Glossary

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In progress!--CM 12/9/2024

Technical Terms

Additional technical terms available in the YBTAP, pg. 215-219 (222-226 of the PDF).

Adfluvial: A life history strategy of fish in which spawning by adults and rearing of juveniles occurs in streams, but subadults and adults live in lakes or reservoirs. Contrast with Anadromous, Fluvial.

Anadromous: Life history strategy of fish in which a species is born and rears in freshwater, migrates to and matures in salt water, and returns to freshwater to spawn. Contrast with Adfluvial, Fluvial.

• Anadromy: The expression of the anadromous migratory life cycle.

APE: Area of Potential Effects of projects on historic properties. Projects must complete an APE assessment to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act.

The APE is the geographic area or areas within which an undertaking may directly or indirectly cause changes in the character or use of historic properties, if such properties exist.

cfs: Cubic feet per second, a common unit for quantifying streamflow

CD: Conservation District. CD's are county-level natural resource conservation organizations coordinated by the WA Conservation Commission.

Connectivity: Refers to the ability of a species to move unimpeded between adjoining, accessible habitats of different types and sufficient quantity and quality to support various life stages of a species; especially critical to migratory species.

Core Area: The USFWS uses this term to define the basic unit on which to gauge recovery. For bull trout, a core area represents the closest approximation of a biologically functioning unit (metapopulations).

DPS: Distinct population segment, a division of habitat area. A DPS is larger than an MPG (Major Population Group), which is larger than a Population. The Yakima Basin MPG is within the Middle Columbia DPS (see map).

EIS: Environmental Impact Statement

ELJ: Engineered Log Jam. ELJ's mimic natural log jams, which provide numerous benefits to fish.

Endangered: Endangered species are at risk of extinction throughout a significant portion of their range. Contrast with Threatened.

Entrainment: when a fish gets sucked through or over a dam/barrier such that it can't get back over

Extirpation: Elimination of a species from a particular local area.

ESU: Evolutionarily Significant Unit

Fluvial: A life history of fish in which spawning by adults and rearing of juveniles occurs in tributaries, but the subadults and adults occupy habitats in larger streams and mainstem rivers. Contrast with Adfluvial, Anadromous.

FMO: Feeding, migrating, overwintering

Fry: Young salmonids that have emerged from the substrate and absorbed their yolk sac; up to the time young salmonids are about 2 inches long.

FS: Forest Service (also, Forest Service road)

Genotype: The genotype of an organism is the chemical composition of its DNA, which gives rise to the phenotype, or observable traits of an organism.

ID: Irrigation District, a public entity which owns water rights and distributes water for irrigation

Introduction: Fish planted into a habitat where the species did not exist historically.

Kelt: a salmonid that is weak and emaciated after spawning, but does not die after spawning (e.g., anadromous trout and Atlantic salmon). These fish instead recover and migrate back to the ocean.

Legacy Effects: Impacts from past activities (usually a land use) that continue to affect a stream or watershed in the present day.

LWD: Large Woody Debris. Important for stream health; may be added to streams where it is lacking as part of restoration projects.

Mainstem: Term applied to the principal channel of a major stream or river that is fed by numerous tributaries in a watershed.

Mitigation: efforts to prevent, reduce, or compensate for adverse effects of various activities to aquatic habitats and species (e.g., transportation projects)

• Mitigation Banking: a method of mitigation compensation.
• Washington Alternative Mitigation Policy Guidance

MPG: Major Population Group. See DPS.

OHWM: Ordinary High-Water Mark

Phenotype: The observable characteristics of an organism (such as its external appearance, development, biochemical or physiological properties, and behavior) that result from the interaction of its genotype with the environment. Contrast with Genotype.

• Phenotypic characteristic: An aspect of the phenotype.

PIT tag: Passive Integrated Transponder tag (a tracking device implanted in fish to study their movements). See Radio Telemetry.

Productivity: The average number of surviving offspring per parent. Used as an indicator of a population’s ability to sustain itself or its ability to rebound from low numbers.

Radio Telemetry: Transmission of data from tags attached to an animal that transmit radio signals. The signals are read at either fixed receiving stations or by mobile tracking devices. Radio tags for fish are usually inserted into the stomach or surgically into the body cavity.

Recovery Unit (bull trout):
A USFWS term for one of the nested units delineated for recovery efforts. Biologically, recovery units are considered groupings of bull trout for which gene flow was historically or is currently possible. The Yakima Core Area is one of many core areas within the Middle Columbia recovery unit, and there are multiple recovery units within the Distinct Population Segment (DPS).

Redd: A salmonid spawning bed, or "nest". Redds are dug by female salmonids in streambed gravels, and females deposit and bury eggs into them. Redds can be distinguished in the streambed gravel by a cleared depression and an associated mound of gravel directly downstream.

Resident: Life history strategy in which the entire life cycle occurs in a water body, such as that of resident Ahtanum Creek bull trout, which occur in small headwater streams.

Salmonid: Fish of the family Salmonidae, including bull trout (and other trout species) salmon, chars, grayling, and whitefish. In general usage, the term most often refers to salmon, trout, and chars (subfamily Salmonidae).

Salvelinus confluentus: Bull Trout.

Stochastic: Describes a natural event or process that is random or unpredictable. Examples include environmental conditions such as rainfall, runoff, and storms, or life-cycle events, such as survival or fecundity rates. species: Animals that are behaviorally, genetically, or reproductively isolated from similar groups of animals.

Subpopulation: Groups of local populations between which migration is presumed to occur.

Supplementation: The release and management of artificially propagated fish in streams with the intent to increase or establish naturally spawning fish populations while minimizing associated genetic and ecological risks.

RFEG: Regional Fisheries Enhancement Group

Riprap: rocky material placed along shorelines, bridge foundations, steep slopes, and other shoreline structures to protect from scour and erosion

RM: River Mile

RME: Research, monitoring, and evaluation

Rock barb: (stream barbs?) a low rock sill structure angled upstream to decrease flow stresses on a bank. They are designed to redirect streamflow away from the near bank region.

Rootwads: A root wad is a bank stabilization and aquatic habitat improvement strategy that involves burying a dead tree into the streambank with the root system still attached. Benefits of installing root wads include bank stability, fish habitat and insect habitat

SAR: Smolt-to-Adult Ratio.

Thalweg: the center of the mainstem of a river/the main flow path of a river

Threatened: A status of a species that is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range—as defined in the Endangered Species Act. Contrast with Endangered.

TMDL: Total Maximum Daily Load. A TMDL is the calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant allowed to enter a waterbody so that the waterbody will meet and continue to meet water quality standards for that particular pollutant.

USGS: US Geological Survey

VSP: Voluntary Stewardship Program. The VSP offers counties and agricultural landowners farm-friendly options for protecting fragile and/or hazardous natural resources — referred to as “critical areas” — in places where agricultural activity is conducted.

• Also: Viable Salmonid Population (not in current wide usage).

Wasting/mass wasting??

Watershed: Term applied to catchment area of a sloping landscape that collects precipitation and drains the resulting surface and groundwater.

WRIA: Water Resource Inventory Area (fancy term for a sub-watershed; we have WA WRIA’s 37, 38, and 39)

Technical Resources

DART: Data Access & Retrieval Tool (UW’s database that includes tons of data on fish in the Columbia Basin)

FPDSI: Fish Passage & Diversion Screening Inventory (tells you where fish passage barriers are; not comprehensive)

Juvenile Salmonid and Small Fish Identification Aid

SWIFD: State-Wide Integrated Fish Distribution database (tells you which fish live where)

Organizations

BIA: Bureau of Indian Affairs

BLM: Bureau of Land Management

BPA: Bonneville Power Administration (federal hydropower marketing administration within the Dept of Energy; a source of grant funds)

CBFWA: Columbia River (Basin?) Fish and Wildlife Authority

CRITFC: Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

DOE: Department of Ecology

DOT: Department of Transportation

DNR: Department of Natural Resources

EPA: Environmental Protection Agency

GSRO: Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office (partners with RCO)

KCD: Kittitas Conservation District

KCT: Kittitas Conservation Trust

KID: Kennewick Irrigation District

KRD: Kittitas Reclamation District

MCF(EG): Mid-Columbia Fisheries (Enhancement Group)

ICTRT: Interior Columbia Technical Recovery Team

NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (their fisheries department, NOAA fisheries, helps fund SRFB grants via the PCSRF)

• NMFS: National Marine Fisheries Service (the division of NOAA also referred to as NOAA fisheries)

NPCC (formerly NPPC): Northwest Power & Conservation Council (created following the 1980 Northwest Power Act to “inform and advance a regional vision for power and fish & wildlife in the Columbia Basin”)

NRCS: National Resources Conservation Service, the USDA’s primary private lands conservation agency

NYCD: North Yakima Conservation District

Reclamation (also BOR, USBR): Bureau of Reclamation (water management agency in the Western US; a source of grant funds)

RCO: Recreation & Conservation Office (Lead Entities are contracted through this office. Elizabeth Butler works for RCO as the Yakima Basin's regional grant manager)

SRFB: Salmon Recovery Funding Board (commonly pronounced "Surfboard") which runs the annual grant round for all Lead Entities across the state.

SVID: Sunnyside Valley Irrigation District

SYCD: South Yakima Conservation District

TU: Trout Unlimited

USDA: United States Department of Agriculture

USFS: United States Forest Service

USFWS: United States Fish & Wildlife Service

WDFW: Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife

WRCD: Washington Resource Conservation & Development council

WWT: Washington Water Trust

YBFWRB: Yakima Basin Fish & Wildlife Recovery Board

• BTWG: Bull Trout Working Group
• SWG: Steelhead Working Group (last time this group met was 2014 (?); to be reconvened asap to update Steelhead Recovery Plan)

YN: Yakama Nation

YSPB: Yakima Subbasin Fish and Wildlife Planning Board (a precursor organization to the Yakima Basin Fish & Wildlife Recovery Board)

Legislation & Plans

CCA: Climate Commitment Act (legislation passed in WA in 2023). Initiative I-2117 (2024) aimed to repeal the CCA, but it did not pass.

ESA: Endangered Species Act

GMA: Growth Management Act. See VSP.

National Historic Preservation Act: See APE.

SMA: Shoreline Management Act

YBIP: Yakima Basin Integrated Plan

(Y)BTAP: (Yakima) Bull Trout Action Plan. The Bull Trout Working Group (BTWG) works to implement the plan. This glossary borrowed from the BTAP's glossary (Pg. 217).YSBP: Yakima Sub-Basin Plan

YKFP: Yakima Klickitat Fisheries Project

YRBWEP: Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project (a study done by the BOR)

YSRP: Yakima Steelhead Recovery Plan

YTAHP: Yakima Tributary Access & Habitat Program

Grant Round Terms

LE: Lead Entity (There are 25 across WA. Ours includes the TAG, the CC, the LE Coordinator, and a grant administrator—the YBFWRB Board of Directors)

TAG: Technical Advisory Group

CC: Citizen Committee

RFP: Request for Proposal (to solicit grant applications)

PCSRF: Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (a source of grant funding; established by Congress to reverse the decline of West Coast salmon. Managed by NOAA fisheries)

PRISM: Performance and Registration Information Systems Management (nobody really refers to it as anything other than the acronym)

RP: SRFB State Review Panel

POC: Project of Concern (a rating the SRFB review panel can give projects following site tours; means the project is at high risk of not being approved to be considered for funding by its Lead Entity)

NMI: Needs More Information (a rating the SRFB review panel can give projects following site tours; might mean the project passes easily by supplying the requested additional information, or might not)

SARM: Salmon Recovery Model (a project scoring matrix developed by the TAG)

TI: Targeted Investments (a grant round that has taken place in 2022 and 2024)

Miscellaneous

Gap-to-Gap: The 10-mile stretch between Selah Gap and Union Gap