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Trinity River

Restoration Program

Program Administration

 

 

Restoration Program

	Overview
	History
	Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Monitoring Program
	What are the Components of an AEAM Program?
	Monitoring

Overview

In 1984 the Trinity River Basin Fish and Wildlife Management Act (PL 98-541) was signed, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to develop and implement a management program to restore the fish and wildlife populations in the Trinity River Basin to levels which existed prior to construction of the Trinity and Lewiston dams.

This initial phase of the Trinity River Restoration Program included formation of a 14-member Task Force charged with developing a series of action plans. The action plans included five main program goals:

1. Improve the capability of the Trinity River Hatchery to mitigate for salmon and steelhead fishery losses that have occurred above Lewiston Dam.
2. Restore natural (instream spawning) salmon and steelhead production in the mainstem and tributaries below Lewiston Dam to pre-dam levels.
3. Contribute to fish harvest management.
4. Compensate for impacts to deer and other wildlife from flooding of habitat and reduced streamflow resulting from diversions to the Central Valley Project.
5. Develop and implement land management activities to stabilize watersheds and reduce sediment yield to Trinity River tributaries.

The Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992 (PL 102-575) further supported restoration objectives and acknowledged the Federal Government’s trust responsibilities by specifying minimum releases of 340,000 acre-feet per year pending completion of a Flow Evaluation Study.

	Record of Decision - Trinity River Mainstem Fishery Restoration Final Environmental Impact Statement/ Environmental Impact Report, December 2000 [PDF - 230kb]

The charter for the original Task Force was later allowed to expire because the Trinity Record of Decision (ROD), signed in December 2000, established the Trinity Management Council and Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group to serve similar purposes.

The current phase of the program is based on the Trinity River Mainstem Fishery Restoration EIS, completed in October 2000, and the Record of Decision signed on December 19, 2000. It calls for establishment of a strong science program, significant physical/mechanical restoration actions in the mainstem, as well as increased releases to the river from the historical 25 percent up to 48 percent of the average annual inflow to Trinity Reservoir. Shortly after the ROD was signed, a group of Central Valley Project (CVP) water and power users filed suit to prevent its implementation. On March 19, 2001, the Eastern District Court enjoined that part of the decision that provided increased flows for the Trinity River required preparation of a Supplemental EIS (SEIS), but allowed other aspects of the program to proceed. Appeals were heard by the Ninth Circuit Court, and a final ruling was issued on November 5, 2004 in favor of the defendants that directs all aspects of the program to proceed and overturns the lower court's requirement to complete the SEIS. Plaintiffs have indicated they will not appeal to the Supreme Court.

Today the TRRP is composed of four main organizational elements: the Trinity Management Council, the Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group, the Trinity River Restoration Program staff, and the Scientific Advisory Board.

• The Trinity Management Council (TMC) has eight members, including the Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, California Resources Agency (including the Departments of Water Resources and Fish and Game), Trinity County, the Hoopa Valley Tribe, and the Yurok Tribe. The TMC is empowered by the Secretary of the Interior to take a strong leadership role in policy issues and decision-making for the overall program.
• The second component is the Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group (TAMWG), expressly identified by the ROD to afford stakeholders a formal avenue of participation. The 15-20 members represent a broad range of public interests including: Trinity Lake marinas, small businesses in the Trinity River basin, Central Valley water users, sport fishing groups, long term local residents, scientific interests, river outfitters and guides, forest land owners and managers, whitewater rafters/kayakers, electrical power users, watershed restoration and conservation groups, gold dredgers, and commercial ocean fishing operations.
• The third element of the program is the 12-person Trinity River Restoration Program staff that works for the Executive Director. These scientists and resource specialists, organized into a Technical Modeling and Analysis Group and a Rehabilitation Implementation Group, have the responsibility of coordinating inter-agency activities, providing technical support to the TMC and the Advisory Committee, implementing the restoration projects, and conducting the many monitoring efforts associated with the program.
• The fourth component of the overall program is a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) consisting of five recognized scientists representing key disciplines, who will provide objective peer review of study plans, rehabilitation activities, flow recommendations, and monitoring efforts.

Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Monitoring Program

A key component of the Record of Decision is implementation of an Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management (AEAM) program. The Trinity River AEAM program is designed to improve assessment and management of the Trinity River. In short, AEAM is a formal, systematic, and rigorous program of learning by predicting the outcomes of management actions, evaluating results, and rapidly improving management. River systems are very complex, and while our level of understanding of river ecosystems is improving, managing the Trinity River will always face varying levels of scientific uncertainty. The AEAM program promotes responsible, science-based progress in the face of this uncertainty, while avoiding “trial and error,” “charging ahead blindly,” or being “paralyzed by indecision” common to restoration programs. The AEAM process is a cooperative integration of water operations, resource management, scientific monitoring and research, and stakeholder and public input.

What are the Components of an AEAM Program?

1. Define measurable goals and objectives;
2. Document/evaluate baseline conditions with respect to goals and objectives;
3. Develop testable hypotheses of how to achieve goals and objectives through management actions;
4. Predict river response to management actions before implementing management actions;
5. Implement, monitor, and evaluate management actions;
6. Re-evaluate objectives, refine hypotheses, improve models, and improve management;
7. Continually self-examine AEAM science and management via external peer review.

Monitoring

Monitoring is a critical component of adaptive management; it measures progress towards achieving restoration objectives, and improves our understanding of river responses to management actions (e.g., flow releases, gravel introduction, etc.).

Improving management actions to better achieve restoration goals requires field monitoring

The monitoring strategy under the AEAM program will encourage two types of monitoring: long term tracking of how the system is responding (e.g., monitoring adult salmon returns), and shorter term focused studies (e.g., testing juvenile salmon tolerances to water temperature) to rapidly evaluate and improve management strategies and fill in critical information gaps. Monitoring will be guided by the scientific arm of the AEAM program, and much of the monitoring program will be conducted by soliciting proposals to address specific issues from public, private, and academic scientists. This process will improve the quality of studies conducted on the river, and should also reduce overall costs over the long term.

Sediment sampling during high flows measures the effectiveness of releases in routing gravel and sand through the river