Casey Justice

Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission · Fishery Science

Many salmonid‐bearing rivers exhibit thermal and hydrologic heterogeneity at multiple spatial and temporal scales, but how this translates into spatiotemporal patterns of fry emergence is poorly understood. Understanding this variability is important because emergence timing determines the biophysical conditions fish first experience (e.g., tempera...

Imperfect detection is a common issue affecting the accuracy of surveys that quantify animal abundance and distribution. To quantify detectability, counts are often calibrated to independent measures of abundance (e.g., via mark-recapture) but stochastic sampling variability in both data types is not typically accounted for. This practice may cause...

1. Changes in biophysical conditions through time generate spatial and temporal variability in habitat quality across landscapes. For river ecosystems, researchers are increasingly able to characterize spatial and temporal patterns in habitat con- ditions, referred to as shifting habitat mosaics, yet rarely demonstrate how this translates into corr...

Despite immense resources directed towards habitat restoration, recovering fish populations remains a daunting and perplexing issue. In 2015, recommendations for a comprehensive approach to habitat restoration in the Columbia River basin were published in Fisheries, which included elements of landscape ecology and resilience, broad public support,...

The following describes continued progress toward assessment of Chinook salmon populations and habitat restoration opportunities within the upper Grande Ronde River (UGR) and Catherine Creek (CC) watersheds using a life-cycle modeling (LCM) framework. The work presented here extends LCM development efforts previously initiated by the Columbia River...

Land use legacies can have a discernible influence in present-day watersheds and should be accounted for when designing conservation strategies for riverine aquatic life. We describe the environmental history of three watersheds within the Grande Ronde subbasin of the Columbia River using General Land Office survey field notes from the 19th century...

Understanding how stream temperature responds to restoration of riparian vegetation and channel morphology in context of future climate change is critical for prioritizing restoration actions and recovering imperiled salmon populations. We used a deterministic water temperature model to investigate potential thermal benefits of riparian reforestati...

We evaluated effects of stocking level and size-at-release on survival rates of hatchery-reared juvenile white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) in the Kootenai River using Cormack-Jolly-Seber and related models implemented in Program MARK. A total of 119 768 marked and unmarked hatchery juveniles were released from 1992 to 2006, of which 2938 pas...

Oncorhynchus mykiss populations with ocean access display considerable life history plasticity. Resident (rainbow trout) and anadromous (steelhead) adults commonly produce offspring of the alternate ecotype, but environmental drivers of this life history variability are not well understood. To explore potential environmental factors influencing the...