Stream Fish Inventory for Mount Rainier National Park tabular data

Tabular data for the Mount Rainier National Park freshwater stream fish inventory 2001-2003. The glacial system on Mt. Rainier consists of 26 major glaciers covering 35 sq. miles, creating most of 470 mapped rivers and streams occuring within the park. Streams and rivers within Mt. Rainier National Park (MORA) have had very little human alteration and are outstanding examples of pristine N. American aquatic ecosystems. Streamside forests are old-growth and mature forests established before European settlement. One of the last remnants of rain forest in the Cascade Range occurs in the park. Management of these aquatic resources requires a systematic inventory of the streams and rivers and long-term monitoring to establish an ecological database. One of the least known but regionally most important components of these ecosystems are fish communities. The status of native fish populations in the park was not well understood, and hatchery stocks of rainbow, westslope cutthroat, and eastern brook trout were extensively stocked throughout park streams from the early 1900s until the mid-1970s.
Our primary goal was to meet the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring program goal to assess the status of fish species in parks and to document, to the 90% verification level, species found in parks. This report summarizes efforts to document the presence and distribution of fish species in streams throughout MORA. The inventory was conducted June - October 2001 and May to October 2002, with lake outlet surveys conducted in 2003. Surveys (148) were completed on 138 stream segments using electroshocking or snorkeling methods. The inventories spanned 8 watersheds, covering over 26 km of stream. Fish were observed in streams with gradients ranging from 1 - 35%, but most were documented in streams with gradients <10%.
Salmonids are dominant in park streams (>85%). The only non-salmonid fish documented were sculpins, found in 11 stream segments. Trout were the most abundant species, found in 55 stream segments. Cutthroat trout were the most abundant species for fish >100mm in size and were observed in 47 stream segments. Rainbow trout >100mm in size were documented in 7 stream segments. DNA analysis and identification through morphometric characteristics confirmed native coastal cutthroat trout presence in 16 streams in 4 watersheds. Chinook salmon were documented in the White River. Coho salmon were observed at the park boundary on Silver Creek and in the Carbon River. Sockeye/kokanee salmon were observed spawning in a Nisqually River tributary. The predominant char was the introduced eastern brook trout, found in 14 stream segments and all but 2 watersheds. Bull trout were observed in only 7 stream segments.
Introduced west slope and Yellowstone cutthroat trout were present in the Ohanapecosh watershed. Bull trout were found in streams occupied by cutthroat and possibly rainbow and eastern brook trout. Hybridization with eastern brook trout may be occurring, but additional genetic analysis is needed to verify. DNA analysis confirmed native char samples from this study were bull trout, suggesting that Dolly Varden does not occur in MORA. However, additional studies are needed to determine the species and genetic stock of native char that occur within the park.
Most fish were documented in turbulent fast water (falls, cascades, rapids, riffles and chutes), followed by scour pools (eddies, trenches, mid-channel pools, lateral pools, plunge pools) and non-turbulent fast water (sheets and runs). Most fish were also documented in riparian categories with shrubs and trees as the dominant streamside vegetation. Approximately 79% of fish were observed in streams where overstory vegetation >40%. Most fish were observed in stream gradients <8%.
Seventeen voucher specimens were collected during this inventory and included cutthroat trout and sculpins. Voucher specimens were accessioned into the park natural history

Tags: ascaphus-truei, aurora-trout, brook-trout, bull-trout, carbon-river, carcass, cascades-frog, char, charr, chinook-salmon, coastal-cutthroat-trout, coastal-tailed-frog, coaster-brook-trout, cottus-confusus, cowlitz-river, dace, dna, eastern-brook-trout, ecological-framework-biological-integrity-focal-species-or-communities-fishes, electrofishing, endangered-and-threatened-species-act, fin-clip, fish, genetic-analysis, gradient, habitat, huckleberry-creek, hydrology, inventory, king-salmon, lake, large-woody-debris, minnow-trap, mount-rainier-national-park, mountain-whitefish, mowich-river, national-environmental-policy-act, native, nisqually-river, non-native, north-coast-and-cascades-network, ohanapecosh-river, oncorhynchus-clarkii-bouvieri, oncorhynchus-clarkii-clarkii, oncorhynchus-clarkii-lewisi, oncorhynchus-mykiss, oncorhynchus-tshawytscha, photograph, physical-habitat, puyallup-river, rainbow-trout, rana-cascadae, redband-trout, redd, riparian, salmonid, salter, salvelinus-confluentus, salvelinus-fontinalis, sculpin, sea-trout, shorthead-sculpin, snorkeling, sockeye-salmon, spawning, steelhead, stream, surveys, tailed-frog, vegetation, voucher-specimen, watershed, white-river, yellowstone-cutthroat-trout
Organization: Department of the Interior