Professional Services: Northern Pike Monitoring

Closing Date: April 3, 2026

The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) invites you to submit a proposal for professional services to assist in efforts for Northern Pike Monitoring effort in select reservoirs between Bonneville Dam and Priest Rapids Dam on the Columbia River, and from the mouth of the Snake River upstream to the tailrace of Ice Harbor Dam. This effort will monitor for the possible presence of northern pike using environmental DNA (i.e. eDNA) and overnight gillnet sets periodically and opportunistically from April 2026 to October 2026.

CRITFC is a subdivision of the tribal governments of the Warm Springs, Yakama, Umatilla, and Nez Perce tribes. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, CRITFC has been active in managing fisheries and putting fish back in the rivers since 1977. For additional information, please visit our website at www.critfc.org.

While the requirements below may be updated, please align your proposal with them as closely as possible. All final specifications shall be negotiated and finalized by purchase order or contract.

CRITFC is entitled to purchase from the GSA schedule but is not obligated to do so. You are welcome to submit either GSA pricing or open market pricing.

Our goal is to select the contractor whose proposal best meets our project needs by April 15, 2026. Please ensure that your proposal along with any quotes remains valid until then. All contractors will be informed of their status, whether disqualified, rejected, unsuccessful, or otherwise responsive. Selection will be based on the ability of the proposed solution to meet the specifications and requirements outlined in this document.

We thank you for your time, effort, and interest in meeting our Northern Pike Monitoring project needs.CRITFC RFQ_NP Monitoring

Position Details

The anadromous reach of Columbia River contains 13 runs of Threatened and Endangered salmon and steelhead, Pacific lamprey, white sturgeons, and numerous other species. Staff from co-managers and several Public Utility Districts staff have been monitoring for Northern Pike using eDNA samples and fishery creel monitors from Grand Coulee Dam downstream to Priest Rapids Dam for the past several years. To date, Northern Pike has not been confirmed in this reach of the Columbia River.

The use of management tools including electrofishing and gillnets will be restricted to minimize impacts on listed and native species. Northern Pike spawns in shallow backwaters and bays in late winter, both temporally and spatially limit encounters with anadromous fishes. Spawning completed, adult Northern Pike would likely migrate back to the mainstem river, where proven control efforts would have negative impacts on listed salmon and steelhead, and other native fishes.

The best strategy to limit invasive species is prevention. Once Northern Pike are present, constant monitoring and proven removal strategies can minimize colonization of new habitats by northern pike. At best, management efforts in a large system like the Columbia River with anadromous fishes may keep an invasive population of Northern Pike to background levels, but likely cannot permanently restrict expansion into new areas. Conversely, doing nothing will likely have severe consequences for Columbia Basin anadromous fish populations.

Responsibilities

1. Field work (season range, approximately April 1 to Nov 1)
   1. Must be very flexible with dates and hours of field work. Due to weather issues, equipment issues, or staff issues, contractor must be very flexible with schedule as planned dates for sampling can be changed or cancelled at the last minute. Some months may not have any sampling dates and other months may be very busy with field work.
   2. Must be able to work long hours while in the field. Including travel for up to a week at a time.
   3. Must be able to lift at least 30 lbs. Work in cold or hot temperatures, in rain or sun.
   4. Must have had boat safety training and be able to operate and trailer boats.
   5. Must be willing to fix or learn to fix equipment as needed.
   6. Must be able or willing to learn to use and care for scientific equipment that collects environmental data for the project.
   7. Must have fish handling experience for multiple species (so that we return fish alive back to the environment) and prefer that successful contractor has gillnet experience.
   8. Must have a valid Oregon driver’s license and a good driving record.
2. Project logistics:
   1. Must be very well organized, as the contractor will be the main scientist preparing the list of sampling sites and schedules, completing several reports on time, tracking when supplies are ordered, keeping task lists for pre and post field work and report writing, scheduling meetings with project lead for check-ins and with outside agencies for field work partnerships in their areas of responsibility.
   2. Must have good communication skills, as contractor will be the main person responsible for communicating with project partners in almost all aspects of the project except budget, funding proposals, and reporting to funder annually the work completed.
   3. Must be able to supply project lead with data and information in a reasonable time frame for project budgets, presentations, ordering supplies, etc. when requested.
3. Data Management
   1. Contractor will be responsible for the updates to the survey forms in Survey123 on an annual basis, which will include publishing the survey to the CRITFC AGOL account, downloading the surveys to tablets and preparing the tablets with all necessary information and documents for field work and data collection.
   2. Must have the ability to act as help desk for issues with the survey, ArcGIS Online tools where data are stored, and any issues with the tablet related to the survey.
   3. Contractor will also be responsible for the download of raw data into the project geodatabase, QAQC of data, and creating spatial data products for the project, which could include creating new features or adding to existing features and creating or updating metadata.
   4. Contractor will analyze data and create tables and figures for at least two reports and any presentations at regional meetings or professional conferences.
   5. Contractor will be responsible for the creation of all maps and map series using ArcGIS Pro needed for field work, reports, and presentations.
   6. Contractor will need to be able to attend regional meetings on project topics if the project lead requires it. (Contractor may be a presenter at meetings or conferences)
4. Contractor must have experience with the following software or equipment used on the project:
   1. Ability to code in Esri’s Survey123 to create digital data collection forms.
   2. Experience with Esri’s ArcGIS Online (AGOL) to publish surveys, upload and download data, and be responsible for the project content stored online.
   3. Experience with Esri’s ArcGIS Pro and the creation and use of geodatabases, professional created map series and static maps for reports and presentations.
   4. Experience with ArcGIS Pro spatial analyst tools and other data management tools as needed.
   5. Experience with Microsoft Excel for data analysis, with and without pivot tables, table and figure creations for reports and professional presentations.
   6. Experience with Microsoft Word for report writing and reviewing.
   7. Experience with Abobe Acrobat for creation and editing of final PDF documents for the project from field work information to presentations on findings, and final reports.
   8. Experience with environmental probes for collecting readings of temperature and O2 levels.
   9. Experience with, or willing to learn, to use Samsung tablets.

Qualifications

Supervision

Working Conditions

CRITFC Motor Vehicle Policy