Coastal Monitoring Program

Prospectus

By Sean P. Gallagher

Stream: Pudding Creek, Mendocino County, California

Background: Pudding Creek is a small coastal tributary in Mendocino County, California, that supports populations of Coho salmon and steelhead. The Pudding Creek Salmon and Steelhead Life Cycle Monitoring Station is a componentof the larger Mendocino County Coastal Salmonid Monitoring Project. Ourgoals are to estimate and characterize: 1) adult and redd(salmon nest) abundance, 2) spawner: redd ratios to calibrate regional surveys, 3) marine and freshwater survival, 4) summer abundance, 5) smoltproduction, and 6) life-history patterns.The Pudding Creek Life Cycle Monitoring Station was conceptualized by Campbell Timberland Management andthe Department of Fish and Wildlife,with oversight from NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center,andin association with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. The monitoringwork began in fall 2005 and includes methodssuch as adult trapping, spawning surveys, Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tagging, electro-fishing, andsmolt trapping.

In 2011 we expanded the goal and increased our partnership by pairing thePudding and Caspar Creek (also a component of the larger regional monitoring project) Life Cycle Monitoring Stations in aneight year Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) experiment. The BACI experiment is directed atdetermining if adding large wood to a treatment stream (Pudding Creek) will increase salmon and steelhead freshwater habitat and thus increase their abundance, growth, and survival relative to an untreated control stream (Caspar Creek). The Nature Conservancy and Trout Unlimited joined our group of partners on the BACI study in 2011.

Other collaborators involved in this monitoring include two Humboldt State University graduate student projects, the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, the USGS, Calfire, USFS, and NOAA’s Stream Restoration Center. This broad coalition is critical for adaptive management of these endangered salmon and trout. This project which began with just a few players has, with the help of our partners, expanded in scope and extent to encompass goals that were not envisioned at the outset. We anticipate expanding partnerships and efforts toincrease understanding of Coho salmon and steelhead life-histories and to aid in in their recovery in Pudding Creek and throughout the California coast.

We have produced annual reports since 2006 and presented ourresults at many scientific conferences over the years. Someof our contributions are below.

Gallagher, S. P., S. Thompson, and D. W. Wright. 2012. Identifying factors limiting coho salmon to inform stream restoration in coastal Northern California. California Fish and Game. 98(4): 185-201.

Moore, J. W., S. A. Hayes, W. Duffy, S. P. Gallagher, C. Michel, and D. W. Wright. 2011. Nutrient fluxes and the recent collapse of coastal California salmon populations. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 68: 1161-1170.

Wright, D.W., S.P. Gallagher, and C.J. Hannon. 2012. Measurement of key life history metrics of coho salmon in Pudding Creek, California. Pages 459-470 In Standiford, Richard B.; Weller, Theodore J.; Piirto, Douglas D.; Stuart, John D, technical coordinators. 2012. Proceedings of coast redwood forests in a changing California: A symposium for scientists and managers. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-238. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Laura Miller (Left) and Chris Hannon (Right), Campbell Timberlands Management Fisheries Technicians, releasing male Coho Salmon at the Pudding Creek fish ladder, January 2007.Taken by Department contract employee.

Campbell Timberlands Management Fisheries Technicians JoleenOssello (foreground), John Caldwell and Emily Lang measuring an adult Coho salmonat the Pudding Creek fish ladder, winter 2008.By Department contract employee.

Campbell Timberlands Management Fisheries Technicians(Jake Smotherman right panel, and JoleenOssello left panel) working the fish ladder at Pudding Creek dam, December 2011.Taken by Department contract employee.

Campbell Timberlands Management Fisheries TechnicianJohn Cadwell measuring a Coho salmon redd(nest) on Pudding Creek, January 2007. Taken by Department contract employee.

Smolt(out-migrant) trap on Pudding Creek, spring 2012. Taken by Department contract employee.

Coho salmon abundance in Pudding Creek, California 2001 to 2013.

The Pudding Creek watershed.