YCT Multi-state Assessment 



February 1 0, 2003 



Appendix A. Assessment Protocol and Data Forms 



Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Range-wide Assessment 



Historical Range, Current Status, and Risk 



Protocols 



August 6, 2001 

 An interstate and interagency group of fishery administrators, managers, and biologists 

 representing the states of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah, Yellowstone National 

 Park, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service met January 17-18, 2001 in Idaho Falls, 

 Idaho to initiate a range-wide assessment for Yellowstone cutthroat trout (YCT; Oncorhynchus 

 clarki bouveri). It was agreed at that meeting to conduct a range-wide assessment for YCT that 

 included: 1) estimating range that was historically occupied; 2) determining current distributional 

 and genetic status; and 3) assessing risk using a ranking system approach similar to that proposed 

 by Rieman et al. (1993). It was recognized that this assessment would be based primarily on 

 expert opinion and that, particularly when historically occupied range was assessed, the 

 assessment would be qualitative. However, where field data were available these data would be 

 used and referenced. An ad hoc committee was formed to develop a protocol for conducting this 

 assessment. That group was charged with developing a protocol that linked information 

 developed from this assessment with a geographic information system that would allow the 

 information to be displayed and queried. The protocol detailed below will be used to conduct 

 this assessment. 



The first issue when conducting any large-scale assessment is determining the map scale that will 

 be used for the assessment. It was decided that 1 : 1 00,000 scale hydrography (stream layer) 

 would be used and that any information geo-referenced to this hydrography scale must meet the 

 needs of the states involved and be useful for federal agencies. The USGS 1 : 100,000 scale 

 hydrography that is routed using LLID identifiers and that can be transferred to NHD fonnat was 

 selected as the base hydrography layer. The hydrography layer will primarily include named 

 streams. The second issue involves data quality and reliability. This assessment will use two 

 protocols for determining data quality. First, a rating system will be used to indicate the data 

 quality (DQl; Table 1; tables provide codes and look-up descriptors that will be used in the 

 database). Second, an effort will be made to document source material for all information used 

 in this assessment (Table 2) and a text field will allow entering a citation which details where the 

 mformation can be found. Finally, several issues directly associated with the logistics of keeping 

 data entry consistent and dealing with a consistent GIS database emerged. The ad hoc committee 

 strongly recommends that only 1 : 100,000 stream hydrography layer be used to complete this 

 assessment (some possible data management issues are addressed in Appendix A). 



Table 1 . Look-up table for data quality index (DQI) for information entered. 



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