In 1998, Plum Creek Timber Company and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife requested the Western Division American Fisheries Society (AFS) Bull Trout Committee to coordinate development of survey protocols for bull trout. Two type of protocols were requested: 1) a protocol to determine bull trout distribution ("presence/absence"); and 2) a second protocol to determine potential or suitable bull trout habitat.

The AFS committee agreed to coordinate the protocol development and to use a process similar to that used by the Pacific Seabird Group to develop marbled murrelet protocols. This is an iterative process in which the protocols are revised and updated as new data and information becomes available.

Membership on the Bull Trout committee and information about the protocol development process was published in the AFS newsletter and announced at AFS Chapter meetings. Over 50 members signed up from all walks of life: state fish and game agencies, Forest Service, Tribes, EPA, timber industry, hydropower, independent consulting, etc. Membership on the Committee continues to be open to AFS members. The committee members voted to select the four authors to be the team to write the protocols: Russ Thurow, Phil Howell, Jason Dunham, and Scott Bonar. A critical aspect of the sampling efficiency research is the selection, testing, and application of the most appropriate statistical and modeling approaches. For this reason the team included Jim Peterson as an additional author in the protocol development process.

The team decided that the protocol development effort would require additional information in order to develop rigorous and defensible protocols. The three parts of their approach are 1) conduct additional sampling efficiency research; 2) provide interim sampling methodologies, including collection of a core set of habitat variables, to standardize existing surveys this next field season where bull trout habitats are being sampled; and 3) use data and information from standardized sampling surveys to determine the bull trout presence and potential habitat protocols.

The review process for the protocols, and for any revised protocols,

is very thorough. First, state fish and game biologists and the AFS Bull Trout Committee provide an informal review. Following that, AFS conducts a blind peer review and the protocol or methodology, followed by submission for publication in a journal.

For further information regarding the protocols or membership on the Bull Trout Committee contact the Committee chair, Shelley Spalding, at 360/753-7762 or

shelley_spalding@fws.gov