The study described in this report evaluated spawning distribution, overlap with naturally-arriving spawners, and pre-spawning mortality of spring chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, outplanted as adults in the Clearwater River Subbasin in 2001. Returns of spring chinook salmon to Snake River Basin hatcheries and acclimation facilities in 2001 exceeded needs for hatchery production goals in Idaho. Consequently, management agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) and Nez Perce Tribe (NPT) agreed to outplant chinook salmon adults as an adaptive management strategy for using hatchery adults. Adult outplants were made in streams or stream sections that have been typically underseeded with spawners. This strategy anticipated that outplanted hatchery chinook salmon would spawn successfully near the areas where they were planted, and would increase natural production. Outplanting of adult spring chinook salmon from hatcheries is likely to be proposed in years when run sizes are similar to those of the 2001 run. Careful monitoring of results from this year's outplanting can be used to guide decisions and methods for future adult outplanting. Numbers of spring chinook salmon outplanted was based on hatchery run size, hatchery needs, and available spawning habitat. Hatcheries involved in outplanting in the Clearwater Basin included Dworshak National Fish Hatchery, Kooskia National Fish Hatchery, Clearwater Anadromous Fish Hatchery, and Rapid River Fish Hatchery. The NPT, IDFG, FWS, and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) agreed upon outplant locations and a range of numbers of spring chinook salmon to be outplanted (Table 1). Outplanting occurred mainly in the Selway River Subbasin, but additional outplants were made in tributaries to the South Fork Clearwater River and the Lochsa River (Table 1). Actual outplanting activities were carried out primarily by the NPT with supplemental outplanting done in the Lochsa basin by IDFG. Fish were trucked from the hatcheries to outplant sites.

"Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytcha) in the Lower Columbia River (LCR) Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU) were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1999. The Hatchery Scientific Review Group, which completed a review of hatcheries throughout the Columbia Basin, found that interactions between natural- and hatchery-origin fish on the spawning grounds was one of the key factors limiting recovery of naturally spawning populations of LCR Chinook salmon (HSRG 2009b). In 2009, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted the Fishery and Hatchery Reform Policy, which mandated that Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reform its hatchery operations to comply with HSRG recommendations. As a result, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife began a series of hatchery reform and monitoring actions oriented around LCR fall Chinook salmon, including the installation and operation of river-spanning weirs. The first weir was installed on the Grays River in 2008, followed by four weirs that were operational by the fall of 2011, and an additional weir that was installed in 2015. These projects have three objectives: (1) to complement existing adult salmonid monitoring efforts, (2) to promote recovery of fall Chinook salmon by controlling the proportion of hatchery-origin spawners (pHOS) on the spawning grounds, and (3) to assist collection of hatchery broodstock. This report focuses on the effectiveness at meeting objective two for weirs operated on the Grays River for the fall of 2008-2016, the Elochoman River for the fall of 2009- 2017, the Green River for the fall of 2010-2017, the Coweeman and Washougal rivers in the fall of 2011-2017, and the lower Kalama for 2015-2017."--From executive summary.