CSMEP is a co-ordinated collaborative effort to improve the quality, consistency, and focus of fish population and habitat data to answer key monitoring and evaluation (M&E) questions relevant to major decisions in the Columbia Basin. ESSA Technologies Ltd. is working closely with the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority (CBFWA) in leading this project, which includes over 30 scientists from state, tribal and federal fish and wildlife agencies, as well as outside experts. CSMEP is a major multi-year commitment of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council towards regionally integrated M&E across the Columbia Basin and was initiated in October 2003 with funding from the Bonneville Power Administration of $970,000 per year.
CSMEP is focused on developing improved methods of monitoring and evaluation to better answer key management questions for agencies in the Columbia Basin. To this end, ESSA is leading CSMEP through a systematic approach involving multiple research objectives, each of which is being executed collaboratively to:
| 1. |
Identify specific fish and habitat management questions and the types of data required to answer these questions (indicators, spatial scale, sampling frequency); |
| 2. |
Inventory existing monitoring data that bear on the problem of evaluating the status of salmon, steelhead, bull trout and other species of regional importance across the Columbia Basin; |
| 3. |
Work with StreamNet to make existing monitoring data available through the Internet; |
| 4. |
Critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of existing monitoring data and associated evaluation methods for answering key fisheries questions at multiple spatial scales; |
| 5. |
Design improved monitoring and evaluation methods that will fill information gaps and provide better answers to these questions in the future; |
| 6. |
Assist implementation of pilot projects or large scale monitoring programs; and |
| 7. |
Evaluate new monitoring program results and coordinate proposed changes with regional monitoring programs. |
