitat needs, and limiting factors
in central and northeast Oregon. 2001 Annual Report. Project
199405400, Bonneville Power Administration. Portland.
Hemmingsen,
A.R., S.L. Gunckel, P.M. Sankovich, and P.J. Howell. 2001d. Bull trout
life history, genetics, habitat needs, and limiting factors in
central and northeast Oregon. 2000 Annual Report. Project
199405400, Bonneville Power Administration. Portland.
Hemmingsen,
A.R., S.L. Gunckel, and P.J. Howell. 2001c. Bull
trout life history, genetics, habitat needs, and limiting factors in
central and northeast Oregon. 1999 Annual Report. Project 199405400,
Bonneville Power Administration. Portland.
Gunckel,
S.L. 2001. Feeding behavior and diet of native bull trout Salvelinus confluentus and
introduced brook trout S. fontinalis in two eastern Oregon
streams. Master's Thesis. Oregon State University, Corvallis.
Hemmingsen,
A.R., B.L. Bellerud, S.L. Gunckel and P.J. Howell. 2001b. Bull
trout life history, genetics, habitat needs, and limiting factors
in central and northeast Oregon. 1998 Annual Report. Project
199405400, Bonneville Power Administration. Portland.
Hemmingsen,
A.R., B.L. Bellerud, D.V. Buchanan, S.L. Gunckel, J.S. Shappart, and
P.J. Howell. 2001a. Bull
trout life history, genetics, habitat needs, and limiting factors
in central
and northeast Oregon. 1997 Annual Report. Project 199405400, Bonneville
Power Administration. Portland.
Bellerud,
B.L., S. Gunckel, A.R. Hemmingsen, D.V. Buchanan, and P.J. Howell.
1997. Bull trout
life history, genetics, habitat needs, and limiting factors in central
and northeast Oregon. 1996 Annual Report. Project 199405400, Bonneville
Power Administration. Portland.
Spruell,
P., and F.W. Allendorff. 1997. Nuclear DNA analysis of Oregon bull trout,
Report 97/5. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Portland.
Hemmingsen,
A.R., D.V. Buchanan, and P.J. Howell. 1996. Bull
trout life history, genetics, habitat needs, and limiting facotrs in
central and northeast
Oregon. 1995 Annual Report. Project 94-54, Bonneville Power Administration.
Portland.
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