A Watershed-Scale Monitoring Protocol for Bull Trout

Bull trout is a threatened species native to the Pacific Northwest that has been selected as Management Indicator Species on several national forests. Scientifically defensible procedures for monitoring bull trout populations are necessary that can be applied to the extensive and remote lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Distributional monitoring focuses primarily on temporal patterns of occurrence within suitable habitat patches, has minimal field sampling requirements, and can provide inference regarding large areas relevant to land management. This document describes: (1) using a geographic information system to stratify a river network into suitable and unsuitable habitats, (2) determining sample sizes and locations, (3) field sampling techniques, (4) basic trend analysis, and (5) an example application and cost estimates derived from a pilot project in Idaho.