ITEM:		CONSENT CALENDAR
8.	CONSIDER APPROVAL TO PURCHASE A NEW DIDSON SOUND CAMERA FUNDED BY A GRANT FROM THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE’S FISHERIES RESTORATION GRANT PROGRAM
Meeting Date:			February 13, 2014	Budgeted:	Yes
From:			David J. Stoldt,	Program/	2-3-4. B.
			General Manager	Line Item No.: 4-04-7858.51
Prepared By:			Kevan Urquhart	Cost Estimate:	$80,000
General Counsel Approval: N/A
Committee Recommendation: The Administrative Committee reviewed this item on February 13, 2014; action taken by the Committee will be reported at the February 13, 2014 Board meeting.
CEQA Compliance: N/A

SUMMARY: The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Fisheries Restoration Grant Program (FRGP) granted the District funds in 2011 to pursue the experimental installation of a Dual Frequency Identification Sonar device (DIDSON sound camera) to track adult steelhead immigration rates in the lower Carmel River. For the last two years, the District has been using a DIDSON loaned to us by the CDFW, Central Coast Region. The grant contract allows the purchase of a DIDSON for long-term installation on the river, but the purchase needs to be completed before the grant expires on March 31, 2014. The District Board approved applying for and accepting this grant at its meeting on March 15, 2010. Staff seeks approval to make the final reimbursable purchase under this grant agreement’s contract, as soon as feasible in February.

RECOMMENDATION: Authorize the expenditure of up to $80,000 in reimbursable grant funds to purchase a new DIDSON Model 300SV or ARIS Model 1200, whichever is still in stock at the time the Purchas Order can be placed.

BACKGROUND: In June 2011, CDFW-FRGP approved Grant Agreement #P1040400-00 for $86,633 to purchase supplies and materials for a DIDSON installation in the lower Carmel River. District staff time and preliminary consultant expenses served as a 48% in-kind local match. The project has been underway for two steelhead migration seasons, and we expect to keep using this approach in the coming years. Once San Clemente Dam (SCD) is removed in 2015, this will be the only way to enumerate the steelhead run in the over 25 miles of main-stem river and tributaries below Los Padres Dam (LPD).

Steelhead migrating upstream are currently counted at the SCD fish ladder at River Mile (RM) 18.6 and LPD trap at RM 24.8. However, an unknown but potentially significant number of fish (estimated at more than 40% of the annual run) may spawn in the lower river below the SCD ladder and are not counted as part of the annual run. The DIDSON device was installed at a location in the lower four miles of the Carmel River to count immigrating adult steelhead. One DIDSON was deemed adequate to properly monitor the width of the Lower Carmel River at the selected location. The DIDSON installation allows the District to enumerate the entire Carmel River steelhead run. Doing so is likely to: a) prove whether or not there is a significant amount of spawning occurring below San Clemente Dam, b) prove whether or not those steelhead are numerous enough to alter the annual trends in abundance currently derived only from San Clemente Dam, c) conclusively document increased utilization of and spawning in the Lower Carmel River that likely resulted from decades of the District’s riparian and stream restoration projects, d) document progress towards Endangered Species Act Recovery goals, and e) provide a correction factor with which to calibrate trends in past counts at San Clemente Dam to future counts at the DIDSON site, once the SCD and its fish ladder and counting station are removed in 2015.

IMPACT ON FISCAL AND STAFF RESOURCES: District staff has been utilized in managing the grant contract, and costs for their time are documented and used for credit as the local funding match.

EXHIBIT

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