"Columbia River Instream Atlas (CRIA) – a Web-Based How to on Prioritizing Streams for Fish Needs"
The Columbia River Instream Atlas (CRIA) is a compilation of existing data products (workbooks, maps, reports, GIS data) used in prioritizing stream reaches for flow restoration and augmentation. CRIA provides information for 189 stream reaches in eight fish- and flow-critical watersheds in Eastern Washington.
As directed in 90.90 RCW, Washington Department of Ecology Office of Columbia River (OCR) has developed a Columbia Basin Long-term Water Supply and Demand Forecast that includes information developed through CRIA. OCR will also use CRIA to aid project funding decisions and water rights determinations as called for in statute.
CRIA brings together data on fish status, distribution, and life history utilization with information on salmonid habitat and flow conditions. An objective is to make salmonid species and habitat information available to the lay person through interactive map products.
Independent scores for fish status/utilization, habitat condition, and flow condition were generated for each stream reach. The three scoring elements were then combined, for display and interpretation purposes, into a triplet score characterizing each reach. In this way, a broader range of stream reach information is available to the user than would be available under a single-score system.