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Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team
Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds

July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011 Annual Report

June 30, 2011

Introduction

The Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) is a seven-member team of scientists who advise the State of Oregon on science related to the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds (Oregon Plan). The IMST was established by the Oregon Legislature in 1997 (ORS 541.409), and its members are jointly appointed by the Governor, Senate President, and Speaker of the House of Representatives. The current Team represents the disciplines of fisheries, fish biology/physiology, ocean management, stream and aquatic ecology, forestry, landscape ecology, hydrology, and agricultural land management. Information about current IMST members can be found here.

This report documents the Team’s activities and accomplishments for the period July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011. The report also briefly outlines the plans and direction of the Team for the 2011-2013 biennium.

 

Highlights of Accomplishments

The focus of IMST’s work during this reporting period was on meeting state agency needs for scientific and technical reviews of key programs, initiatives, and assessments.  Highlights of the Team’s accomplishments for the fiscal year include:

• Review of the Oregon Water Resources Department’s draft document titled: White Paper: Ecological Flows: A Scientific Framework for Implementing Oregon HB 3369 (June 4, 2010 draft). (7 pages.) The review was requested by the Water Resources Department.

• Review of the State of Oregon’s Upper Willamette River Conservation and Recovery Plan for Chinook Salmon and Steelhead (February 23, 2009 draft). (9 pages.) The review was requested by the Governor’s Natural Resource Office.
• Review of the Elliott State Forest draft Habitat Conservation Plan and draft Environmental Impact Statement (August 2008 drafts). (35 pages) The review was requested by the Division of State Lands and Oregon Department of Forestry.
• Technical Report 2010-1  titled Urban and Rural-residential Land Uses: Their Role in Watershed Health and the Rehabilitation of Oregon’s Wild Salmonids. (247 pages)
• 2011 Workshop titled Urban and Rural-residential Land Uses in Oregon: An IMST Technical Workshop on Watershed Functions and Salmonid Recovery (23 attendees)
• July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010 IMST Annual Report, Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds (web based).

 

Ongoing projects and reviews:

In addition to the completed reports listed above the Team made progress on the following ongoing independent reports and requested reviews:

• Eastern Oregon Resources. This project integrates ecosystem components that affect native fish habitat and watershed health in the region east of the Cascades. A series of reports will discuss how land and water uses affect ecosystem components in ways that alter landscape processes, habitat capacity, and site potential, and how these factors in turn affect efforts to restore and sustain native fish populations and their habitats. A draft outline is posted on the IMST’s website. This project was tabled during the 2008-2009 fiscal year because of other priorities. Work could resume during the 2011-2013 biennium pending available resources.
• ODFW’s native fish conservation plans. The IMST began reviewing the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s draft Lower Columbia River White Sturgeon Conservation Plan. This review will be finalized in July 2011.

 

External communications

During this reporting period, IMST has increased its efforts to build public awareness of IMST products and activities, and to communicate with state and federal agencies, the state legislature, and other key stakeholders in the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. By inviting input from these groups during the formulation and prioritization of IMST work, the Team believes it has improved the relevance and usefulness of IMST’s efforts. For example, the Oregon Plan Core Team and the Governor’s Natural Resource Office had significant input to the IMST’s operations and work during the reporting period, along with key state agencies. In addition, Team member J. Alan Yeakley gave a presentation based on the IMST’s draft report on urban and rural residential areas at the 2010 Salmon and the City symposium (hosted by Oregon Chapter of the American Fisheries Society) in Portland. Yeakley was also a guest on the Tualatin Valley Cable TV network’s one hour show called The Water Spot (Thursday, February 3, 2011 episode). The hour show was focused on findings from the IMST’s 2010 finalized report on urban and rural-residential land uses.

 

IMST Public Meetings

IMST meetings are open to the public. During the fiscal year, the IMST held 8 public meetings. Agendas and minutes are posted on the IMST’s website, and audio recordings can be obtained by contacting the IMST at 541-737-6551 or OWEB at 503-986-0187. Subcommittees work sessions involving three or more IMST members are held as public meetings and the agendas and minutes are also posted. No public subcommittee meetings were held during this reporting period. To view a summary list of the topics discussed at each meeting click here.

 

IMST Technical Workshop

On June 21 and 22, 2011, the IMST held a technical workshop in Corvallis, Oregon titled Urban and Rural-Residential Area Land Uses in Oregon: An IMST Technical Workshop on Watershed Functions and Salmonid Recovery. The workshop had three goals related to the IMST’s 2010 technical report on salmonids in urban and rural-residential areas:

• Objective 1. Better determine the steps environmental managers are already taking, that may or may not have been covered in the Urban Report.
• Objective 2. Determine what monitoring and research needs may have been missed in the Urban Report and prioritize research and monitoring needs in urban native fish ecology and rehabilitation.
• Objective 3. Identify and prioritize actions that could enhance or rehabilitate native fish habitat and populations in urban environments. 

Invited participants were selected from municipal, regional and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and universities with experience in managing, monitoring, and/or rehabilitating salmonids and aquatic ecosystems in urban and rural residential areas in Oregon. Invitees were also chosen to represent the varied geographic areas in Oregon. Twenty-three professionals participated in the workshop along with three facilitators and three note takers. During the first quarter of the 2011-2013 biennium the IMST will synthesis the workshop finding and release a report in early 2012.

 

IMST Recommendations and Responses

One of the key functions of IMST reviews and reports is to make recommendations to agencies that help them strengthen the scientific underpinnings of their policies and actions. Recommendations are based on IMST assessment of the best available science pertaining to salmonid recovery, watershed function and the management of Oregon’s natural resources. Under ORS 541.409, agencies must respond to the recommendations of the IMST, explaining how they intend to (or why they do not intend to) implement the IMST suggestions. Agency responses to recommendations and the IMST’s evaluations of the responses are forwarded to the Governor’s office, the Senate President, and the Speaker of the House. During the 2009-2011 fiscal year, the IMST issued a recommendation meant to increase integrated aquatic monitoring efforts in Oregon. The IMST has not yet received a formal response to the recommendation.

 

Team Operations

Budget

The IMST began the July 1, 2009–June 30, 2011 biennium with a budget of $440,000 (Measure 66 Lottery funds through an OWEB budget line item). All funds were paid directly to Oregon State University (OSU) for the services and expenses of all Team members and OSU employed support staff. OSU waived administrative (overhead) charges for the biennium. The Team members were funded to work 0.08 FTE. There was no charge for Dr. Schreck, a federal employee. The general budget can be seen here.

In addition to Team member compensation, IMST funds supported 1.6 scientific support positions (OSU Faculty Research Assistants) through June 2010 and 1.0 position from July 2010 through June 2011. The scientific support staff has a broad range of knowledge, research experience, and technical expertise in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest, and is instrumental in the completion of IMST reports and projects.

The Future

Each year, the Team reviews the current program of work and discusses ideas for new reports that address emerging issues or topics of relevance to implementation of the Oregon Plan. The IMST has not yet discussed detailed work plans fro the 2011-2013 biennium but the IMST does expect to receive at least one salmonid conservation plan review request from ODFW, write and distribute a synthesis report based on the June 2011 technical workshop, and pursue other avenues (e.g., book, journal article) to distribute findings from its 2010 technical report on urban and rural-residential areas to a broader audience.

 

Members of the IMST, July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010

Michael J. Harte, Ph.D. is Professor and Director of the Marine Resource Management Program at Oregon State University, Corvallis, and an Oregon Sea Grant Extension Specialist. He joined the IMST in February 2006. He holds a Bachelors degree in geography and economics and Masters degree in geography from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He received his PhD in geography in 1994 from the University of Victoria, British Columbia. He specializes in the management of coastal and marine resources with a particular emphasis on fisheries issues. He has worked for the public and the private sectors in New Zealand, Canada and the Falkland Islands. Over the last decade Dr. Harte has chaired and served on many advisory boards, committees, working groups and provided scientific and other advice to a wide range of stakeholders at local, national and international levels. Dr. Harte resigned from his second term, effective July 1, 2011.[return to Introduction]

Robert M. Hughes, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, Aminis Opes Institute(Bend, Oregon) and Courtesy Associative Professor, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis joined the IMST in February 2004. Dr. Hughes received a A.B in Psychology/Biology and a M.Sc. in Resource Planning and Conservation from the University of Michigan. In 1979, he received his Ph.D. in Fisheries and Wildlife from Oregon State University. Dr Hughes has over 30 years of experience in sampling and analyzing data for fish assemblages in various parts of the US, including previously serving as the indicator coordinator for the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) - - Surface Waters. He developed monitoring techniques and indicators for bird, fish, macrobenthos, and algae assemblages in northeastern US lakes, Appalachian streams and rivers, and western US streams and rivers. He has also developed fish assemblage indicators for Indian, French, Portuguese, and Brazilian rivers, and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage indicators for Bolivian streams. Dr. Hughes has published more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts, co-edited three books, and has served as associate editor for two professional journals. He was president of the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) in 2006-2007, of the AFS Water Quality Section in 1999-2001, the AFS Oregon Chapter in 1994-1995, and was elected to serve as president of the AFS parent society in 2014. He served (2002-2010) as the co-chair of the North American Benthological Society’ Science and Policy Committee, and as an external evaluator for the European Fish Index Project (2007-2009). Dr. Hughes is serving his second term on the IMST. [return to Introduction]

Victor W. Kaczynski, Ph.D. a consulting fisheries scientist, Parkdale, OR joined the IMST February 2006. Dr. Kaczynski has been working with Pacific salmon since 1970. He received his B.S. in Biology from SUNY College at Buffalo, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Limnology from Cornell University. He was the Environmental Technical Director for Texas Instruments, Vice President of Beak Consultants Ltd. (western Canada), President of Beak Consultants Inc. (U.S.), and Director of Environmental Sciences for CH2M-Hill. He founded his own firm in 1989. He consults on fishery and water quality issues. His clients have included federal and state natural resource agencies, municipalities, watershed councils, petroleum exploration, geothermal, nuclear, thermal, hydroelectric, petrochemical, forestry, grazing, and irrigation sectors. He was an advisor to the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and College of Forestry at Oregon State University and to the environmental science program at Mt. Hood Community College. He has published on pink and chum salmon early marine life history, parasite effects on bluefish, ecology of Anostracan shrimp, fishery effects of treated pulp mill effluent, use of wetlands for alternative wastewater treatment, environmental standards for the Mexican pulp and paper industry, stream habitat surveys and enhancement, wildfire impacts on stream habitats and salmonids, marine survival of coastal coho salmon, and has authored numerous technical reports. [return to Introduction]

Nancy Molina, M.S., has worked at the interface of science and natural resource management since the 1970’s, when she joined a planning team on the Mt. Hood National Forest. After earning a graduate degree in Botany/Ecology from Washington State University, she returned to the Forest Service where she spent 20 years working as a field ecologist in NW Oregon/SW Washington. During that time she conducted ecological studies for four National Forests, and authored and co-authored a variety of ecological guides and other publications, including "Forest Landscape Analysis and Design", a widely-used guide to landscape-scale ecological planning. She has been a frequent speaker on topics relevant to biodiversity, ecosystem management and landscape ecology, and has assisted with landscape planning projects in Taiwan, Great Britain, and Canada. She also has managed a research program for the PNW Research Station that provided science support to public agencies within the Northwest Forest Plan area, and served as Chief of the Physical Sciences Branch of the USDI Oregon/Washington Bureau of Land Management. Ms. Molina retired from federal service in 2005, and currently co-chairs the Oregon Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team. [return to Introduction]

Carl Schreck, Ph.D., Leader, Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Biological Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey, Corvallis, Oregon. Dr. Schreck has been conducting research on the biology of fishes for nearly 30 years. He has an A.B. in Zoology from the University of California, Berkeley, a M.S. in Fisheries Science and a Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics and Fisheries Science from Colorado State University. He is a senior scientist in the Biological Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey and a Professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at OSU. His research has focused primarily on salmonids. He applies environmental physiology to address environmentally relevant questions; this research has led to over 260 published papers. Dr. Schreck is a member of several scientific and management teams, organizations and committees. He is currently serving a third four-year term as President of the International Federation of Fish Endocrinologists. He has won numerous national teaching, research, and publication awards. Dr. Schreck’s initial appointment ended June 30, 2006 and he is now serving his second term. [return to Introduction]

Clinton C. Shock, Ph.D. is superintendent and professor at the Oregon State University Malheur Experiment Station, Ontario, Oregon. He received his B.A. in Mathematics from the University of California Berkley, and his M.S in Horticulture and Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from the University of California Davis. Over the last 40 years Clint has worked in agricultural research, developing solutions to production problems, solutions that are feasible for producers and have beneficial outcomes to growers, society, and the environment. His crop research has resulted in increased production and improved product quality, thereby increasing returns to growers. Early career efforts focused on providing small loans to poor growers in Brazil and conducting pioneering revegetation work in the Brazilian tropics. Many aspects of his research have directly involved the stewardship of land and water, through increasing the efficiency of irrigation or reducing the off site effects of irrigation.He fostered watershed council development in south eastern Oregon and continues supporting council restoration, assessment, and education projects. He serves on four journal editorial boards, is Consulting Editor for HortScience, and is active on regional research committees. [return to Introduction]

J. Alan Yeakley, Ph.D. is Professor of Environmental Science at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon. He joined the IMST in February 2009. He holds a Bachelors degree in mathematics from Texas A&M-Commerce and a Masters in environmental science from the University of Texas, Dallas. He received his Ph.D. in environmental science in 1993 from the University of Virginia, and held a post-doctoral appointment with the School of Ecology at the University of Georgia before joining the Portland State faculty in 1994. Dr. Yeakley is certified as a professional hydrologist (P.H.) in the area of water quality by the American Institute of Hydrology. He has served on numerous scientific advisory committees and review panels, is an associate editor with the international journal Écoscience, and is a founding member of the Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium (UERC) of Portland/Vancouver. In addition to watershed hydrology, Dr. Yeakley and his graduate students conduct research in the areas of forest ecology, riparian ecology, urban ecology and urban environmental management. [return to Introduction]

 

Public Meetings (and Major Topics/Briefings) Held by the IMST

July 1, 2008– June 30, 2009

[return to Public Meetings]

July 26, 2010 – IMST public meeting via conference call based in Corvallis

• IMST discussed changes in support staff with one employee leaving. The Team chose not to hire a new employee for the last fiscal year of the biennium.
• IMST reviewed and adopted its review of OWRD’s draft white paper on ecological flows
• Subcommittees updated the Team on two reviews in progress; the State’s draft recovery plan for upper Willamette River Chinook and steelhead; and the federal agencies’ draft Elliott State Forest habitat conservation plan and environmental impact statement. Another subcommittee also updated the Team on progress made on the IMST’s draft urban and rural-residential report.

August 13, 2010 – IMST public meeting via conference call based in Corvallis

• Subcommittees updated the Team on two reviews in progress; the State’s draft recovery plan for upper Willamette River Chinook and steelhead; and the federal agencies’ draft Elliott State Forest habitat conservation plan and environmental impact statement. Another subcommittee also updated the Team on progress made on the IMST’s draft urban and rural-residential report.
• The Team discussed potential budget scenarios for the 2011–2013 biennium and how the IMST structure and operations could be modified to work effectively with limited funds.

September 20, 2010 – IMST meeting in Corvallis

• The Team discussed and adopted its draft reviews of ODFW’s draft recovery plan for upper Willamette River Chinook and steelhead and federal draft habitat conservation plan and draft environmental impact statement for the Elliott State Forest.
• The Team adopted its draft urban and rural residential report (sans executive summary).
• The Team discussed and agreed on budget expenditures related to support staff. The Team also discussed key elements of independent science teams.
• Public comment was presented by representatives from the Native Fish Society and the Pacific Rivers Council.

October 28, 2010 – IMST public meeting via conference call based in Corvallis

• The Team reviewed and adopted its July 1, 2009–June 30, 2010 web-based annual report.
• IMST Co-Chairs summarized their meeting with the Governor’s Natural Resource Cabinet about current and potential roles of independent advisory boards in Oregon.

November 29, 2010 – IMST public meeting via conference call based in Corvallis

• The Team discussed and adopted the executive summary for its draft urban and rural residential report.

January 21, 2011 – IMST public meeting via conference call based in Corvallis

• The IMST nominated and elected Co-Chairs for 2011. Schreck was re-elected to continue as internal co-chair and Molina was re-elected to continue as external co-chair.
• The Team discussed other potential outlets for distributing findings from the IMST’s Technical Report 2010-1 on urban and rural-residential areas. The Team agreed to explore the potential of formally publishing the report as a book and to develop a peer-reviewed journal article based on the findings.
• The Team agreed to develop a 2011 technical workshop to follow up on the urban and rural-residential report.

June 9, 2011 – IMST public meeting via conference call based in Corvallis

• The workshop subcommittee updated the Team on the June 21 & 22, 2011 workshop on urban and rural-residential land uses. The role of individual team members at the workshop was also discussed.

June 22, 2011 – IMST public meeting in Corvallis

• Tom Byler (OWEB) briefed the Team on IMST’s 2011-2013 funding and a budget note attached to OWEB’s budget regarding the IMST.
• The Team discussed its review of ODFW’s draft Lower Columbia White Sturgeon Conservation Plan. The Team also discussed timing of a future ODFW request to review the agency’s draft Rogue River fall Chinook conservation plan.
• The Team adopted it 2010-2011 annual report.
• The Team also discussed the State’s draft Forest Management Plan for the Elliott State Forest. The Team will consider a letter to submit to ODF during the open public comment period.

 

[return to Public Meetings]

 

IMST Budget for July 2009 - June 2011
	July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010	July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011
	TOTAL	TOTAL	BIENNIUM TOTAL
IMST Members 0.08 FTE
OSU Salaries and OPE	32,322	33,553
Federal salary	0	0
Personal Service Contracts	39,840	39,840
TOTAL TEAM Member Compensation	72,162	73,393
IMST Support Staff (OSU salaries & OPE)
Clerical 0.0 FTE	0	0
Technical 1.6 FTE	119,880	122,808
TOTAL TEAM SUPPORT	119,880	122,808
Other Costs
Supplies & Services, including support staff office space (2)	15,141	19,083
TRAVEL/PER DIEM	8,533	9,000
TOTAL OTHER COSTS	23,674	28,083
Fiscal Year Total	215,716	224,284	440,000
Note: OSU waived 10% in overhead costs
Note: Federal employee(s) on Team are not eligible for salary compensation

[return to Budget section]