Difference between revisions of "GCDAMP AHCIO Page"

Chair: Randy Seaholm
Robert Begay, Wayne Cook, Kurt Dongoske, Lloyd Greiner, Norm Henderson, Pam Hyde, Dennis Kubly, Phil Lehr, Don Metz, Clayton Palmer, Bill Persons, John Shields

Introduction

The Information Needs (INs) provided in this document represent data needed to meet management objectives and programmatic goals. The Information Needs are nested within Management Objectives and are categorized as: core monitoring information needs (CMIN), effects monitoring information needs (EIN), or research information needs (RIN), defined below. In an effort to reflect integration across resource programs, some Information Needs are supporting information needs for other resources (SIN). Information Needs that do not fit under any particular management objective, but are necessary to achieve the goal are placed above the Management Objectives for that goal.

The process for developing these INs is described in Appendix 1.

Glossary

NOTE: Glossary entries that are already included in the Strategic Plan have been deleted. The glossary entries below should be added to the next version of the Strategic Plan.

Management Objectives (MOs): Management Objectives define desired future resource conditions. They should be:

1. Specific;
2. Measurable;
3. Achievable;
4. Results-oriented;
5. Time-specific, and
6. Within the legal and policy framework of the Adaptive Management Program.

Information Needs (INs): Information Needs define the specific knowledge or understanding (i.e., information) one needs for accomplishing a management objective. They define what one needs to know. The information may be needed to:

1. Quantify or define a management objective (i.e., help determine a target level);
2. Assess whether or not a management objective is being achieved (i.e., help determine why the system is not responding as predicted);
3. Develop basic understanding about cause and effect relationships;
4. Meet the legal/policy requirements of consultation; and
5. Test more effective ways to achieve desired resource conditions.

Information Needs are categorized as follows:

• Core Monitoring Information Need (CMIN): Core monitoring consists of consistent, long-term, repeated measurements using set protocols, and is designed to establish status and trends in meeting specific management objectives. Core monitoring is implemented on a fixed schedule regardless of variable factors or circumstances (e.g., water year, experimental flows, temperature control, stocking strategy, non-native control, etc.) affecting target resources.

• Effects Monitoring Information Need (EIN): Effects monitoring is the collection of data associated with an experiment performed under the Record of Decision, unanticipated event, or other management action. Changes in resource conditions measured by effects monitoring generally will be short-term responses. The purpose of effects monitoring is to supplement the fixed schedule and variables collected under core monitoring. This will both increase the understanding of the resource status and trends and provide a research opportunity to discover the effect of the experiment or management action.

• Research Information Need (RIN): Research can be descriptive or experimental. When descriptive it describes relationships in the Colorado River ecosystem (e.g., describe trophic interactions in the aquatic ecosystem). When experimental it tests specific hypotheses for determining and understanding cause and effects relationships between dam operations, or other driving variables, and resource responses (e.g., how is the abundance and composition of benthic invertebrates affected by grazers, predators and dam operations?). Research requires a purposeful design with established statistical criteria, including allowable errors for accepting and rejecting null hypotheses. Research may also result in the collection of data that can be used to help determine or refine Core Monitoring Information Needs.

• Supporting Information Need (SIN): A SIN contributes to understanding the basis for a resource response and its link to other resource management goals.

• Status and Trends: Status refers to the condition of a resource at a given time or place. Trends refer to a statistically based temporal or spatial series for a given resource, during the periods and at the locations where data were collected.

• Cause and Effect: Cause and effect assigns a resource response to a particular event(s) or driving variable(s).

• Glen Canyon Dam Operations: Glen Canyon Dam operations refers to the operation of the power plant and other release structures, such as bypass structures, spillways, and potentially a temperature control device among others. Their uses conform to applicable law. The AMWG develops recommendations for all of the dam’s structures to further the purposes of the GCPA and meet the environmental commitments in the EIS/Record of Decision on the operations of Glen Canyon Dam. This is done within the limits of the Record of Decision and/or through experimentation.

• Record of Decision Operations: Record of Decision operations are defined as the modified low fluctuating flow alternative described in the Record of Decision including restrictions on upramp and downramp rates, the allowable range of daily fluctuations and the allowable minimum and maximum daily flows. In addition operations include beach/habitat-building flows (up to 45,000 cfs) habitat maintenance flows (up to power plant capacity) and any flows defined as experiments within the environmental commitments of the Record of Decision.

NOTE: The MOs presented in this document represent language that has been extracted and paraphrased from the original MOs table. It is included here to provide a context for reviewing the INs without having to embed them in the original Goals and MOs table. In the next version of the Strategic Plan, approved Information Needs and their sequence order will be incorporated into the MOs table.

Key to Categories, as approved by AMWG January 2003:

Category A: Information Needs that are appropriate for funding by power revenues and for accomplishment by the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC).

Category B: Information Needs that may be addressed by the GCMRC but are not appropriate for funding by power revenues.

Category C: Information Needs that are funded and accomplished under the authority of an entity other than the GCMRC. [1]

• Guidance Document (Scott Loveless)
• Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program: Activities withing the scope of the Program (June 14, 2002)
• 2003 report from the Ad Hoc Committee on What’s In and Out of the Strategic Plan (AHCIO)
• Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program AMWG FACA Committee Guidance (The Loveless Document)

1. Protect or improve the aquatic foodbase so that it will support viable populations of desired species at higher trophic levels.
2. Maintain or attain viable populations of existing native fish, remove jeopardy for humpback chub and razorback sucker, and prevent adverse modification to their critical habitats.
3. Restore populations of extirpated species, as feasible and advisable.
4. Maintain a wild reproducing population of rainbow trout above the Paria River, to the extent practicable and consistent with the maintenance of viable populations of native fish.
5. Maintain or attain viable populations of Kanab ambersnail.
6. Protect or improve the biotic riparian and spring communities within the Colorado River ecosystem, including threatened and endangered species and their critical habitat.
7. Establish water temperature, quality and flow dynamics to achieve GCDAMP ecosystem goals.
8. Maintain or attain levels of sediment storage within the main channel and along shorelines to achieve GCDAMP ecosystem goals.
9. Maintain or improve the quality of recreational experiences for users of the Colorado River ecosystem, within the framework of GCDAMP ecosystem goals.
10. Maintain power production capacity and energy generation, and increase where feasible and advisable, within the framework of GCDAMP ecosystem goals.
11. Preserve, protect, manage and treat cultural resources for the inspiration and benefit of past, present and future generations.
12. Maintain a high quality monitoring, research, and adaptive management program.

1. The goals represent a set of desired outcomes that together will accomplish our vision and achieve the purpose of the Grand Canyon Protection Act. Some of the objectives and actions that fall under these goals may not be the responsibility of the Adaptive Management Program, and may be funded by other sources, but are included here for completeness.
2. The construction of Glen Canyon Dam and the introduction of non-native species have irreversibly changed the Colorado River ecosystem.
3. Much remains unknown about the Colorado River ecosystem below Glen Canyon Dam and how to achieve the Adaptive Management Program goals.
4. The Colorado River ecosystem is a managed ecosystem. An ecosystem management approach, in lieu of an issues, species, or resources approach, will guide our efforts. Management efforts will prevent any further human-induced extirpation or extinction of native species.
5. An adaptive management approach will be used to achieve Adaptive Management Program goals, through experimentation and monitoring, to meet the intent of the Grand Canyon Protection Act, Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement, and the Record of Decision.
6. Understanding cause and effect relationships is essential for managing the Colorado River ecosystem. The adaptive management approach will be geared toward gaining an improved understanding of the cause and effect relationships that occur within the Colorado River ecosystem, and their connection, if any, to dam operations, while also documenting resource status and trends.
7. Dam operations and management actions will be tried that attempt to return ecosystem patterns and processes to their range of natural variability. When this is not appropriate, experiments will be conducted to test other approaches.
8. Because management actions to achieve a goal may benefit one resource or value and adversely affect another, those action alternatives that benefit all resources and values will be pursued first. When this is not possible, actions that have a neutral impact, or as a last resort, actions that minimize negative impacts on other resources, will be pursued consistent with the Glen Canyon Dam Environmental Impact Statement and the Record of Decision.
9. If the target of a management objective proves to be inappropriate, unrealistic, or unattainable, the Adaptive Management Program will reevaluate that target and the methods used to attain it.
10. Recognizing the diverse perspectives and spiritual values of the stakeholders, the unique aesthetic value of the Grand Canyon will be respected and enhanced. [1]

The Colorado River ecosystem (CRE)

The Colorado River ecosystem (CRE) which is defined as the Colorado River mainstream corridor and interacting resources in associated riparian and terrace zones, located primarily from the fore bay of Glen Canyon Dam to the western boundary of Grand Canyon National Park. It includes the area where the dam operations impact physical, biological, recreational, cultural, and other resources. The scope of GCDAMP activities may include limited investigations into some tributaries (e.g. the Little Colorado and Paria Rivers). [1]