{"id":183223,"date":"2022-12-14T17:38:51","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T17:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/?p=183223"},"modified":"2022-12-14T17:38:51","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T17:38:51","slug":"supporting-the-mighty-columbia-river-through-strong-partnerships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/supporting-the-mighty-columbia-river-through-strong-partnerships\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting the mighty Columbia River through strong partnerships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Columbia River and its tributaries comprise one of the largest river systems in North America, flowing from British Columbia, Canada and through the United States to its final destination, the Pacific Ocean. The river is used extensively for transporting various cargoes into and out of the United States including forest products, grain, containerized cargo and bulk products like salt and cement. Upstream of Portland, barge and recreational traffic navigate the river to Kennewick, Washington or Lewiston, Idaho on the Snake River. For the people that use this river for its resources, this traffic almost assuredly has some type of ecological impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The ecological conditions of the Columbia River and its tributaries are constantly monitored by the region’s native people who have fished here for thousands of years as a central part of their culture. This monitoring is carried out by the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission<\/a> (CRITFC), a coalition composed of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, and the Nez Perce Tribe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The reservations and ceded lands of the four CRITFC member tribes. The combined area of these four tribes\u2019 ceded lands covers 25% of the Columbia Basin. (Credit: CRITFC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The monitoring area includes a 147-mile stretch between the Cascade Locks and The Dalles Dam where the tribes have exclusive commercial fishing rights. The majority of this area hasn’t been surveyed to modern standards since the 1950s. Having accurate survey data is important for the navigational safety of the commercial and sustenance fishing fleet of the tribes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A map showing Zone 6, an exclusive treaty Indian commercial fishing area. This exclusion is for commercial fishing only. (Credit: CRITFC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In August 2022, NOAA\u2019s navigation response team based in Seattle, Washington responded to a survey request from the commission and charting authority of the Office of Coast Survey. The team arrived in Hood River, Oregon to begin surveying the Columbia River between the Cascade Locks and Dalles Dam. The response team mobile hydrographic survey platforms are typically operated by three people who transport the 30-foot survey vessel to any location and respond to urgent survey requests such as reopening a port following a major storm or locating wreckage after a maritime incident. While on this project, the team acquired data over a total area of approximately nine square nautical miles composed of 620 linear nautical miles of survey. This project included areas of high interest, where frequent or rapid sediment accumulation is known to occur, such as at tributary outflows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An image of the port side of the navigation response team survey vessel. (Credit: NOAA\/Patrick Faha)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During this survey period, the response team met and communicated with key commission members on the technology used to survey the river, the survey standards and how they serve the charting requirements, and timelines for when the data would become available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
Members of CRITFC aboard the navigation response vessel. From left to right: Bill Sharp from Yakama Nation Fisheries, Charles Seaton, David Graves, Mike Swirsky, and Sanjeev Joshi. (Credit: NOAA\/Patrick Faha)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The data will be used to serve local applications, such as identifying and mapping fish habitats, monitoring shoaling and sedimentation trends, and improving water flow models through the river and from tributaries. These efforts will aid the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission in managing the river\u2019s fishery resource. The data will also be available to the public and will be used to update local nautical charts of the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A graphic showing collected bathymetry layered over a satellite image of the Columbia River. (Credit: NOAA\/Esri)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The navigation response team was excited to partner with the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission on this project and for the opportunity to work on the Columbia River. The commission staff were equally excited to have access to this new data with modeling Program Coordinator Charles Seaton<\/strong> stating, \u201cThese new navigational charts will provide critical information to the tribal fishing fleets and enhance their safety, along with that of other Columbia River navigators.\u201d With an additional 130 miles of river still to be surveyed, much work remains to be done on this crucial waterway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
An image of the starboard side of the navigation response team survey vessel. (Credit: NOAA\/Patrick Faha)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Columbia River and its tributaries comprise one of the largest river systems in North America, flowing from British Columbia, Canada and through the United States to its final destination, the Pacific Ocean. The river is used extensively for transporting various cargoes into and out of the United States including forest products, grain, containerized cargo … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Supporting the mighty Columbia River through strong partnerships”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,30,351,54,110,7,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bathymetry","category-cartographic-data","category-columbia-river","category-environmental-studies","category-fisheries-management","category-hydrographic-surveys","category-navigation-response-teams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183223"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183233,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183223\/revisions\/183233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nauticalcharts.noaa.gov\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}