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Shoshone-Paiute Tribes
of the
Duck Valley Indian Reservation
Fish Stocking and
Operations/Maintenance
Project 1995-015-00
Located on
ID/NV border
 Deemed sufficient
to provide ample
fish and wildlife
resources for
subsistence
Bruneau and Owyhee subbasins
 Southernmost drainages to Columbia River
 Historic runs of anadromous salmonids
 Salmon and steelhead were a significant
part of Tribal culture
 Used for subsistence as well as for trade
goods
 Identified by NPCC (1995) as “blocked
areas”
Dam Construction
 Brownlee Dam - completed in 1958
 Oxbow Dam – completed in 1961
 Hells Canyon Dam – completed in 1967
Mitigation for loss of
salmon/steelhead
 Construction of 3 reservoirs on DVIR
– Sheep Creek Reservoir
 Completed in mid-50s
 ~855 acres
– Mountain View Reservoir
 Completed in 1969
 ~640 acres
– Lake Billy Shaw
 Completed in 1998
 ~430 acres
Reservoir Management
–managed as a put and take fishery
– originally funded by USFWS
–BPA assumed funding in 1988
–Tribal and visiting anglers primary
users
Fish Stocking
 Rainbow trout are target management
species
 Sourced from two southern ID hatcheries
– College of Southern Idaho (Twin Falls, ID)
– Black Canyon Trout Farm (Grace, ID)
 Annually plant ~ 95K fish
– LBS receives ~ 17K triploid rainbow trout
– SCR and MVR receive ~ 78K rainbow trout
Operations and Maintenance
 Monitoring and Evaluation
– Important component used for adaptive
management
– Biological data
 Fish health, growth
– Water quality data
 Temperatures
 Dissolved oxygen
 pH
– Angler information
 CPUE, angler satisfaction
Operations and Maintenance
 Key infrastructure components
– Dams, boat launch facilities, docks
– Many at or near end of useful life
– Significant component of angling satisfaction
– Replacement/upgrades needed
– Surrounding recreation areas (campgrounds)
are vital to lure visitors to remote location
 Overnight stays are most common
 98 miles north of Elko
 96 miles south of Mountain Home
 150 miles south of Boise
Water Quality
 All reservoirs are relatively shallow
– depth average of < 12 feet
 Inflow of water is tied to irrigation uses
 Turbidity problem at SCR
– Sources identified
– Project proposal developed, seeking funding
 Issues related to temperature, DOs
– Reservoirs routinely stratify in late July – mid
August
– Hypolimnion has low DO values
Future Monitoring
 Bathymetric mapping
 Feasibility of steelhead re-introduction
 Propose the use of elastomer tags to track
cohorts
– Unknown if over-winter survival is an issue
– Multiple stockings at different times of the year
make tracking by size class difficult
Questions?
Shoshone-Paiute Tribes
of the
Duck Valley Indian Reservation
Fish Stocking and
Operations/Maintenance
Presented to
NPCC – ISRP
January 18, 2012