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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Burns, Oregon » Range and Meadow Forage Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #151407
Title: GREAT BASIN REDBAND TROUT (ONCORHYNCHUS MYKISS NEWBERRI) HABITAT IMPROVEMENT USING FELLED WESTERN JUNIPER (JUNIPERUS OCCIDENTALIS)

Author
item MATNEY, CASEY - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
item STRINGHAM, TAMZEN - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
item Boyd, Chad
item GRESSWELL, ROBERT - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2003
Publication Date: 7/1/2003
Citation: MATNEY, C.A., STRINGHAM, T.K., BOYD, C.S., GRESSWELL, R. GREAT BASIN REDBAND TROUT (ONCORHYNCHUS MYKISS NEWBERRI) HABITAT IMPROVEMENT USING FELLED WESTERN JUNIPER (JUNIPERUS OCCIDENTALIS). EASTERN OREGON AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTER. 2003. RANGE SCIENCE SERIES REPORT #6. P13-17.

Interpretive Summary: Efforts to manage stream temperature have focused on maintenance or improvement of streamside vegetation through riparian fencing and vegetation planting projects. This project investigates the use of felled western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) as a fencing alternative for the improvement of streamside vegetation and the amelioration of summer stream water temperature on a Great Basin redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss newberrii) inhabited stream. Redband trout movement, willow shrub measurements, and hourly water temperatures were collected pre-treatment during the summer of 2002 and post-treatment data will be collected during the summer of 2003. Amount of felled juniper placed over the stream channel was documented by low-level helium blimp aerial photography. Passive Integrated Transponders (PIT tags) and swim-through PIT tag antennae gates tracked the movement of fish between treatment locations in 2002. Data from 2002 indicate that maximum summer daytime stream temperatures exceeded 78°F.

Technical Abstract: Efforts to manage stream temperature have focused on maintenance or improvement of streamside vegetation through riparian fencing and vegetation planting projects. This project investigates the use of felled western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) as a fencing alternative for the improvement of streamside vegetation and the amelioration of summer stream water temperature on a Great Basin redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss newberri) inhabited stream. Redband trout movement, willow shrub measurements, and hourly water temperatures were collected pre-treatment during the summer of 2002 and post-treatment data will be collected during the summer of 2003. Amount of felled juniper placed over the stream channel was documented by low-level helium blimp aerial photography. Passive Integrated Transponders (PIT tags) and win-through PIT tag antennae gates tracked the movement of fish between treatment locations in 2002. Data from 2002 indicate that maximum summer daytime stream temperatures exceeded 78 F.