Klamath River Cooperative Spawner Survey Overview Report

The middle Klamath Cooperative Spawning Ground Surveys (SGS) originated in 1986 and were originally funded by the Klamath River Basin Conservation Area Restoration Program (the Klamath Act) as part of a comprehensive plan to restore anadromous fish in the Klamath Basin. Federal legislation supporting the Klamath Act expired in 2006 and was not reauthorized by Congress. Since that time the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has continued to contribute substantial funding to the SGS effort using discretionary funding from their annual budget. The SGS collect data annually on Klamath River Fall Chinook (KRFC) spawning in natural areas for fishery management purposes. SGS cooperators include the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Yurok Tribe, Karuk Tribe, Quartz Valley Tribe, Northern California Resource Center, Siskiyou Resource Conservation District, Mid-Klamath Watershed Council, Salmon River Restoration Council, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and local schools and volunteers.

This report describes the areas surveyed by the SGS and how the data are generally obtained and applied in the annual management of KRFC.