Sockeye salmon Snake River ESU critical habitat for use in ESA/FIFRA consultations

National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) - NHDFlowline feature class

Data creation process 2018.

SOSNR_CH.gdb -> SOSNR (feature dataset) -> SOSNR_line (feature class)

Data were developed as part of an effort to interpret and depict several salmonid critical habitat designations completed in the 1990s that relied on text-based descriptions but lacked GIS data. Habitat areas for Snake River sockeye were identified based on the following:

1) The regulatory definition of ESA critical habitat for this species found at 50 CFR 226.205(a) and the supporting final rule (58 FR 68543, December 28, 1993);

2) The USGS high resolution National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) - downloaded February 2018;

3) Intrinsic Potential (IP) GIS data developed by the NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center;

4) National Elevation Dataset and Digital Topographic Maps;

5) Fish Passage Barriers data from StreamNet www.StreamNet.org;

6) NMFS recovery planning documents for the Snake River basin;

7) The professional judgment of biologists from the NMFS Interior Columbia Basin Office;

8) Maps and documentation found in the references below.

Evermann, B.W. 1896. A Report upon Salmon Investigations in the Headwaters of the Columbia River, in the State of Idaho, in 1895 Together with Notes upon the Fishes Observed in that State in 1894 and 1895.

NMFS. 2015. ESA Recovery Plan for Snake River Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka). June 8, 2015. National Marine Fisheries Service, West Coast Region.

Teuscher, D., D. Taki., W. Wurtsbaugh, C. Luecke, P. Bundy, H.P. Gross, and G. Steinhart. 1993. Snake River sockeye salmon habitat and limnological research. Annual Report 1993. Prepared for U. S. Department of Energy, Bonneville Power Administration, Division of Fish and Wildlife, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, OR 97208-3621. Project Number 91-7 1. Contract Number DE-BI79-91BP22548. June 1994)

Upstream extent notes.

Used NHD flowlines to identify perennial* inlet creeks (including their perennial tributaries and any braided reaches) from their confluence with the nursery lake upstream to the first endpoint using the following criteria:

(a) the first 20% gradient barrier calculated from DEM data (Tile 08 Idaho, National Elevation Dataset (NED), with a Horizontal Grid Spacing of 1/3 arc second, approx. 10 meters); or

(b) the first impassable falls (based on StreamNet barrier data); or

(c) the first confluence (intermittent or perennial) upstream of a reach classified as High IP for spring/summer Chinook; or

(d) the end of the NHD reach.

* The only exception to this was if an intermittent inlet creek had supplemental information indicating sockeye presence (e.g., the south inlet of Pettit Lake).

SOSNR_line feature class (GCS_North_American_1983 wkid 4269) geographic transformation not necessary, saved as SOSNR_ch.shp (GCS_North_American_1983 wkid 4269).

Geometry was not edited, attributes were not edited, metadata was edited.

The 2019 version SOSNR_ch.shp (GCS_North_American_1983 wkid 4269) was converted into the standardized feature class SalmonSockeye_SnakeRiverESU_19931228_line (GCS_WGS_84 wkid 4326) using the National Critical Habitat Geodatabase processing protocol.

During standardization, geometry was not edited. Attributes were edited. Metadata was edited and populated using the final rule and metadata from the source SOSNR_CH.gdb -> SOSNR (feature dataset) -> SOSNR_line (feature class) (GCS_North_American_1983 wkid 4269).

Migrated fields: "GNIS_Name" into "UNIT", "FCode" into "NOTES" (populated descriptions with FCode values)

Dropped fields: OBJECTID, Perm_ID, FDate, Resolution, GNIS_ID, LengthKM, ReachCode, DPS, ShapeLength

As described above, this species’ HUC-based critical habitat dataset was modified from the line- and polygon-based species “agency-official” NMFS critical habitat data. This HUC-based critical habitat file represents the HUC-12 watersheds (USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; https://www.usgs.gov/national-hydrography/watershed-boundary-dataset) that intersect with the “agency-official” critical habitat line-based and polygon-based data. The data were reviewed and revised to add any additional HUC-12 watersheds that were determined to have hydrologic connectivity to the critical habitat.