OBMEP is a long-term monitoring program that detects environmental, biological, and ecological changes affecting salmon and steelhead in the Okanogan River Basin.
OBMEP conducts snorkel surveys, physical habitat sampling, water quality monitoring, redd surveys, and underwater video counts to understand factors affecting the status and trend of threatened steelhead populations in the Okanogan Basin.
OBMEP focuses on monitoring steelhead populations while the Chief Joseph Hatchery program focuses on monitoring and managing Chinook populations in the basin.
OBMEP and the Broodstock, Acclimation, and Monitoring Program work together to monitor and manage a steelhead conservation and mitigation program funded by Grant County PUD.
OBMEP shares data environmental, biological, and ecological data with the Okanogan Subbasin Habitat Implementation Program to inform decisions on habitat restoration projects.
BAM is a hatchery steelhead Broodstock, Acclimation and Monitoring program that works together with the OBMEP program to monitor hatchery and natural populations of steelhead in the Okanogan Basin.
BAM collects summer steelhead in Omak Creek and other tributaries to the Okanogan Basin for the Okanogan locally-adapted program.
BAM uses natural origin steelhead for its locally-adapted hatchery program at Wells Hatchery.
BAM collects natural origin juvenile steelhead from Omak Creek using a rotary screw trap to provide juvenile abundance, survival, and life history data.
BAM uses Passive Integrated Transponders (PIT) to monitor Okanogan hatchery juvenile to adult life history patterns.
Welcome to Okanogan Basin Monitoring!
The Okanogan Basin contains the northern-most extent of currently accessible anadromous salmon in the Upper Columbia River Basin and is home to thriving sockeye and fall Chinook populations, a steelhead run that is listed as threatened, and occasional sightings of coho and spring Chinook salmon. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation implement several extensive programs in the basin with funding from the Bonneville Power Administration, including the Okanogan Basin Monitoring and Evaluation Program (OBMEP), the Okanogan Subbasin Habitat Implementation Program (OSHIP), and the Chief Joseph Hatchery Program. The Colville Tribes also implements the Okanogan Broodstock, Acclimation, and Monitoring Program (BAM) with funding from Grant County PUD. Data from these programs are provided in tabular format, GIS layers, and maps, some of which are available for download.
