The Dish on Fish

Of People and Fish

2012-02-16T13:49:00.000-08:00

This is the first in an occasional series of blogs explaining the various educational kits/trunks available for checkout from the CRFPO. The Of People and Fish education trunk contains the curriculum developed by the Oregon 4-H Natural Science and Cultural Discovery Program and the materials to support it. Participants in the Of People and Fish program will be introduced to the complex cultural and scientific history that has led to the “salmon crisis” and become active citizens in the search for solutions within their communities.

The Of People and Fish curriculum is designed for grades 4 through 8. It may be used alone or with the materials trunk. Supporting materials include preserved specimens, reusable equipment, books, videos, and posters. Seven units cover Fish Fundamentals, Pacific Salmon Life Cycles, Native American Life Ways and Legends, The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery, A History of People and Fish, Fishing Techniques, and Salmon for the Future. Students can study replicas of equipment used by Native Americans to catch and process fish, including a trap net, harpoon, and Leister spear. The hands on lessons intoduce students to the science of archaeology, which helps us understand past and present cultures.

To check out this education trunk or other trunks, please contact Donna Allard. For a complete list of educational materials or services available from the CRFPO, visit our website and look for more blogs describing these trunks in detail.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Staggering Numbers!

2012-02-08T15:15:00.000-08:00

Twelve million! At first glance, a staggering number. Imagine twelve million of anything. It is the population of the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho combined. It is the amount of steps Martin Partell of Calgary, Alberta took to run 250 marathons in 2010. And it is also the amount of fish the Columbia River Fisheries Program Office Marking crew is going to be adipose fin clipping and /or coded-wire tagging starting February 22nd at Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery (NFH).

Spring Creek NFH is located approximately 4 miles west of the Hood River Bridge on the Washington side of the Columbia River. The hatchery was initially put into operation September 1901 to provide support for the commercial fishing industry. In 1938, it was reauthorized by the Mitchell Act and on August 8th, 1946, Spring Creek NFH was amended for conservation of fishery resources in the Columbia River basin. The hatchery facilities were later remodeled twice, first in 1948 as mitigation for Bonneville Dam and later in 1972 as mitigation for the John Day Dam Flood Control Act of 1950.

Starting in late August and running through September, adult tule fall Chinook return to Spring Creek NFH. Male and female salmon are spawned in September and upon fertilization, they are reared in trays within the incubation building. After reaching their fry stage, the Chinook are transferred outside to one of 44 burrows ponds in early January at an approximate population of 330,000 fish per pond. Here they are raised until the Marking crew arrives in late February to mark the population to be released as authorized by H.J. Res. 2 Sec. 138, which states that “The United States Fish and Wildlife Service shall, in carrying out its responsibilities to protect threatened and endangered species of salmon, implement a system of mass marking of salmonid stocks, intended for harvest, that are released from Federally operated or Federally financed hatcheries.”

Manual Trailer

Mass marking of this year’s Spring Creek release group will commence on Wednesday, February 22. As in previous years, the marking will begin in traditional manual trailers and finish in computerized “automatic” trailers. Mass marking refers to the removal of the adipose fin, a small fleshy fin located on the back of the salmon near the tail. The removal of this fin allows for the fish to be harvested when caught by a fisherman. In the manual trailers, the clipping of the adipose fin is accomplished by human hands. The juvenile salmonids are initially anesthetized, moved to a freshwater recovery bath , marked, and returned to the burrows ponds via a pipe leaving the trailer. 1.7 million fish are processed in this manner. Marking in the manual trailers will last about seven days and these fish will afterwards be transferred to Little White Salmon NFH for acclimation and an onsite release.

The primary reason for the use of the manual trailers is that at the time it is necessary to begin marking, the fish are not large enough to run through the automatic trailers. By Tuesday March 6, the salmon fry will have reached the average size of 65 millimeters in length to be processed by the automated trailers. In the Autotrailer, fish are brought into a holding tank, sorted by length to the nearest tenth of a millimeter, sent through a series of gates and sensors, and adipose clipped with a computerized system verifying a successful mark. The process is achieved without the use of any handling or anesthetic and upwards of 60,000 fish can be run through a trailer in an 8 hour shift. Three trailers running a double shift will be present and it will take approximately 6 weeks to mark the remaining 10.5 million fish.

Autotrailer

A small percentage of fish will also have Coded-Wire Tags (CWTs) inserted into their snout. These tags are 1.1 millimeters in length, constructed of stainless steel wire, and are etched with a specific series of numbers that will not be duplicated. They remain within the snout for the life cycle of the fish and are scanned for electronically during hatchery spawning operations. The tags are recovered, the numbers read, and the data from the tag codes is used for the management of fisheries and the assessment of hatcheries, as well as other studies.

The CRFPO Marking crew would like to extend an invitation to the public to come observe the marking process. Visitor hours for Spring Creek NFH are on weekends from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Manual trailer operations will be running from February 22 through approximately February 28 and automatic trailer operations will be going from March 6 through April 13.

Submitted by Geoff Gribble

Rosemary Anderson High School

2012-01-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

Occasionally, I have the privilege to work with a small group of high school students from Rosemary Anderson High School (RAHS). It is the Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center’s community based alternative high school, which gives at-risk students who are not succeeding in public school, a last chance for an education, and a way to change their future.

The students are incredible. Together, we have collected and identified macroinvertebrates, learned tree identification, received instruction in using ArcMap, and collected and identified different types of lichen.

With Wolftree staff as lead organizers, RAHS students have embarked on a multi-year study involving an urban tree inventory project. The tree inventory will be used to compare neighborhoods and demographics. The students are particularly interested in census information for different neighborhoods in Portland.

During times when tree identification is made difficult by the absence of leaves, such as now, the students compile the data already collected, practice using GIS, and conduct other field studies related to their tree study. These studies include lichen identification and nest observations. These side studies may or may not be used in conjunction with their tree inventory study. At the very least, the students continue to gain knowledge in data collection and scientific observations.

Submitted by Donna Allard

PIT Tagging

2012-01-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

My name is Bob Haverkate and I am the Agreements Assistant at the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Columbia River Fisheries Program Office. My normal workday duties consist of administering the Grants and other Financial Assistance awards our office provides to Tribes, other agencies, and non-profit organizations. My work is primarily performed at my desk either on my computer or on the telephone.

Once in a while, maybe three or four times a year, I get an opportunity to help out our Marking Crew with a PIT tagging project. I will be working in the field, actually a marking trailer, with no phone, no computer, not a single luxury.I relish a chance to work in the field with other staff that I do not normally work with on a day to day basis.

Today’s task is to implant 6000 PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) radio tags into 6000 juvenile spring Chinook salmon. These tags emit a specific radio code when energized by a PIT tag antenna. Each tag is discreet which enables tracking of each individual fish. (More information on PIT tagging projects and results is available on the CRFPO website.) The tags in this picture are 12mm or .47 inches long.

The first step in the process is placing the tag inside a 12 gauge veterinary hypodermic needle with syringe attached. Each tag has to be placed inside the needle. The needle/syringes are stacked into the trays shown in the background of the photo. The trays are then provided to the person performing the actual tagging of the fish.

The juvenile fish, in this case spring Chinook salmon, are anesthetized prior to tag implantation. The fish shown below are underwater and are gilling (breathing) slowly. They are very much alive and healthy.

Each fish is lifted by hand and the PIT tag is inserted into the abdominal cavity using the syringe.

The fish is then placed in a “lazy river” flowing through the tagging trailer and arrives in the hatchery raceway. The fish recover from the anesthetic quickly and usually show no sign of the PIT tag implanting procedure.

Submitted by Bob Haverkate

Fish Dissection Gets the Green Light

2012-01-09T08:15:00.000-08:00

John, the teacher from Creative Science School let me know that his students took a vote and decided that they did indeed want to dissect a salmon. I guess in years past, when the opportunity presented itself, most of the kids opted out, leaving a presenter and a bunch of fish untouched.

So, Rod, Larry, and I headed over to the school with a cooler full of coho salmon. Most of the kids were excited although a few pulled their shirts upp over their noses as if it already smelled. It didn't. The cooler had not even been cracked open yet. John reminded them that they had voted and all had agreed to go through with the activity. Off to recess they went while we lined the desks with paper and set out the fish and activity sheets.

The students returned and donned their gloves. After a short introduction on the external anatomy, we instructed the kids to slit open the salmon's belly and following their charts, find the internal organs. We roamed the room and were available to give anyone assistance if needed.

After about 1/2 hour, we knew it was time to wrap up the activity. By then, most of the kids had found the internal organs and had begun to wander off. We all cleaned up and then sat down for a short question and answer period. A few of the funnier moments came as one boy asked if we had ever seen any other student lick a spleen. Rod answered no but added that he had seen a student eat an eyeball once. The boy then proudly pulled out his iPhone and waved proof of himself licking a spleen. Another student asked Rod if he would eat the spleen if someone gave him a million dollars. Rod replied that he would eat the whole fish for a million dollars. I think I would too.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Highlights from 2011!

2011-12-23T11:37:00.000-08:00

"The highlight of my year was working with biologists from US Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon State University and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. We collected naturally fertilized bull trout eggs from Canyon Creek, OR. to develop a captive rearing research program in support of bull trout conservation activities."
Bill Brignon

"The Highlight of the year for me was watching Condit Dam Come down. I wish I could have actually been there. From what I saw from the pictures and videos it looked like it was very exiting.
I have also, come to realize that we really are all lucky to have our jobs and work in an office where people work hard and care about their jobs."
Melissa Kennedy

"-commemorating reintroduced bull trout spawning (allegedly) in the clackamas river.
-working with the FWS's NWR system to get a crew out in the Nevada desert to see what fish were there and how they were distributed.
-helping to get Greg Silver through his first year of his master's program."
Tim Whitesel

"Highlight - injecting lamprey with viruses with USGS folks in Seattle."
Jeff Jolley

-"Spotting tracks from the newly established Walla Walla wolf pack with Donna while hiking up the snowy SF Walla Walla trail to fix a remote PIT tag antenna.
-Assisting with bull trout threat assessment evaluations.
-Bull trout spawning surveys with Amy Horstman. Extra bonus: We both had our first cougar sighting while driving to the trailhead!"
Courtney Newlon

"My favorite thing this year was attending the Bandon NWR Restoration Dedication. It was a privilege to see the Feather Dance presented by the Coquille Indian Tribe."
Brook Silver

"Had a nice day in the latter part of September helping out with the Watershed Festival at Lewisville Park. This was the first time I had volunteered and would like to do it again next year. Enjoyed the CRFPO open house as well and looking forward to doing it again."
Larry Fishler

"Too many highlights for me to list but here's a few.
-Seeing wolf tracks along the SF Walla Walla River with Courtney
-Observing freshwater mussels in Merrill Creek
-All the great days spent out in the woods while mentoring students with the great folks from Wolftree."
Donna Allard

"My favorite things for 2011 were doing fish passage project site review visits with Ron Rhew and our partners on Oregon's north coast, getting to work with our resident superhero (Donna Allard) to start setting up a school education outreach project, participating in the Nehalem Conservation Action Plan where I met and worked closely with interesting landowners and agency folks, and seeing big fish and cool wildlife (cougar! elk!) while helping Courtney with the bull trout spawning surveys."
Amy Horstman

"I only have half a year to tell you about. Well, holding that Tule on the White Salmon was definitely a highlight! I got to go E-fishing with Greg and Brook in Tryon Creek. The Leavenworth fieldwork was also fun! We were surveying in and around Icicle Creek by the hatchery there. I've had a chance to work on so many different projects - it's never boring! All in all, these past 6 months have been a blast. This has been a wonderful place to work."
Nadia Jones

Paul Sankovich was co-author of a manuscript, titled An Evaluation of Redd Counts as a Measure of Bull Trout Population Size and Trend, accepted for publication in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management.

"-Finding that fish were using a recently re-connected slough by capturing over one hundred juvenile salmon in one trap.
-Finding that kayaking between sampling sites on the NWR's was the fastest and most enjoyable way to go.
-Hearing American bitterns everyday during a field trip last spring."
Jeff Johnson

"The highlight of my year was being accepted into the Service's Stepping Up to Leadership (SUTL) program and attending the first two weeks of the program at the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Sheperdstown, WV. SUTL is a six month long program designed to improve leadership skills across the Service at the GS 11 and 12 level. It is a competitive application process for which only three people from Region 1 are chosen to attend each class. Being at NCTC, on the banks of the Potomac River, in October when the leaves were changing was beautiful. It was a great way to recharge the batteries. But, even better, being there and being a part of SUTL has allowed me to meet men and women from all over the country in multiple branches of the Service, and realize what an incredible agency for which I have the privilege of working."
Mike Hudson

"We had another successful year of PIT tagging almost 3000 juvenile winter steelhead in Eagle Creek. This years highlights include: working with three new STEP students, leading a field crew that had more women than men on it (a rarity!), catching some really pretty Cutthroat trout (along with some really pretty winter seelhead), and watching everyone get excited when we started to catch fish!"
Maureen Kavanagh

"The 2011 highlight for me was being part of the fish salvage efforts on the white salmon river and watching the breaching of Condit dam."
Brian Davis

"My highlight of the year was when the Director sent us the email announcing 'Voluntary Early Retirement Authority'"
Dan Butler

"- Assisting with capture and transport of Tule fall Chinook upstream of Condit Dam on the White Salmon River.
- Counting over 180 fall Chinook redds above Condit Dam following fish salvage efforts.
- Rafting and kayaking the White Salmon River - Husum Falls was epic!"
Jen Poirier

"A highlight was working with the Refuges I&M program that allowed us to bring on Ben and Cory, our college student crew, to conduct fish surveys in the Sheldon-Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex. I spend some time with them hiking into truly spectacular canyon country to sample fish in remote areas and also visit a lot of dry sites. Another highlight was helping the marking crew to PIT tag fish at Little White Salmon NFH for a week. I did not get to stretch my legs much there, but certainly got to handle a lot of fish and the crew expanded my musical exposure."
Sam Lohr

"My highlight was seeing Joe's picture in all the media coverage for the work all of us did in the White Salmon River. Also being at Condit Dam the day of the breach, it was an amazing sight to see the reservoir drain and all the sediment and timber move through the hole in the dam."
Rod Engle

"seeing live bull trout for the first time ever, and watching them get released into the Clackamas River (which hadn't seen bull trout since 1963); watching the breaching of Condit Dam, meeting up with old friends at the national American Fisheries Society annual meeting in Seattle; and (of course) getting hitched to a wonderful man who appreciates Marci's love of The Life Aquatic!"
Marci Koski

"Looking at a potential project to aid restoring passage to Jackson Creek at Cape Lookout State Park, and in particular the really cool remnant spruce bog habitat, and decommissioning a portion of a ditched stream."
Ron Rhew

"My highlight of the year was helping Rod capture and transport Tules for the condit dam removal project. Some of the fish were as long as my legs."
David Hines

On the Admin. side of fisheries here at the CRFPO;
"Our Andrea who spent her career [over 20 years] in the now retired financial systems along with the rest of the Admin. team:
-We said good bye to FFS [ Federal Financial System]; IDEAS [purchasing]; PPMS [property]; FAIMS [Federal Aid] and said hello to FBMS [Financial Business Management System] which encompasses travel, property, financial and purchasing.
-We said good bye to "old lingo" such as Org.Code, Project Number, Fiscal Year, ABC and BOC codes and said hello to Cost Center, WBS [Work Breakdown Structure], and Partial Fund.
-We said good bye to a short string of numbers and said hello to a long string of alpha-numeric codes.
-We said good bye to old duties and hello to new "roles" with lots and lots of transitional 'glitches'...><((((*>ooo"

And now for the finale...
"We finished the Pacific Lamprey Assessment and Template for Conservation Measures. You may have seen it hanging around the copy room :)"
Christina Luzier

With that we wish you all a Happy Holiday. Look for us next year.

The Quest For Fat

2011-11-22T09:53:00.000-08:00

Lipids are generically known as fat. They are the main energy reserve in animals and critical to the survival, fitness, reproduction, and recruitment of fish. Since the ultimate goal of an animal is to reproduce and pass its genes onto future generations, the rest can be considered details. Lipids are the underlying fuel that all organisms use to this end. Lipids pack a large energetic punch - a large amount of calories are stored in a small amount of space. In many animals like fish lipids can broadly be considered the storage fuel needed for significant energetically costly events – the afterburner if you will. A bear needs to amass a large amount of fat – which will be slowly converted to energy throughout the winter. Similarly, a salmon needs to build up a surplus lipid reserves if it is to successfully migrate hundreds of miles without feeding, attract a mate, convert some of its energy into gametes, and spawn.

Figure 1. A lipid molecule.

Lampreys are unique in that they undergo metamorphosis. Pacific lamprey transform from larvae to juveniles, which outmigrate to the ocean, parasitically feed on other fishes, and return to freshwater as adults to spawn. Western brook lamprey transform directly from larvae to adults – which will never feed again – and spawn and die. The process of metamorphosis itself is energetically costly. Internal organs rearrange and change, external anatomy changes too. This takes energy. Larval lampreys gain their nutrition (and ultimately lipids) through filter feeding detritus. Furthermore, lampreys don’t feed during transformation; Pacific lamprey will resume feeding once transformed as they approach or enter the ocean and western brook lamprey will never feed again! In theory, one should see a buildup of lipids just prior to metamorphosis – and this should be measurable. It is plausible that western brook lamprey may need even more lipids – as they will never feed again and acquire new energy.

Figure 2. Different lifestages of lamprey.

We have been evaluating lipid extraction techniques and lipid dynamics in larval Pacific lamprey and western brook lamprey. Unfortunately the lipid extraction procedure is lethal. The larval lamprey are euthanized and then homogenized into a paste. A mixture of chloroform and methanol is used to extract the lipids. A characteristic of lipids is that they are not soluble in water (this is why fat globules float on water) but they are in other similar organic solvents (e.g., chloroform, ether, acetone). Once the lipids are extracted they are weighed and expressed as a percentage of the entire body weight.

Figure 3. Solution with extracted lipids.

Knowledge of lipid content can also give a measurement of “condition” or well-being of a fish. In the fish world, the fatter the fish is usually considered healthier. Lampreys with higher lipid content would be considered healthier. We also measure condition with non-lethal means by calculating the weight-to-length ratio of the fish. In addition, we are investigating a technique for measuring body density. We use hydrostatic weighing, which is essentially weighing a fish in water, calculating the amount of water displaced, thereby calculating density. We are comparing these different measures to see if they are related and if so, we may be able to use a nonlethal technique to measure condition in lamprey.

Figure 4. Weighing a larval lamprey in water to calculate body density.

So far we haven’t been able to detect a strong pattern of correlation among the different techniques to measure condition. We have noticed that small and large western brook lamprey have higher lipid content than do similar sized Pacific lamprey. This would support the notion that western brook lamprey need to have more lipids in preparation for metamorphosis. These lampreys were collected in the fall, presumably after the time that any larvae that were going to transform would have done so. Essentially we examined larvae that were not likely to transform that year. We are going to examine lipids from another group of lamprey that were collected in the summer. Some of these individuals should be ready to transform and we might be able to see more clear relationships of lipid content.

Figure 5. Lipid content in larval Pacific lamprey and western brook lamprey.

Submitted by Jeff Jolley

Learning in the Great Outdoors

2011-11-17T08:57:00.000-08:00

This fall, I accompanied the Heritage High School AP Biology students on their first field trip of the year. We met at Lewisville Park and after a brief introduction to the day’s activities, we picked up our gear and headed down to the river to collect and study the macroinvertebrates. The students had studied the insects in advance and came prepared with notebook in hand.

Although the water was cool, students who didn’t have boots just took off their shoes and went into the water barefoot. A bit too chilly for me. They collected lots of insects and took them back to the bank for study. Some students drew a picture of their insects and some read all about them. They recorded everything in their notebooks. It was great seeing the kids having fun and learning at the same time. And because most high school students can get instruction and work independently, I got to study the insects alongside them.

Aside from insect identification, the students did some water testing and hiking. As an added bonus, Chinook were spawning in the river. So, excellent weather, excellent students, and salmon made for a great day out in the field.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Catch some baked salmon rolls!

2011-11-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

I am more than just an employee who asks for receipts and cost accounting codes. I love to cook and bake and many of my coworkers have sampled my baking endeavors. Please try this recipe that went over especially well with the fish biologists at our office!

BAKED SALMON ROLLS:
Sweet and savory, with a taste of the orient, aimed to please a lot of appetites.
Makes 16 – 4 inch rolls

Ingredients

FILLING

12 ounces boneless and skinless salmon

1 Tablespoon dried minced onion

1 Tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 Tablespoon seafood cocktail sauce

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon Chinese five spice

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Combine all ingredients till well mixed.

DOUGH

2 packages active dry yeast

3/4 cup warm milk (120◦)

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, room temperature

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons milk

1 ounce of sesame seeds (optional)
16 pieces 3x3 inch waxed paper

Directions

Combine 1 ½ cups of the flour and the yeast in a bowl.

Heat and stir milk, sugar, butter, and salt until warm (120◦). Add to flour/yeast mixture with eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for a minute till all ingredients are mixed into a thick batter. Beat on high speed for a few minutes till mixture is smooth.

Gradually mix in the rest of the flour in with a spoon to make dough firm. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and workable (about 5 minutes).

Place dough in a greased bowl, turn dough over to grease surface, and cover and allow dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (1 to 1 ½ hours).

Punch down dough, and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Allow dough to rest 2 minutes before cutting into 16 equal pieces.

Roll out each piece into a ball, and then roll into a 4 inch circle, dusting with flour if necessary. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of filing in center of dough.

Pull dough over filling and close top by crimping and pinching edges together.

Place roll on piece of waxed paper, folded edge down. Space rolls 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Allow to rise 30 to 45 minutes in a warm oven (95◦F).

Brush gently with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 350◦F for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!!!

--Submitted by Valerie Sinesky, Budget Tech at Columbia River Fisheries Program Office

Another Great Day Outside

2011-10-31T11:24:00.000-07:00

Slightly ahead of the group, Annie and I walked up Post Road, catching the numerous crickets as we went. She suddenly turned to me and said "It's sort of funny when you look around at people. Everyone has a cellphone or iPod or something to occupy themselves with when all they really need to do is go outside!" Well, that was a great end to a week. Annie is in 5th grade, or 4th, I can't remember. I just know she had a fantastic day.

We had just spent the day at Hopkins Demonstration Forest in Oregon City. Our group went down to the creek to explore, catch aquatic insects and test the water. Along the way, we had the students lead with a map in hand. The group was divided between going the long way and 'off-road' or staying on the trail and going directly to our tub filled with the supplies we would need. Annie of course wanted to go directly to the tub and get started.

The group compromised and got to the tub soon. Off came the shoes, on went the boots. Into the water the kids went after a bit of instruction. They were filled with energy and throughout the day, Annie would stop, look up, and shout "We are the luckiest group here today. We get to go in the water!"

Wolftree sponsored the trip and had prepared the students earlier this month with a classroom visit. Hopkins Demonstration Forest provided a great place to study aquatics, trees, plants, fungi and lichen, and wildlife.

At the end of the day during the student presentations, we learned the fungi and lichen group had seen cougar tracks and found lots of edible mushrooms including 'The Prince' and chanterelles. Other groups brought back tales of licking banana slugs, counting the rings on a tree core, or finding the 'toilet paper' shrub. Despite the chilly start to the day, the sun came out and the kids left with a bit more knowledge and enthusiasm for being outside.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Tricks, Not Treats

2011-10-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

Check out the Halloween invasive species blog at http://www.oregoninvasivespecies.blogspot.com/

Creatures of the Night - 2011

2011-10-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

Every year for the past 4 or 5, we have been part of a family event, called Creatures of the Night. This event is hosted by Clark County Environmental Services, Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center, and our office. It is a fun, free event geared towards families. We typically get 30 to 50 people. This year - over 150 kids and parents showed up to participate and learn about these mysterious creatures. Wow!

We started off with the audience, mainly children telling bat jokes, from cards which we handed out. Interspersed with the jokes, some of the older kids and their parents told the audience some interesting bat facts. We then talked about other animals which come out at night, including raccoons, opposums, and beavers. A few short video clips were shown.

A very nice video was played highlighting bats. The audience loved it. Lots of giggles and comments about some of the bats. I have watched this video hundreds of times over, well maybe a bit of an exaggeration, and I still love it, not an exaggeration.

We then brought in a bird specialist to speak about owls. Last year she actually brought in a screech owl named Simon but she no longer has him. Even without the live bird though, her presentation was great and was followed with lots of questions and answers.

This presentation led into what is usually the best part of the evening: owl pellets. The excitement level grew in the room as we told the kids how to dissect their pellet and what to look for. Each child was given a pellet with a picture of a vole skeleton. I can't even begin to tell you how much the kids and parents alike loved this activity.

After everyone gathered their bones, fur, and bone chart into a plastic bag, we headed outdoors to look for bats or anything else which might be lurking. I had not expected many people to stay for the walk, it being a school night, so I was surprised when over 50 people followed me to the overlook. There were lots of questions and lots of wide-eyed children looking up into the sky for any signs of owls or bats. Even though I had my trusty bat detector, there were no bats spotted during the evening. At that point, most families headed back home, but not without giving us plenty of praise and thanks for this wonderful event.

And now I must give thanks to the local cub scout troop, the Tigers, who attended the event and offered us their help in cleaning and organizing the room we used. It would have taken us much longer if not for their much appreciated help.

Each time we hold this event, it gets better. With the amazing response we got this year, we may even consider holding more than one of these events in the future. Who knows?

To read more, here is a great article and pictures from the evening courtesy of the Columbian newspaper.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Late Summer Work at Sheldon and Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuges

2011-10-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

The summer started a little late for Cory and I, as we didn’t get down to Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada until the first week of August. After a week of getting oriented with the protocol and the refuge, we were sent out on our own for the duration of our employment. In the middle of our tour of duty we also spent a few weeks in Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in southern Oregon. In Sheldon we sampled Virgin and Fish Creek watershed and in Hart Mountain we Sampled the Guano Creek watershed. We drove a lot of very rocky and bumpy roads, hiked many miles with heavy packs, and found many more dry and unsampleable sites than sampleable ones. We even had a stream that was sampleable in its mid reaches but dry in its upper reaches and dried up before its deposit into the nearest reservoir. We got used to trudging through roses, stinging nettles, and sagebrush that were very thick and as tall as we were. There were also many beautiful sunsets and sunrises as well as brilliantly clear starry skies. We soaked in the hot-spring pool at Virgin Campground with guppies, bullfrog tadpoles, and opal miners.

Cory shocking up fish in Fish Creek

Sometimes there was water upstream from standing at one point in the creek…

…but the creek was dry downstream (Fish Creek)

Horse pelvic girdles make great masks.

We saw lots of horse-damaged streams in Sheldon.

One of the many gorgeous sunsets. This one was at Hart Mountain.

Virgin Canyon

An army gravesite at Hart Mountain.

We sampled fish that looked more like cutthroat and fish that looked like redbands, and every hybrid combination you could think of in between. We also sampled a few Alvord chub and a lot of Tui chub in Nevada. Aside from fish, we saw many different kinds of animals. We saw deer, pronghorn antelope, wild horses and burrows, black-tailed jackrabbits, rattlesnakes, coyotes, lizards, thousands of little frogs, lots of different waterfowl species and other birds, and even a pygmy rabbit, which a wildlife crew had been searching for all summer on Sheldon but never saw.

One of the prettier fish we saw in Guano Creek.

Wild horses at Sheldon.

Burros at Sheldon.

Deer at Hart Mountain.

Coyote pup at Sheldon

Submitted by Ben Willis and Cory Stratton

Columbia River Watershed Festival

2011-10-11T08:25:00.000-07:00

Each year, around this time, a watershed festival is held for students in Clark County. The CRFPO, Clark County, the city of Vancouver, Columbia Springs, and Clark PUD all contribute to making the event a success. We also depend on many other agencies and volunteers to present to the students or help in other ways. The festival is so popular with the teachers that it usually fills up within a week of opening registration. This year we hosted 42 classes of 4th graders during the three day event. Staff from the CRFPO usually guide the classes to their activities or present. This year we were guides or helped in other ways.

One activity we brought our students to was presented by the StreamTeam. They had a short presentation about the life cycle of salmon and things they are doing to improve habitat conditions in Salmon Creek for salmon. Their excitement and enthusiasm about their work easily rubs off on the kids. After their presentation they played a game called "Hooks and Ladders". The kids all wore salmon hats and pretended to be salmon. An obstacle course represented the hurdles salmon face during their migration such as dams, fishermen, predatory wildlife, waterfalls, and fish ladders. If they made it through all of the obstacles, one final task awaited them. For their journey to be complete, the students had to carry some marbles in a spoon (representing their eggs) to the finish line. At any point if they did not make it through any one of the obstacles, they became a dead fish. They soon found out how difficult the journey of salmon can be. It is a great learning tool and fun too!

Another presentation we sat in on was the storyteller Will. He tells wonderful tales of how important the wetlands are and what may happen if they are not there. He engages the students by choosing a few to act out the parts of the wetland or bog, upstream, and downstream.

A really big hit was the reptile presentation. The presenter started out with a small black and red snake and then went to a larger boa constrictor and then to an albino snake called a banana snake. She also showed several lizards, an alligator and a large turtle and explained what they eat and how much. One important message the students took away with them was that noone should get a pet, exotic or not, without first thoroughly researching the animal's needs.

Another activity was presented by Clark Public Utilities. A short presentation about electricity, how it is can be generated, and its impacts on fish and wildlife was followed by the game of Jeopardy. The kids really enjoyed sharing their new found knowledge. The teams were named "Volts" and "Mega-Watts". There was definitely a lot of teamwork and a friendly air of competition. On this day, Meg-Watts won by a whopping 2000 well, mega-watts.

Anyway a great event as always. We can't wait till next year and neither can the kids.

Submitted by Ruby Bourne and Donna Allard

A Geographer in the Wild

2011-10-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

I got to hold a fish!

This was the highlight of my summer, professionally speaking. I am currently a cartographic technician STEP at the USFWS’s Columbia River Fisheries Program Office while I finish my Master’s in Geography.

My native habitat as a geographer is in front of a computer using GIS technology. My regular duties include supporting projects with spatial analyses such as habitat patching for bull trout, and visualization of data typically in the form of maps. I also work with GPS technology, and now – FISH!

Considering I spend most of my working time in an office I really look forward to the opportunities when I can get out in the field. This serves two purposes: First, I find it beneficial to the quality of my work to see the places I map and experience it firsthand, and second, it’s so nice to take a break from the computer once in a while.

I have been working on a map of the White Salmon area for the office and was excited to see the study site in person. It makes a place more real when you can go there and see the terrain with your own eyes. From a mapping perspective, going out with the field crew provides me the opportunity to see what’s important to them and I walk away with a better understanding of the data collected and the conditions it was collected under.

Our office is currently moving fish above Condit Dam on the White Salmon River so they can spawn upstream. This is in anticipation of the dam’s removal, http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/sep/17/salmon-moved-to-native-waters-before-condit-dam-br/. Specifically we’re moving Tule fall Chinook and I was able to go out for the first week of field work. The whole week was full of firsts for me. I got to see the hatchery and the weir, wear waders that didn’t leak, assist in catching, tagging, and transporting fish, and, of course, hold one! It was a great experience and I hope I can go out again soon.

Submitted by Nadia Jones

Human Resources

2011-09-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

As an office assistant for the CRFPO, one of my focus areas is human resources. Personnel recruitment can sometimes be pretty confusing. I thought I might try to help define the types of positions there are within the Fish and Wildlife Service.

There are several types of appointments within the Service. There are Permanent, TERM, Temporary, STEP, SCEP and Details. A Permanent, or Career appointment, is just what the title implies. A person is hired in this position until they choose to leave. A TERM appointment is a 13 month appointment that can be extended for up to four years. Once the four years are up, the position has to be posted as a new job and the incumbent will have to compete for that position again. A Temporary appointment is an appointment that is a one year or less appointment that can be extended up to 24 months. This type of appointment is one that can be terminated at any time. A STEP appointment is a Student Educational Employment Program. This is an opportunity for a college student to work while they are earning a degree. How far advanced a student is with their education will determine the grade level at which they can be hired. A STEP student appointment can be extended as many times as the supervisor wants as long as the student is enrolled in school at least half time. A SCEP appointment is when a student signs a contract with the Service to stay with them a certain amount of time after they finish school because the Service will pay for all of their school. A Detail is when you are already working for an office within the Service and there is a need for someone temporarily in another position. This is a great opportunity to learn different things.

I hope this helped define the different types of appointments available within the Service. If you want more information come to me if you have any questions.

Submitted by Melissa Kennedy

Marking and Coded-Wire tagging at Winthrop NFH

2011-09-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

In August I had an opportunity to get out in the field and do some “hands on” work operating an autofish trailer to coded-wire tag Coho for the Yakama Indian Nation (YIN) Mid-Columbia Coho reintroduction program and Winthrop National Fish Hatchery. This facility was opened in 1941 to provide mitigation for the loss of salmon and steelhead habitat that occurred upon the construction of Grand Coulee Dam. The hatchery switched to rearing trout for sport fisheries during the 1960’s and 70’s, but shifted back to helping restore salmon and steelhead runs during the late 70’s and the following decades.

Upon arrival at Winthrop NFH, after an 8 hour drive, Geoff Gribble and I had no time for rest, we immediately got to work preparing for the next day’s early morning adipose fin marking and coded-wire tagging. This wasn’t going to be a small job, as we had three groups of fish of three different species to mark utilizing one of our automated fish marking trailers.

During the process of coded-wire tagging for hatchery salmonids, a metallic tag is inserted into the snout region of the fish before release into the river system. This tag has a six digit identification number etched onto it that is specific for the stock of fish being tagged. To avoid confusion between stocks, this I.D. number will not be used again. When the fish later return as adults, the tags will be recovered and the information present is used for the management of fisheries and the evaluation of fish stocks. The adipose fin marking refers to the removal of the adipose fin from the fish. When a fisherman catches a fish without this fin, he is allowed to keep it. If a fin is present, he must release it as it is a native fish.

Our first task was to unload all of our marking equipment from the trailer. Equipment we had to unload included many things such as a water pump, pipe and hose stands, pump box, cable protectors, air compressor, large tote, electrical cords, buckets, nets, steps, etc. Once everything was unloaded we could begin setting up the automated trailer.

I leveled and adjusted the trailer while Geoff put the pump box and pump into the raceway and connected it to the trailer. Once the pump was setup, we could then pump water into the trailer to rinse the troughs and equipment with fresh water. The trailer is rinsed to remove any residue that may have remained from disinfecting the trailer before it left the previous hatchery. Disinfection is necessary to prevent the transmission of pathogens between hatcheries and groups of fish. So at this hatchery, since we were marking three different species of fish, we had to disinfect the trailer three different times.

After rinsing the trailer out we setup our irrigation pipe (used for distribution of marked fish exiting the trailer) and then cleaned, oiled and lubed all the moving parts of the marking lines and sorter within the automated trailer. At that time we also brought in a few buckets of fish to run through the sorter to sample for length. The sample allowed us to determine what size headmolds and adapter plates we would need to use on the marking lines. The automated trailer is fitted with headmolds and adapter plates that can process specific size ranges of fish. Adapter plates are fitted with foam pads and these plates are what close and hold fish in place at the headmold. The headmold is what the fish slides into headfirst so that it can be tagged and/or clipped.

After we got our sample and setup our marking lines, we were finally ready to call it a day. We left the hatchery knowing we had everything set and ready to go for the next day’s steelhead marking and tagging.

Tuesday morning arrives and it’s time for us to start running the steelhead through the trailer. Although the marking lines have already been set with the appropriate adapter plates, it generally takes a couple of hours to fine tune everything so that the fish are running through with maximum efficiency. When the trailer is running at its full potential, it is capable of marking up to 70,000 fish during an 8 hour work period. This number is largely dependent on the percentage of fish that are sent directly to the marking lines. Any fish that are of a greater or lesser length than the adapter plates on the lines are sent to a stock tank in the back where a couple of hand taggers are present. The hand taggers will process these fish so they do not have to be run through the trailer repeatedly. As there are a greater number of machines that can operate quicker, it stands that as more fish are sent through the marking lines than into the back each day, then more fish will be marked and coded-wire tagged. Steelhead, however, grow at a wider length distribution than do coho or Chinook salmon, so it took us a day and a half to complete almost 64,000 fish. For the rest of that second day, we spent the time disinfecting and moving the trailer so we could run a group of spring Chinook salmon for marking.

Generally spring Chinook are tagged earlier in the marking season. This year, however, we were short a tag group when they were originally supposed to be done. The marking of this group and the following required disinfection only takes a day so we leave that evening ready to start marking the coho the next morning.

The CRFPO marking team has tagged fish for the YIN reintroduction program for a number of years now. The goals of the YIN reintroduction program are to re-establish runs of Coho to the Methow and Wenatchee subbasins and to develop over time locally adapted populations. The program began in the mid-90’s using a stock of Coho from the Lower Columbia River basin and since it’s inception they have achieved a high degree of success restoring Coho runs in the Methow and Wenatchee basins. In fact, they have eliminated reliance on the lower Columbia river stock originally used to re-establish these populations. Brood are now collected from returning adults within the basin.

Coho marking went even better than expected since the fish were of uniform size and the group was tag only. We were happy to wrap up the marking a few days later and go through the disinfection process once again, finally pack up the trailer for transport and call it done. While working on the road can be fun and enjoyable, especially somewhere as beautiful as Winthrop, it’s always nice to get the job done and get back home.

Submitted by Jesse Rivera & Geoff Gribble

A Summer’s STEP on the Columbia

2011-09-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

Summer 2011, for me, was spent as a STEP (Student Temporary Employment Position) student working on the Hatchery Assessment Team with the USFWS’s Columbia River Fisheries Program Office. Just as any proper summer should, mine was filled with bush-whacking trail adventures, acquisition of new skills, technical difficulties (associated with our electronic equipment), challenges, rewards, and of course FISH!

My summer challenge was re-acquiring my “stream legs.” After nine months of classroom studies, keeping my waders from collecting their own stream water samples from the field each workday was a task in itself. Especially due to the unusual higher summer flows and lower water visibility – overall concealing inconspicuous slippery and shifting stream rocks and making stream walking entertaining to say the least.

Netting was probably one of the most rewarding aspects of this job, especially netting multiple steelhead at once and getting to shout “double rainbow,” or even better “triple rainbow” (an Eagle Creek crew thing). Also, netting a really large cutthroat, steelhead, or especially an adult Chinook (which only half-way fits in the net), was pretty exciting. Rocking the shocker and handling fish were also much fun and very enjoyable.

In the field I observed not only the creek, but Eagle Creek as an ecosystem: deer, kingfishers, adult Chinook salmon, juvenile steelhead and coho salmon, Pacific Giant salamanders, garter snakes, and lots of sculpin – even a sculpin consuming a fellow sculpin!

As summer comes to a rapid and unfortunate close and books, lecture halls, and exams dominate the next nine months of mine, the experiences and memories of working in the astounding and beautiful Pacific Northwest with all the awesome and friendly people of CRFPO will stick with me forever. Working for USFWS was a great experience – thank you to all CRFPO’ers for an amazing summer adventure!

Submitted by Megan McKim.

Bio-sampling Salmon

2011-09-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

Taking the eggs from a female salmon.
This is the time of year that we begin to spawn the Chinook salmon that are returning to our hatcheries. Hatchery staff do the actual spawning but people from our office are responsible for biosampling the fish. After the fish are spawned and sampled by the fish health people to test for disease, the fish are handed over to us.

The tag detector separates tagged fish from untagged fish.

Bio-sampling consists of recording the sex and fork length of the salmon. A couple of scales from each side of the fish are removed and placed on scale cards so we can determine the age of the fish later. We also collect the snouts of any fish with coded wire tags. How do we know if a fish has a coded wire tag? In years past, a fish with no adipose fin was tagged. Not so anymore. Most or all fish from hatcheries are now marked with an adipose clip regardless of whether it is tagged. So before heading to our table they all pass through a tag detector which separates the tagged fish from untagged fish.

Chopping off a snout with a tag.

What is this information used for? Aged scale data, coded wire tag recoveries, and other data collected during sampling is used to evaluate annual hatchery returns and compile annual run age compositions. Data is also used to help predict preseason run size for the upcoming year.

Visitors are welcome to view the spawning operation at our national fish hatcheries. Visit the Gorge hatcheries website for schedules and contact information or our salmon webcam to see the salmon returning to Little White Salmon NFH.

Submitted by Pat Kemper, Steve Lazzini, and Donna Allard

The Walla Walla River basin...it's not just for bull trout...

2011-08-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

All of the previous pictures were provided by the Water Management Team of the Columbia River Fisheries Program Office.

This photo courtesy of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife captured by a trail camera in Wallowa County, Oregon.

This blog submitted by Courtney Newlon.

A teachable moment...

2011-08-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

This summer I helped out with a summer school field trip to Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge. Twenty-two students in high school were enrolled in the program. Some needed the credit, some wanted something to do, and some just wanted to hang out with their friends.

We had three activities lined out for them: birding, plant id, and aquatic insect id and water testing. The morning was spent birding and looking at plants. Both sessions were sucessful with many species of both birds and plants identified. After lunch, we got into the water in search of aquatic insects. A couple of students remained dry and instead opted for testing the water. Aside from the expected catch of stoneflies and mayflies, we stirred up a few lamprey ammocoetes which were burrowed in the shallows of the creek. I took this opportunity to teach the students about the life history of lamprey and why they are so important. The kids were pretty fascinated by the animals.

After releasing our catch of insects and lamprey, we headed to the buses, some wetter than others. We didn't care though because this day was one of the first days of warm sunny weather.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Last Day of the Season...for Mussels

2011-08-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

Today was probably my last field day this year for sampling Western Pearlshell mussels (WPM) for signs of gravidity. Sad! The flow is low and the mussels are burrowing deeper into the substrate, making it harder to find them. At this time of year, when you pull a WPM out of the substrate, they sometimes squirt you and sometimes make noises. Maybe a bit more stressful with less flow and warmer temperatures? Or just a habit of theirs. I guess I wouldn't be quiet if I was pulled out of my habitat either .

Two new people in our office came out to help me. Rachel and Doug. They will mostly be working with the lamprey crew, formally known as the non-salmonid team, for the rest of the summer. Anyway, neither one of them had done any mussel work so they were excited and ready to go. Freshwater mussels already fascinate me so their enthusiasm made it even more fun.

There are few people who come out with me who actually will sample the mussels. You see, in order to check for gravidity we must open the mussel up about a centimeter to inspect their gills. That's where the mussel broods its eggs. So when I asked them if they wanted to sample they delightedly said Yes. I sampled the first couple of transects and showed them what to do and they pretty much took over after that.

The weather could not have been better and the company was excellent. What a great day. Thanks Rachel and Doug. I hope you enjoy your time at the CRFPO.

For more mussel blogs check out mussel mania I posted Feb 2010 and mussel mania II posted in May 2010.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Another Potential Threat to Native Species?

2011-07-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was reading an aquatic nuisance species newsletter. In it, there was a little snippet about a creature called a ‘tadpole shrimp’, Triops longicaudatus. This animal is apparently sold as a novelty pet, sort of like sea monkeys. They are crustaceans with 3 little eyes and can grow to 2 ½ inches in length. They are sometimes called the dinosaur shrimp, having changed little in the last 200 million years.

Triops are interesting creatures, indeed, and is a very successful animal. They have become adapted to living in vernal pools or temporary ponds. In the winter and spring, as these ponds fill with water, the Triops eggs hatch. Within a few weeks, they can reach 2 inches in length. Being omnivores, they eat almost anything from algae to shrimp and insects, sometimes even their own siblings. After maturing they lay eggs. Triops can live up to 90 days, but die once the water dries up in the pool. The eggs remain in the dirt of the dried up pond, until the next rain.

Triops eggs are extremely hardy. The eggs can withstand freezing temperatures as well as hot temperatures over 200 degrees F for over half a day. They can also remain in a dormant stage for up to 20 years. Because they are adapted to living in temporary pools, the eggs must completely dry out before they can hatch, therefore these animals cannot live in permanent water bodies.

Tadpole shrimp are gaining enormous popularity as pets with many websites dedicated solely to the care and raising of these animals. They are cute and novel but we all know what sometimes happens when people get tired of or outgrow their aquarium inhabitants. Do you remember all those rusty crayfish which were used for educational instruction? Once the studies were over, the instructors or students would release them into the nearest water body, not realizing the impact the non-native crayfish might have on the ecosystem. The result: the rusty crayfish not only displaces our one species of native crayfish but also dines on fish eggs. Will Triops become such a threat to animals native to our vernal pools?

What do you think of shipping these animals all over the world? What might their potential impact be on native species if they are released?

FWS 101 – Fish Identification

2011-07-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

The Columbia River Fisheries Program Office (CRFPO) recently held an open house, during which, a number of local high school students visited the office. Part of the open house featured a Fish Identification session. This was an opportunity for the students to learn about, see and experience some of what the biologists at CRFPO do every day in streams of the Pacific Northwest … identify what it is they are working with!

There are many types of fish in the world that have different appearances, different behaviors, and live in different habitats. So the initial discussion focused around what makes a fish a fish. While many people seem to think they know exactly what you are talking about when you say the word fish, sometimes it can be pretty challenging for them to give a simple definition of what a fish is. The students brainstormed a bit and came up with many of the important characteristics. In general, fishes have three important traits in common: 1) they live in water, 2) they have fins and 3) they use gills to get their oxygen from the water.

When it comes to identifying fish, it is also important to know that life is full of changes. Most fish go through a cycle where they start as an embryo (or fertilized egg), hatch into a larval form, develop into a juvenile form and finally mature into an adult form. Fish from the same species can look very different from each other depending on which of the forms you are trying to identify. For example, the picture below shows a larval (left) and adult (right) fish from the same species.

(not to exact scale, relative scale only)

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish (Dr. Suess).
The students then worked through the classification system that most biologists and scientists use, and that many of them had already learned in school! This system is a method by which biologists group and categorize organisms by biological type, arranging organisms into a hierarchical series of nested groups. The scientific approach is to take all things and group them (from largest group to smallest group) by: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species (which usually has a related common name). The following questions helped CRFPO biologists and the students determine if what they were looking at could be a fish. To possibly be a fish, they needed to answer “Yes” to the following: 1) Does it have cells with a nucleus? (Domain = Eucaryota), 2) Is it a multicellular, heterotroph? (Kingdom = Animalia), 3) Does it have a hollow, dorsal nerve chord? (Phylum = Chordata). Within this Phylum there are three Classes of fish. Chrondrichthyes are the cartilaginous fish for which there are over 900 species. Agnatha are the jawless fish for which there are over 100 species. Osteichthyes are the bony fish for which there are over 30,000 species. The goal of FWS 101 was to focus on five particular species and be able to identify two jawless fish as well as three bony fish. The jawless fish were both from the Order Petromyzontiformes and Family Petromyzontidae and their common names were Pacific lamprey & western brook lamprey. The bony fish were all from the Order Salmoniformes and Family Salmonidae and their common names were Chinook salmon, coho salmon and cutthroat trout.

Its All In The Sequence?
CRFPO biologists then went through a series of questions to help determine which of these five species a student might be looking at.

Question 1) “Is it jawless or jawed”? The pictures below show a jawless fish (left) and jawed fish (right).

To be a lamprey a fish would have to be jawless. In addition, lamprey have gill slits, no paired fins and a notochord.

Question 2) Is it a Pacific lamprey or western brook lamprey?

If it was jawless, what does the caudal area look like? Two common species of lamprey in the Pacific Northwest are Pacific lamprey and western brook lamprey. The larval forms of these species can be difficult to identify (see the picture below). Larval Pacific lamprey (left) have a relatively light caudal ridge with a dark, uniformly pigmented caudal fin. Larval western brook lamprey (right) have a relatively dark caudal ridge with a clear, or speckled caudal fin.

Question 3) Is it a trout or a salmon?

Approximately 18 species of trout can be found world wide. Five of these species are found in the Pacific Northwest. Three of the species found in the Pacific Northwest are native (cutthroat trout, bull trout, rainbow trout) while two of the species have been introduced (brown trout and brook trout). Although trout and salmon can look somewhat similar, trout have less than 13 rays in their anal fin (while salmon have more than 12).

Question 4) Is it a cutthroat trout?

A trout is generally a cutthroat when it has red/pink marks (slashes) in the throat area, speckles on its body and dorsal fin, and teeth on its tongue.

Question 5) Is it a Chinook or a coho salmon?

Five species of salmon can generally be found in the Pacific Northwest (pink, chum, sockeye, Chinook and coho). In FWS 101, if the students identified a fish as a salmon, it could have been either a Chinook or coho salmon. Chinook salmon have parr marks that are wider than the spaces between them, an adipose fin with a clear center and no spots on dorsal fin. Coho salmon have parr marks that are oval and narrower than the spaces between them, anal and dorsal fins with leading edges that are white followed by black, an orange hue (mostly on adipose, anal and caudal fins) and no spots on the dorsal fin.

Every day, from here to there, funny things are everywhere (Dr. Suess).By the end of the day the students had done a tremendous job absorbing all of this information. They skillfully used the key below and had become experts identifying these five species of fish. And you never know when they might find one of these fish in their neighborhood stream!

FWS 101 - Dichotomous Fish Key (Abbreviated to help tell the difference between five species … Pacific lamprey, western brook lamprey, Chinook salmon, coho salmon, cutthroat trout).

1a. Fish is jawless (Petromyzontidae – lamprey) .................... 2
1b. Fish is bony with jaws (Salmonidae – salmon and trout) .................... 3

2a. Caudal ridge is lighter relative to surrounding areas; caudal fin is more pigmented relative to other species of lamprey …… Pacific lamprey – Entosphenus tridentata
2b. Caudal ridge has consistent dark pigmentation; caudal fin has relatively no pigmentation (clear) with some spotting possibly present .................... Western brook lamprey – Lampetra richardsoni

3a. Anal fin with 9-12 fin rays, dorsal fin speckled (trout) .................... 4
3b. Anal fin with 13-19 fin rays, dorsal fin not speckled (salmon) .................... 5

4. Red or pink streak on underside of each mandible; presence of basibranchial teeth .................... Cutthroat trout – Oncorhynchus clarkii

5a. Parr marks are wider than interspaces; adipose fin has clear center; no spots on dorsal fin .................... Chinook salmon – Oncorhynchus tschawytscha
5b. Parr marks are oval and more narrow than interspaces; leading edges of anal and dorsal fins have white followed by black; orange hue in adipose, anal, and caudal fins; no spots on dorsal fin .................... Coho salmon – Oncorhynchus kisutch

Submitted by Tim Whitesel, Jeff Jolley, Mike Hudson, and Courtney Newlon

We Share One Place - Oregon's Endangered Species

2011-06-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

A few years back, I had a request from a teacher for materials about endangered species. I searched my cabinets for FWS materials and could only come up with outdated material from over 20 years ago. Even though there is a wealth of information on the internet, there is no comprehensive piece focused on the species in our own backyard. At the time, I remembered having seen a draft booklet developed by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office, geared to students in grades 4 through 7. I called up Nancy, one of the developers and we agreed that we should finalize the draft book, started nine years earlier. We decided to try to find the original files, update the information, and get it into distribution.

During our initial consultations, I was visiting with Nancy in her office and she pulled out a prototype of the book. Apparently only a handful of copies were even printed before the project was shelved, literally. She held the only copy left so gently and with such guard, I was afraid to even touch it, much less hold it. I laugh when I think back on that moment.

Fast forward more than 10 months later and the book is finalized with an initial printing of 300 copies. We felt that to maximize the effectiveness of this new resource it was important to do a targeted distribution plan. The plan is to provide 10 classrooms with 30 booklets (1 per student) and to make ourselves available as consultants to the teachers. This would include assisting with the outdoor activity and having a biologist speak to the students (should the teacher request it).

So far the book has been distributed to six schools in the Portland area. As the word gets out, I'm sure it will gain popularity as the new school year begins in September. if you are an educator interested in this invaluable resource, please contact us.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Outreach at Cape Horn Skye Elementary

2011-06-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Six Columbia River Fisheries Program Office employees set out for a morning of outreach at Cape Horn Skye School. Our intent was to entertain and educate 55 curious 1st graders. Little did we know how fun it would be! It was the first time our outreach program involved such a young group. We began our event with a very short introduction, then jumped right into a video that introduced bats to children. They were intrigued and made some funny comments throughout the video.

Next on the agenda was a Creatures of the Night Presentation. This also held their attention, but the comments kept coming. Following the video we split the class into two parts, Group A and Group B. Group A were sent to another room to dissect owl pellets. An overhead projection of possible bones to be found was portrayed for the students to compare their findings. Ok, this time we had to chuckle under our breath at comments made regarding the owl pellets. We had to reassure the students that the pellets had been sterilized. Not many realize that an owl regurgitate the pellets. Most believe it comes out the other end.

Group B were provided the opportunity to make fish prints. We supplied them with two real steelhead and a multitude of rubber fish, a rubber starfish, and a rubber turtle to make prints with. The students were great! They had a blast painting and were thrilled with their prints.

Many thanks to Donna Allard, our Outreach Fishery Biologist, that lead the event and thanks to Cape Horn Skye School for the opportunity to provide an outreach event for the first grade classes.

Submitted by Andrea Houts

First Ever CRFPO Open House

2011-06-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

Last month, the Columbia River Fisheries Program Office (CRFPO) held its first ever ‘open house’. This event was targeted at local high school students to showcase careers in science as well as give them a closer look at some of the specific activities performed by our office.

The students were scheduled to arrive at 9 am on a Tuesday. Around 8:40 am, I heard a co-worker exclaiming that a school bus had arrived. Well, just a little early. Sometimes it is hard to keep the buses on schedule. I quickly alerted everyone that the students had arrived. Even though we planned on a short introduction to the CRFPO in the conference room, I knew folks would want to get to their stations and prepare for the onslaught of students.

Howard Schaller, our project leader gave a short PowerPoint presentation outlining the what, how, and whys of what we do here. The students seemed interested but were soon ready to head out for some hands on activities. We had prepared four activities lasting about ½ hour each, so we divided the students into four smaller groups and each group went to a different activity. After two hours they had rotated through all four activities.

The first activity took place in our ‘head room’ and lab. The head room is the room the crew uses to cut coded wire tags out of fish snouts that return to the hatcheries. Here, the students learned about aging fish by reading fish scales. Steve had previously rounded up a Chinook salmon from one of the hatcheries and each student removed a scale and placed it on a card that was pressed between a special film. They later went into the lab and using a microfiche reader, looked at the scales to determine the fish’s age. A coded wire tag was also available to look at under a microscope, and Jesse explained the purpose of marking fish using this technology. General information on the marking program was conveyed to the students as well.

The students left the lab and entered the warehouse where there was a fish identification lesson. They only had to sit for a short introduction before moving about and identifying real fish specimens. They used a dichotomous key to identify key features of lamprey, coastal cutthroat trout, coho and Chinook. I heard comments such as ‘I actually learned how to tell the difference between a coho and Chinook fry’ as the students left for their next activity.

Next, the students followed our guides to the wareyard. There, 2 large tanks were set up, corks bobbing in water. A short presentation was given by staff biologists on how to estimate fish population abundance using a mark/recapture method. With the use of blindfolds, nets, and a calculator, the students soon figured out that the precision of their estimate was dependent on such variables as number of fish marked and the number of recaptures. Since the students were already in the wareyard, the place where a lot of our sampling gear is stored, they had a bit of time to see screw traps, electro fishing boats, and lamprey sampling gear up close.

From the yard, the students walked across our parking lot to a vacant field across the street. They were met by biologists from the Hatchery Assessment Team. They were given the task of finding a radio tag that was previously placed in the field. After a short demonstration on how to use the radio antenna and transmitter, the students took over. Our biologists remarked on how quickly the students could find the tag using triangulation.

The teacher thought the day was awesome and it has already spurred some interest from a few of the students as a place to do a senior project or volunteer. We here at CRFPO all thought the day was a success and plan to do this every year. So, if there are any teachers in the area who may be interested in attending our open house, let us know! And, keep an eye on our blog over the next couple of weeks –the biologists who ran each activity will tell you a little more about what they showed the students. Who knows – it might give you an idea for something new to try, whether it’s in the classroom or in your own career!

Submitted by Donna Allard

13th Annual Watershed Congress

2011-06-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

The halls and classrooms at Washington State University in Vancouver were filled with eager students, educators, and community members. These were not college students though. They ranged from third-graders to 12th-graders and were at the college to attend the Watershed Congress.

For the past 13 years, over 20,000 citizen students have been monitoring Clark County lakes, rivers, streams, and storm waters. The Congress is the culminating event each year which brings students who are part of the Watershed Monitoring Network together with the community in evaluating changing watershed conditions in their neighborhoods from data collected during the school year. The Network targets education, discovery, and stewardship.

This year, over 200 students from 3rd to 12th grades representing 24 schools, 55 teachers and 3,000 students did 43 presentations about the sites they monitored. During the event, four presentations are given in a classroom after which community members and other students are encouraged to ask questions. After the presentations, the students discuss the health of their respective monitoring sites. Later students from different schools are grouped together and discuss various issues which may be affecting water quality at their monitoring sites. They then work with scientists and community members to offer solutions for the water issues they have identified throughout the year.

The day also has various fun components. Usually a local music group or act will perform. Students also submit and vote on photographs taken during their studies in different categories which can include: Comedy, Teamwork, and Fashion. Prizes are given for the winning photos as well.

This program is sponsored by the City of Vancouver Water Resources Education Center, Clark County Environmental Services: Clean Water Program, and Washington State University Vancouver Science Programs. It is made a success by countless of other agencies and community members.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Visit to Cape Horn-Skye Elementary School

2011-05-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, May 17, members of the Admin team visited two of Cape Horn-Skye First grade classes. There were approximately 48-50 students that participated in Fish Prints, and Owl Pellet discovery. Donna Allard introduced the team and proceeded with a video of “Bats”. Immediately the children were enticed. We split both of the classes into two groups, while one went to Fish Prints others delved into the Owl Pellets and vice versa.

I was in a separate classroom where I had laid out little foil-wrapped Owl Pellets along with little skewers to start digging away at them. The children were initially grossed out by the looks of the pellets (they were brown and truthfully they did NOT look like a pellet but as one of the children so quickly pointed out and said with a scowl on his face, "it looks like 'poop'! We discussed what bones of what critters may be found that the Owls may have devoured and regurgitated. Donna had provided an overhead transparency of the bones of a vole. After looking at what bones may be found, the children began to poke open the pellets and discovered the numerous little bones.

They found a lot of little skulls that still had the yellow teeth of a vole. One of the children found a head of a little bird as we saw a beak. The children gathered their bones and put them into a little baggy to take home to show their siblings or parents. Some were able to take the whole pellet home to do further discovery. Many children were so taken by their findings that they shared bones with fellow classmates. They were very pleased with their findings.

It was an enjoyable yet very busy morning for both of the classes; we enjoyed getting away from the office to share a little bit of what wildlife is out there. We later received wonderful and creative “Thank-you” cards depicting what they liked the most. That is what made the whole thing worth it!

Submitted by Mary McGrew

What do our rivers and mini-golf have in common?

2011-05-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

Why, migrating salmon, of course!

For a number of years, the Fish and Wildlife Service has set up a "Salmon Life Cycle Mini-Golf" course at local events to educate the public about the journey salmon take, all the way out to the ocean and back to their natal streams. Last week, I had the opportunity to take part in this outreach effort when I helped staff the FWS booth at the Clark County Home and Garden Idea Fair. I really had no idea what to expect, but when I arrived and saw the mini-golf setup, I was very impressed!

Basically, you have to guide your ball (salmon) through five holes that depict the different challenges and obstacles salmon have to overcome as they make their way to the ocean and then back to their home streams to spawn. You have to avoid predators such as birds and other fish, make your way through a dam, risk being harvested by fishing boats and anglers, and find your way back upstream using a fish ladder to pass a dam so that you can get home to spawn. Want to see?

Wow - look at all that traffic! We were set up in the kids' activities section, near the "environmental interests" exhibits, so we had a lot of people visit our golf course. We had people of all ages, ranging from cadet fire fighters, to adults hoping to hone their putting skills, to kids who just wanted to have a good time. I hope that we were able to teach them something while they were having fun!

Here's me, trying to navigate my way through the ocean. Look out for that orca! In all honesty, I'm not a very good golfer. I concluded that if I were a salmon, I probably wouldn't last long!

This was my favorite hole. You have to get through the dam, avoiding predators waiting to munch on you for a snack, while trying to not to get killed in turbines. The turbines inside the dam actually spin, and you either get dumped out on the other side, or get kicked out altogether (i.e., you didn't make it). Usually, when I asked someone what they learned about being a salmon, the answer was "it's really hard". Yup!

There were lots of other fun activities nearby. Here, Dave takes a break from our booth and golf course to demonstrate the proper way to make a peanut-butter and birdseed pine cone bird feeder:

Way to go, Dave! We were also visited by Terra of Waste Connections, Inc. Make sure you dispose of those plastic bags properly, or better yet, avoid plastic bags and purchase cloth bags that you can use over and over again!

Aside from mini-golf, our booth attracted many visitors as well. We had a lot of items to give away - favorites were posters and coloring books. We also provided a ton of information on the local wildlife refuges, hatcheries, and work that the Service does to conserve our native species and habitats. And of course, we gave away temporary tattoos to those tough enough to sport the Fish and Wildlife Service logo:

I had a great day out of the office, interacting with members of the public. While it was a lot of fun helping people learn about what we do and how they can help, it was even more rewarding to know that there are a lot of people who care about the environment and how they can play an active role in conserving it. Next time the fair comes around, make sure to visit, stop by and say hello!

Streamlining Administrative Functions

2011-04-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

Several members of the CRFPO administrative team recently attended a three day training session in Portland on the new Financial and Business Management System (FBMS) that is scheduled to go live in the Fish and Wildlife Service on Nov. 7th. All Department of the Interior (DOI) agencies are expected to be using FBMS by fiscal year 2013. So far, the U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement are the three DOI agencies that have migrated to this new system. FBMS will replace many of the systems we currently use to perform administrative functions involving procurement, property, grants and agreements and government charge cards.

The purpose of FBMS is to integrate and streamline how administrative functions are performed among all DOI agencies. It is expected that once FMBS has been deployed among all agencies, the need for more than 80 DOI systems will be eliminated. The overview provided underscores how sweeping the changes will be. Much of the terminology we are familiar with in the administrative arena will go away. Organizational codes will be replaced by fund/cost centers. The job number and ABC code on a project will be called a Work Breakdown Structure in FBMS. Also, what is now referred to as BOC (Budget Object Code) will be termed a General Ledger/Account Commitment Item. It will be much like learning a new language.

Apart from the administrative team, I think learning the new components of job cost structures will be the most challenging adjustment for CRFPO staff. The Quicktime and GovTrip systems will largely be unaffected by the move to FBMS. The job cost structures that get entered into these systems will be the most noticeable change. Employees will be able to use their government charge cards for purchases as they do now and acquisitions will still need to be completed. How personnel actions are processed will not change with the move to FBMS. Soon, FBMS roles for administrative team members will be designated. In the fall of 2011, more role specific training will be provided. As we learn more about FBMS, the administrative team will work with CRFPO staff to make the transition to FBMS as smooth as possible.

Submitted by Larry Fishler

Lamprey Ladder Tours

2011-03-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

Fish ladders - most people in the Northwest that even know a little bit about salmon know that many dams have fish ladders - allowing adult fish returning upriver to navigate up and over the hydropower dams along the Columbia River. These ladders have been specifically designed to help salmon migrate with highest success and survival, in the shortest amount of time. What they have not been designed for is Pacific lamprey passage.

This winter staff from the CRFPO including myself, Dave Wills, Christina Luzier, Greg Silver, and Howard Schaller all participated in a tour of all of the ladders on the hydrosystem. Some of us only visited a few while Dave Wills was a die-hard and visited every single ladder – most of them in the span of just a few weeks. Many of the ladders had been drained of water, an annual event that allows dam personnel to do routine maintenance. We were able to walk through them and get a fish’s perspective. We were guided by project biologists, engineers, and other fishery researchers, and learned how water is delivered through the different ladders. We learned about things like diffusers and hydraulic head pressure. We learned about known and perceived problem areas for adult Pacific lamprey passage.

Let’s back up. Pacific lampreys, like salmon, lay their eggs in fresh water. The young rear for several years in the fresh water and then migrate to the ocean. After one to three years in the ocean they mature and return to spawn in a freshwater river. Lampreys, however, do have some striking differences from salmon that make it harder for them to navigate the ladders. Pacific lamprey, Entosphenus tridentatus, is an ancient fish species that has a cartilage skeleton instead of bones. They may reach lengths of about 30 inches and weigh about one pound. They don’t swim as well as salmon and only a low percentage of fish make it past each dam. A previous study estimated that perhaps only 50% of lampreys that encounter a dam successfully pass it. This becomes a problem when you consider the 8 potential dams that lamprey will encounter during their migration from the Pacific Ocean to the Snake River and beyond. For example, only 15 adult lampreys were counted at Lower Granite Dam (the highest dam on the Snake River system with fish passage) in 2010 – only 2 were counted passing Wells Dam on the Upper Columbia! They don’t have the strong muscles that salmon do and rely on an undulatory swimming motion (sort of like a snake) which just isn’t as efficient. So when it comes to pure water velocity they can’t make it through very fast water without needing a break. Resting and attachment areas (you may have seen lamprey attached to the glass at the dam viewing windows) are needed to keep from getting swept back downstream. So things like roughened bottom surfaces may help break the current and also provide protected places for them to rest. Rounded corners are much better than 90ocorners. Lampreys have a very difficult time in fast velocities negotiating over or around a sharp 90° corner. Diffuser grates with smaller openings prevent lamprey from squeezing through and getting lost in dead-end portions of the dam.

A big challenge to ladder improvements is that changes cannot be made that impede salmon passage. Many of the wild stocks of salmon in the Columbia River Basin are threatened or endangered and are thereby protected by the Endangered Species Act. We walked through these ladders with an eye toward improvements that may be made to help lamprey pass. For example, a simple fix being installed at the Washington shore ladder at Bonneville Dam was a piece of sheet metal to create a sort of ramp over a small concrete ledge.

The goal of the ladder tours is ultimately to work with the Corps of Engineers and develop a database of problem areas, ladder by ladder, and proposed fixes. Some fixes could be relatively cheap, others could have high costs. All of these factors will be input into a prioritization exercise and hopefully a systematic approach can be taken to start to address these fixes.

Beyond the Pacific lamprey’s intrinsic value as a unique aquatic species, these fish have been, and continue to be, an important fish, culturally and as a valued food source, for the native peoples in the Columbia and Snake River basins and a vital component of the aquatic ecosystem.

Newly installed sheet metal ramp to guide lamprey over a 90° concrete lip at the Washington shore ladder at Bonneville Dam.

Part of the newly completed John Day North ladder showing the rounded corners designed to help lamprey pass the vertical slot and weir portion of the ladder.

Junction pool corner and beginning of the weir portion of the Washington shore ladder at Bonneville. The junction pool with its diffusers, complex hydraulics, and density of sturgeon, is a known problematic area for lampreys.

The de-watered John Day south ladder. Lampreys have a long climb, but orifice openings are chamfered, which is easier for lamprey to pass than through a square cornered opening.

Submitted by Jeff Jolley.

Oregon Chapter- American Fisheries Society

2011-03-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

The Oregon Chapter of the American Fisheries Society (ORAFS)was established in 1964 and is composed of over 400 fisheries and aquatic science professionals from federal, state, and tribal agencies, colleges and universities, private employers, students, and retired professionals of fisheries and aquatic science fields. Its mission is to improve the conservation and sustainability of Oregon fishery resources and their aquatic ecosystems by advancing science, education and public discourse concerning fisheries and aquatic science.

In February, I had the opportunity to attend the 2011 ORAFS Annual Meeting in Bend, OR. The meeting included a wide variety of opportunities for sharing technical expertise, ideas, results of research, and abundant networking opportunities. The plenary speaker was Dr. Don Chapman who has 55 years of fisheries experience. There were technical sessions that covered topics such as Marine Fishery Reserves, Fish Physiology, Salmonid Life History Investigations, Fish Passage Issues, and Fish Reintroduction Research. Networking activities included a student-mentor mixer, a banquet, and an auction/raffle (I co-chaired the raffle and auction this year and spent the last few months contacting donors, acquiring artwork, equipment, and fishing adventures). Another important role ORAFS plays is promoting the development of fisheries professionals. Student papers and posters were judged by fisheries professionals during the conference. Awards and scholarships were later presented to students recognizing their excellent work.

Submitted by Brook Silver.

Winter Fish Sampling - Not the Warmest of Jobs

2011-02-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

As I trudge through about 6 inches of fresh snow in the dark I wonder what the day holds. Most college students are still in their beds at their homes or some tropical place, but not me. I am awake before the sun, before most people in our town. Not because I don’t want to be in my warm bed but because I have fish to set free. I am one of seven STEP students hired by the CRFPO biologists to sample the screwtrap in the lower Walla Walla River with the hopes of catching bull trout to tag so we can monitor their movements out into the Columbia River.

After a few blocks the sun starts to peak over the horizon and I reach the science building at Walla Walla University and head down to the basement hoping that the waders and boots are dry and don’t smell too bad. Carrying my equipment I head out to a snow covered vehicle. After a few minutes of getting a ton of snow off the windows and using the defroster, I discover that I may not be adequately dressed for the weather. Our normal thirty minute drive now takes about forty minutes in four wheel drive on a snow covered road with other drivers who seem to have never seen snow in their lives.

Once on site and dressed in river appropriate gear, that was not dry and is quite rank, my partner and I encounter the ice laced winds that are sweeping across the RV park where the fish trap is located. Stomping through the snow in my boots seems to be difficult as the snow and mud stick to the metal on the bottom of the boots, eventually making me about 4 inches taller. Balancing on these new stilts is nothing compared to attempting to open the first of four frozen locks with my now frozen fingers.

Carrying the rest of our equipment to the river on the short trail seems magical with the fresh snow covering the bushes that line the trail, yet I still stumble on my stilts in unseen holes. We reach the river, its banks lined with ice, the trap spinning perfectly with water splashing to add to the icicles dripping from all parts of the cold metal of the trap. One of us cranks in the trap while the other preps the data sheet and buckets. The trap reaches the shore and we grab our equipment. We hope for two things as we enter the water: not to trip and get soaked, and for our waders to not have any holes in them. Fishing out sticks and debris seems to be the hardest as our fingers’ numbness tells us to save what movement we have left and not yet get our hands wet. The night before has produced so many fish that the water in the trap appears cloudy. To our amazement the catch turns out to be more than 200 fish. Identification starts with us immersing our hands in the ice cold water that is 2 degrees Celsius. After sampling the fish our fingers have turned blue. We must now push out the trap since flows have decreased with the cold temperature, and yes it takes both my partner and I to do it making me aware of muscles I did not know I had. Eventually we get back to the rig, we crank up the heat, get out of our wet clothes, and smack the snow off the bottom of our wading boots. Then we sit and thaw out before we head home to rest before turn around and do it all again that evening.

Over time our group developed a perfect system of working together for efficiency and we also discovered the perfect amount of clothing layers to wear- usually about 6or 7. We discovered the great benefit of thick snow gloves and our hands and bodies eventually became use to the cold and the water no longer phases us. The people working the fish trap have been brought together as a team and the experience has allowed me to see the beauty in the river and the many different species of fish that few people get to see in the cold winter months. It is more than just counting fish and recording data. It is working hard for a better future with the people here today and having fun while doing it.

Submitted by Rebecca Bullard

USFWS Presents Its “Mitchell Act Message” at the First Annual Mitchell Act Program Review Meeting

2011-02-07T10:38:00.000-08:00

A number of Columbia River Fisheries Program Office staff attended and participated in a two-day conference at the Portland Double Tree Hotel on January 18 and 19, 2011 to highlight the efforts of the USFWS in conducting its Mitchell Act funded programs. The Mitchell Act was initiated in 1938 and is administered by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to provide fishery mitigation for Columbia River Basin development, especially hydro-system development, and to help conserve Columbia River salmon and steelhead resources. The Mitchell Act program provides funding in three major program areas: hatchery operations; fish screens and fish ways; and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and hatchery reform. The funding, although administered by NMFS, is distributed to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Yakama Nation, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the USFWS to implement program actions.

The two-day conference on January 18 and 19 was billed as the first annual meeting program review, at least first in recent history, to provide Mitchell Act operators the opportunity to highlight their programs and explain how the Mitchell Act funding they receive is being used to address the goals and objectives of the program. The conference was attended by 80 - 100 agency and tribal staff representatives and presenters and by interested public. NMFS hosted the conference and indicated their desire to make this an annual event for the future that can be used to help set and reshape program direction and help give guidance for future funding decisions for the Mitchell Act program.

A common theme by all agency and tribal representatives that gave presentations was that the Mitchell Act program is a very important program that provides substantial fishing opportunity and fishery benefits to the Pacific Northwest region, as well as fish conservation benefits in the Columbia River Basin. However, there was broad recognition that limited funding has definitely strained the ability of the program to continue to provide these critical benefits. Flat funding since the mid-1990s, reduced buying power for current funding, escalating costs for current program activities, and a whole new set of Endangered Species Act (ESA) driven fishery and hatchery management constraints and costs have definitely taken their toll on program implementation. Program operators have responded by cutting and/or reducing Mitchell Act hatchery production programs in some instances, seeking alternate and/or cost share funding, and prioritizing activities that are most critical to program implementation and program results.

The USFWS made five presentations on the second day of the conference that highlighted its Mitchell Act programs and allowed the Service to “tell its Mitchell Act story”. These five presentations included 1) a general but comprehensive overview of its Mitchell Act hatchery production program, baseline M&E program, fish health program, Abernathy Fish Technology Center (AFTC) program, and newly expanded M&E and hatchery reform program, 2) a focused fish marking, tagging, and bio-sampling program presentation, 3) a focused fish health program presentation, 4) a presentation on recent Eagle Creek winter steelhead and coho ecological interaction studies, and 5) a presentation on recent Gorge area fall Chinook investigations and pre-Condit Dam removal activities in the Big White salmon River. All of these presentations were applauded for their high quality and vivid demonstration of the critical benefits that these USFWS Mitchell Act production programs and M&E programs bring to the Pacific Northwest region for sustainable fisheries and fish conservation.

The USFWS acknowledges the critical nature of the Mitchell Act production program to meeting tribal trust responsibilities; honoring the current 2008-2017 U.S. v. Oregon Management Agreement; meeting Pacific Salmon Treaty production expectations; and meeting other social, economic, and cultural needs and thus has done all that it can within overall budget constraints to maintain these important programs. The USFWS has also been very proactive to implement a number of fish conservation and hatchery reform actions and to expand its M&E programs for its Mitchell Act funded facilities as recommended by recent Hatchery and Scientific Review Group (HSRG) and Hatchery Review Team (HRT) reviews. The challenge is to manage our programs in such a way that they continue to provide the fishery benefits anticipated under the original purpose of the Mitchell Act program while also addressing other biological and legal management constraints on our management actions such as ESA compliance and implementation of hatchery biological opinion terms and conditions.

The USFWS is very proud of its Mitchell Act program efforts and believes its program can best be described as: Quality Stewardship Mitigation for the 21st Century. The USFWS continues to work together with its Columbia River co-manager partners to improve the overall Mitchell Act program and thereby provide the benefits anticipated and honor its promise to the Columbia River Tribes and the American public for continued harvest opportunity, even in the midst of very significant funding and ESA listing and recovery challenges. All of the USFWS powerpoint presentations and those by other agency and tribal presenters will soon be available for viewing at the NMFS webpage for their Mitchell Act program: http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Salmon-Harvest-Hatcheries/Hatcheries/MA-prgrm.cfm which is currently being restructured. Readers are encouraged to link to this webpage for further information on the Mitchell Act program and its benefits to the Pacific Northwest region.

Submitted by: Tim W. Roth

Hiking Along the SF Walla Walla River

2011-01-25T10:54:00.000-08:00

We left before dawn on Wednesday morning. After a nearly 4 hour drive, we arrived at the first PIT tag antenna site. The first thing we saw, were a couple of the antennas tied up close to the bank. High flows had occurred throughout the state that past weekend, causing damage and flooding in many areas. The antennas appeared undamaged but were definitely out of place. Courtney quickly loaded updates to the computer and downloaded the PIT tag information onto her thumbdrive. We did this throughout the day, one site to the next. That was the easy day.

After a night in the hotel, we rose once again before dawn, packed up our gear, and headed out to visit a remote site located along the SF Walla Walla River. We knew the hike in was about 4 miles but we didn’t know how much snow or ice would be covering the trail. It was uncertain whether we could even make it to the site safely. There was about an inch of snow at the trailhead, so we donned layers of clothes and loaded up our packs with snowshoes, yaktrax for icy conditions, and an ice axe, in addition to the essentials needed to maintain the site as well as plenty of snacks. George, the gentleman who helps us maintain this site, estimated that it would take a good 2½ to 3 hours to get to our destination.

About 15 minutes into the hike, we soon figured that we would probably not need the snow shoes so we hid them behind some trees, hoping that we were right in our assumption. The trail had patches of ice and snow and was bare under some of the trees. Soon we decided the ice axe could stay behind as well.

Onward we went. The first neat thing we saw were some tracks. Not just any tracks though. These appeared to be Big Dog tracks or wolf. Seeing that there were no human prints around, we think they were wolf tracks. Wolf have been spotted just 70 miles from where we were so it was not too far fetched to believe that these were indeed the tracks of wolves. That was exciting for me. We followed the tracks for some time and I was happy that we were following the animal who was making the tracks and not the other way around.

At one point, we detected a rancid, decaying odor. As it got stronger, we looked off the trail towards the river and saw an elk carcass covered with tree limbs and twigs. It couldn’t have been more than 10 meters off the trail. Could this animal have been cached by a cougar? We did not have the answer to that but we were a bit spooked and hurried on our way.

The only live animals we saw were a grouse which we flushed out of some trees and the elk and deer feeding on the steep hills above the canyon. At one point, I caught a glimpse of a brownish mammal scurrying into the trees above the trail. It could have been a rabbit I suppose.

The hike up to the site was gorgeous with the snow covered trees and hillsides and river down below. We arrived at the site and once again, Courtney did her thing. I was very impressed with the equipment running this site. A small trailer housed the PIT tag detector, batteries, and computer and whatever other electronics are needed. Solar panels were perched over the trailer along with a small satellite dish. There were also more than half of a dozen big propane tanks alongside the trailer. Wow!

I later learned that the solar panels will charge the batteries in sunny weather. In the event that they are not working, either in the winter months or extended periods of cloudy days, the propane automatically gets kicked on to take over the charging process. The batteries keep the PIT tag detector and computer running. Data is uploaded via the satellite dish at times. All of this high technology in the middle of nowhere!

After taking a few pictures, downloading data, we shut the site down since those antennas were destroyed with the high flows. We loaded up our gear and headed back down the trail.

We pushed on down the trail since we still had more sites to visit that day. We once again rushed by the site of the elk kill. I for one, did not want to be around if something came back to get a snack. When we reached the snowy part of the trail where we originally saw the wolf tracks, there were some new tracks. A few big cat tracks crossed the trail. Most likely a cougar. Further down the trail we saw smaller cat tracks, maybe those of a bobcat. In addition, there were raccoon and rabbit tracks. All very cool, indeed.

All in all, it was a very good day. Nearly 4 hours of steady hiking, beautiful scenery, and great company. I’d love to do it again.

For more information about this great project, click here.

Submitted by Donna Allard

How Computers Help Us to Understand Mark Selective Fishing

2011-01-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

Mark selective fishing is a strategy to protect endangered wild salmon and steelhead while allowing fishers to harvest abundant hatchery fish. The idea is to release unmarked wild fish and keep only hatchery fish marked with an adipose fin clip. Releasing unmarked wild fish is an easy concept to understand but estimating the impacts to the unmarked fish is a lot more complicated. There are infinite combinations of unmarked to marked ratios, size of mark selective fishery relative to non-selective fishery, and harvest rates, all of which affect the outcomes.

For problems that are too complicated to solve with a pencil and paper, we turn to computer models, just like forecasting the weather or the stock market, designing airplanes and bridges, you name it. For “what if” type of questions, a common technique is called Monte Carlo simulation because probabilities to a computer are not much different than a person throwing a dice. For our mark-selective fishing question, we add another technique where we track the fate of each and every fish in the fishery, all two hundred and fifty thousand of them.

Tell the computer to pick a fish at random. Is it marked or unmarked? Pick a fishery at random. If the fishery is non-selective, then flag the fish as caught. If the fishery is mark selective and the fish is marked, then flag the fish as caught. But if the fish is unmarked, then add one to the number of times the fish has been released. Not all fish survive being released because survival depends on where they were hooked and how they were handled. Pick another random number. If it is better than the odds, then the fish is still alive to be caught again. Otherwise, flag the fish as dead. Pick another fish at random until the catch quota has been achieved and add up the number of dead unmarked fish.

You have to repeat the procedure many times, until the average of all trials is stable. The result is an example of how we use computers to help us understand complex problems that are difficult to observe in the field or, in this case, under water.

Submitted by Henry Yuen

Highlights from this past year!

2010-12-23T07:25:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year. Report writing. So we all needed a break from that and thought we’d take the opportunity to share with you some of our highlights from this past year.

Donna was lucky enough to see Western Pearlshell mussels releasing conglutinates.

Jen recently published her first manuscript in River Research and Applications which describes how Bonneville Dam tailwater elevation and seasonal precipitation influence chum salmon spawning activities in tributaries below Bonneville Dam.

Rod shared this: "While I was doing redd surveys this year on the White Salmon River in Washington, I saw what I thought was the biggest tule fall Chinook salmon I've ever seen spawning there. She was deep in a pool and I could only make out her tail, which was white from digging a redd in cobble to put her eggs in. It was a massive tail and I saw the tail dig sideways in the gravel, and could roughly make out her dark silhouette when she was sideways. Several fish attempted to swim into her area of that deep pool and then would bolt away as she chased them off. Easily the highlight of my year."

TAW had 5 highlights including:
-larval pacific lamprey surviving in saline conditions
-observing western pearlshell mussel conglutinates around the fifth of may
-bull trout critical habitat designation being completed
-coauthoring a manuscript that showed how regulating tailwater elevation at Bonneville dam influences chum salmon spawning in tributaries and
-getting a PIT tag antenna in NE Oregon to operate exclusively on solar energy.

Paul got this screw trap out of a NE Oregon stream unscathed:

Don and his crew completed the final report for 5 years worth of research to determine whether Bull Trout from the Walla Walla Basin venture out into the mainstem Columbia River. They do.

Shawna learned how to surgically implant radio tags in bull trout using electronarcosis:

Jeff investigated the salinity tolerance of Pacific lamprey ammocoetes.

Christina completed a first draft of the Pacific Lamprey conservation plan.

Ruby went to see Condit Dam,scheduled to be removed next year, with Howard and his daughter.

Mari's highlight of the year was enjoying the camaraderie at the office retreat.

Maureen PIT tagged a total of 3000 juvenile wild steelhead in Eagle and North Fork Eagle Creeks.

Courtney's highlights included:
- tagging mussels with Donna on a warm summers day
- hiking up the SF Walla Walla River trail to the Bear Creek PIT site and watching rattlesnakes scurry as they got closer, and
- jet boating up the lower Walla Walla River.
In that order.

Henry completed a simulation for Pacific Fishery Management Council that showed that fishing both mark-selective and non-selective fisheries in the same time period and management area would result in an underestimation of unmarked impacts in the non-selective fishery.

In seach of bull trout and deploying temperature loggers Brook, Shawna, and Nichole left the town of Imnaha and ventured 24 miles on a gravel road and stumbled across Hat Point, the high point on the Oregon rim of Hell’s Canyon with the best view of of Hell’s Canyon and the Seven Devils in Eastern Oregon.

David coordinated with other offices and completed the mapping portion of the 2010 Bull Trout Final Critical Habitat.

Trevor will always have fond memories of E-fishing winter steelhead in Eagle creek with Bill, Brian, Sheila, Maureen and the crew for all the double rainbows, sick sticks, trucker talk, big fish screams, laughter, and good times.

In 2010, Marci was able to be a part of moving a bull trout recovery action forward in helping to develop the Clackamas bull trout reintroduction program. Oh - and she also got to get her boots wet occasionally by helping out with Pacific lamprey, coho and coastal cutthroat trout surveys. She simultaneously managed to 1) avoid full body stream immersion, and 2) not get eaten by the insanely large spiders that dominated the forest insect fauna this year. Yahoo!!!

Larry’s highlight was finally getting all of the fish back from the taxidermist and up on the walls.

Bill really enjoyed working with students on Eagle Creek.

Amy's programs helped remove 19 barriers to upstream salmon movements, improved over 14 miles of instream and riparian habitats, and restored 80 acres of tidal wetland. 2010 was a great year in restoration for Oregon's north coast.

I hope you all enjoyed our highlights. 2010 was a great year at the CRFPO! With that, I bid you farewell until next year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Four Years at the CRFPO

2010-12-16T07:45:00.000-08:00

It all started about four years ago when I first found myself standing in waist deep water inside a cold and dark room. As I checked my surroundings, my senses were overwhelmed by the thick, damp, and cool air. The strong smell of heavy moss that characterizes many streams in the Pacific Northwest filled my nostrils with every breath. This room had the feel of a place that people rarely entered, and those that did come here, didn’t stay for long.

Prior to my entrance, the water in the room was still, now it rippled and boiled, for my presence had stirred many beasts under the surface. The powerful animals were becoming nervous, and they began to express their will to survive regardless of my intentions. Echoing sound waves from nearby rapids pulsated off the concrete walls and continuously reminded me that I was way out of my element. I struggled for balance on the slick flooring nervously looking up at my coworkers above to ensure I hadn’t been abandoned. I continued on and apprehensively scooted my feet towards the grey ghostly shapes as they had now congregated in numbers near the corner of the room. My mind subconsciously flashed to a Star Wars scene where Luke Skywalker and Han Solo were faced with a mysterious aquatic animal (a hungry dianoga) in the waters of the Death Star’s trash compactor. As I closed the distance on the group, they grew increasingly nervous probably realizing I had no intent of halting my forward progress. My anticipation grew as I knew with just one more step I would be within netting range, and prove my merit to my coworkers watching from above. Just as I was visualizing how I would expertly step and swipe up my prey like a hungry osprey, the group broke ranks like NFL linebackers and burst from their huddle in a violent tail walk assault across the surface of the water towards me with speeds that seemed to approach time travel. Instantly drenched with water and defeat, I made a defensive and empty swipe in a convulsive manner that had very little in resemblance to a raptor’s successful quest for prey.

My attempt at self-protection also failed as a heavy-shouldered 15 pound Eagle Creek steelhead had just rammed into my leg knocking me off balance and nearly upending me. With a bruised shin and ego, I regained my balance, smiled, and absorbed the echoing laughter that bounced off the ladder walls as my coworkers above expressed copious amounts of joy in knowing the new guy had just been beat into the gang. Steelhead 1, Trevor 0, and that is how the score began as I awkwardly wandered around the fish ladder proceeding to help capture, bio-sample, tag, and release every one of the dozen adult steelhead remaining in the trap. I knew from that day on that this new job as a Fish Biologist with the Columbia River Fisheries Program Office was going to be challenging, exciting, rewarding, and right up my alley.

Fast forward four years after my first field day, and I am now packing up my office and taking my experiences with me as I began a new permanent job with NOAA Fisheries hydropower division. Looking back after four years, I realize that I have become comfortable inside fish ladders, hatchery raceways, and streams while working on countless projects doing things that I could previously only dream of. The projects I have worked on at this office have not only been fun and exciting, but more importantly I feel they helped contribute to the continued benefit of both fish and fisheries.

Whether I was sliding around in murky fish ladders, capturing and tagging fish, building PIT tag antennas, writing reports, or conducting numerous other tasks, I gained skills at this office that will no doubt be invaluable as I continue on my career path. There is now doubt in my mind that many aspects of working here will be missed. However, what I will miss the most as I leave this office isn’t the excitement of the field work or the rewarding challenges, it won’t be the roomy office with a door and the short commute, it won’t even be the slimy fish hands and numb fingers. What I will miss the most without a doubt will be the friends and coworkers who have shared this experience with me and contributed so much to the comradery that make this office a truly great place to work.

So with that I will pack up my gear and take a turn down the road of life, and hopefully bump into you all in future travels. Thank you all for the wonderful experience and I hope you all the best.

Submitted by Trevor Conder

Northeast Oregon in Winter

2010-12-02T15:17:00.000-08:00

We are traveling to the Wallowa National Forest to maintain our PIT tag antennas. This requires a visit to our site, make sure the power is running, and download our information. PIT tags were implanted in bulltrout in the summer months to gain an understanding of their abundance and distribution. When they swim past our antennas, their unique code is recorded with a date and time stamp. This information gives us an understanding of their movements throughout the year.

Sometimes it is very cold but it is always beautiful. Last December I recorded a temperature of -11ºF! We use MAX to drive to our remote sites and snowshoe in the rest of the way. Snow is on the ground from November to June and has been as deep as 6 feet at times! Under all that snow and ice, bulltrout are there waiting for the thaw.

Submitted by Brook Silver

Certified Fisheries Professional

2010-12-01T07:16:00.000-08:00

About six months ago, while I was in between projects, I decided to finally submit my application to the American Fisheries Society for certification as a fisheries professional. Why did I do this? I have worked in the fisheries profession for about 25 years now and have been a member of the Oregon Chapter of the American Fisheries Society for much of that time. Being part of the American Fisheries Society has been an important part of my professional development, from attending meetings and hearing from other professionals, presenting my first poster and paper, writing for publication in AFS symposiums and journals, to helping with organization of conferences and workshops. I have also chaired the Chapter’s Fish Culture Committee which led to me serving as President elect, President, and Past-President of the Chapter. Doing these activities and helping others do the same is very rewarding and is great for providing inspiration on development of fisheries projects as well as development of self and others. At chapter, division and national meetings you gain a perspective from a local, regional, and international scope. You develop not only professional partnerships but lasting personal friendships as well. So applying for professional certification was another step in development, and I am happy to say, after all this time, that Douglas E. Olson is now recognized as a Certified Fisheries Professional through the American Fisheries Society. I encourage you to apply and be recognized. For more information on Professional Certification go to www.fisheries.org/afs

Submitted by Doug Olson

Restoring Tidal Marshes on Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuges

2010-11-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, the Native Trout Program began collaborating with the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex (http://www.fws.gov/oregoncoast/) to conduct some monitoring associated with tidal marsh restoration projects occurring on two of the refuges:
Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge (http://www.fws.gov/oregoncoast/nestuccabay/index.htm) and Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge (http://www.fws.gov/oregoncoast/bandonmarsh/index.htm). The primary objective of these monitoring efforts is to describe the fish community and its distribution before and after restoration actions.

These tidal marshes are interesting systems, unlike anything I had worked on previously. They are located in areas where freshwater meets seawater, the estuary. Just about every stream that meets the ocean has an estuary. You may be familiar with some of the bigger, better known ones: Chesapeake Bay, San Francisco Bay, the lower Columbia River below Bonneville Dam. From a fish perspective, it is also where you will find an interesting mix of freshwater and marine species, depending on the time of year: juvenile salmon, trout, stickleback, sculpin, shiner perch, flatfish. Estuaries are extremely productive areas, providing lots of food for hungry growing fish, and tidal marshes are the safe havens of the estuary, providing cover for smaller fish and a nutrient source.

Many historic tidal marshes along the Oregon Coast are located behind dykes built in the early part of the last century, cross-stitched with irrigation/drainage canals, providing pasture land for livestock. Typically a system of tide gates regulates the exchange of water as the tide comes up and recedes, controlling flooding behind the tide gate (http://fish-notes.blogspot.com/2010/09/search-for-fish-friendly-tide-gate.html). Amazingly, fish will still swim through a three foot wide tide gate tube to get into a tidal marsh just to take advantage of the cover and food source. But, because there is limited exchange of water across the dyke, habitat quality is likely degraded and fish community diversity and distribution may be limited.

Natural resource agencies have recognized the value of tidal marshes to healthy fish populations, not to mention other wildlife, such as migratory birds. The Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex has recognized the value of actions reconnecting historic tidal marshes by removing tide gates and dykes, filling in irrigation ditches, reconstructing historic channels, and restoring tidal exchange. The Columbia River Fisheries Program Office has been fortunate to be a part of these restoration activities at Nestucca Bay NWR and Bandon Marsh NWR. We have collected fish community diversity and distribution information prior to restoration activities and immediately subsequent to those activities in the case of Nestucca Bay NWR. This information will serve as baseline information for long term monitoring that will track the anticipated benefit to the fish communities using these areas, thus scientifically validating these types of restoration projects from a fish perspective.

The restoration activities occurring at Bandon Marsh NWR are ongoing, with construction expected to be finished in summer 2011. If you would like to follow progress, you can do so at http://www.fws.gov/oregoncoast/bandonmarsh/restoration/index.cfm.

"The Pursuit of Excellence in Science Teaching"

2010-11-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

This year, the annual Oregon Science Teacher Association conference was held at the high school in Colton, Oregon. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hosted a booth at the event for the first time in an effort to promote the educational programs and materials available at our different refuges as well as from the CRFPO.

This event usually draws around 400 teachers from all over Oregon so we knew we would have a good chance of reaching many of them. Exhibitors such as us were told to expect at least 100 teachers at any time in the exhibition hall and even more during lunch. Well, that is exactly what happened.
Aside from showcasing our programs, loads of 'goodies' such as bookmarks, posters, pins, pencils, and pens were available for the teachers. And just to make it easier for the our visitors to remember us, a concise leaflet featuring these programs and other materials was given to each teacher for future reference and contact information. With such a captive audience of science teachers, this event proved to be a worthwhile experience in outreach and education.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Project Based Learning

2010-10-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

Back in April of this year, I blogged a bit about a program called Cascade Stream Watch. In that program, after an initial introduction to aquatic ecology in the classroom, students spend a day in the field studying watersheds, macroinvertebrates, and fish.

Another one of Wolftree's programs is called Project Based Learning. The students in this program are visited many times to acquaint them with their particular project, whether it be flying squirrels or beavers. They also get to go into the field to do their studies more than once. Last year I was lucky enough to spend three field days with the same group of kids from BizTech as they carried out their project. It was great to spend time with the same students as well as to see them become more proficient at collecting their data.

This year, I once again had the opportunity to mentor high school students from BizTech. Teacher Amy Lindahl's classes are working with the Johnson Creek Watershed Council, investigating the occurrence of the freshwater mussel, Margaritifera falcata, in Johnson Creek. The mussel is known to occur in the upper reaches of the creek, but it's full distribution in the watershed is unknown.

The students chose 3 locations representing the upper, middle, and lower watershed to carry out their study. Aside from looking for mussels, students collected and studied the macroinvertebrate population, collected water quality data and habitat variables, and calculated stream discharge at the three locations.

Although live western pearlshells were found at the upper site, the students found only the remains of the pearlshell(shells) at the middle site. They did however find evidence of the floater, Anodonta Clade 1 at both the middle and lower site. The non-native Asian clam was also abundant at both of these sites.

Now that the field work is finished, the students will begin their data analysis. This spring, they will present their findings at the Student Summit at Timberline Lodge. It will be quite interesting to hear what they have learned. And the best part about this project is that the data will be used by the watershed council as they continue their investigation into the occurrence of freshwater mussels in Johnson Creek.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Connecting Children with Nature

2010-10-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

For the third year, the CRFPO was able to provide a field trip for students from Heritage High School through the "Connecting People with Nature" small grant fund. This year we traveled to Steigerwald National Wildlife Refuge to get outside. We collected some aquatic insects and water samples from Gibbons Creek to assess the water quality. Lots of insects were collected and identified including stoneflies, mayflies, and caddisflies. The students determined from the large diversity of insects and high levels of dissolved oxygen, that the stream was fairly healthy. While collecting insects, a coho fry and red-legged frog were also scooped up, further indicating a stream that supports salmon and amphibians.

After a bit of data collection, the entire group embarked on a discovery hike down the trail to the Columbia River. We talked about wetlands, found insects and more frogs along the way. Trees and other vegetation were identified through use of field guides. The students hypothesized about what might be living in or using some of the many wetland areas we crossed.

All in all, it was a great day. The students were engaged the whole time and very sad when their field day was nearing to an end. And so was I. I encouraged them all to bring their families back down to the refuge anytime for another hike and I bet some of them will.

Submitted by Donna Allard

2010 CRFPO Retreat

2010-10-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

The Columbia River Fisheries Program Office recently completed an off-site, two-day retreat. The retreat focus was on breaking down team barriers and improving our inter-office communication and collaboration. We also thought about climate change and identified office activities and projects to help address that huge problem looming in front of us. A number of great ideas and solutions were generated. But the retreat was much more than that.

On the morning of second day it became clear to me. I knew the office environment was pretty darn good already, heck I’ve been in the office now approaching 20 years, but I recognized that the office was evolving into something approaching phenomenal. What was phenomenal was seeing staff mix together into groups they do not regularly work with and coming up with creative ideas and solutions to problems. What was phenomenal was seeing and hearing from staff who do not normally speak up and at times speaking quite eloquently. What was phenomenal was hearing ideas and solutions from younger staff. I already knew that these folks were smart, but I also recognized that they will carry on our natural resource mission much further than what I thought was possible.

We still have a lot of work to do to implement our creative ideas from the retreat, but overall I would say it was quite successful. A number of factors led to that success, those being the off-site location, the neutral/professional skilled facilitation, the openness of staff, the openness of the Project Leadership, and the preparation and on-site organization led by our administrative staff. Thank you.

Submitted by Doug Olson

Columbia River Watershed Festival

2010-10-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

This year the students learned alot about watersheds, streams, and wetlands. Other presentations included a live demonstration with birds of prey, a water and energy conservation activity called the Energy Jeopardy game, and an exploration of decomposition and the role that small critters play in soil formation. All of the presentations involved hands on activities which is what makes this festival a fun place to learn. The weather was terrific and everyone had fun. I for one, cannot ask for anything more than that.

Submitted by Donna Allard

Creatures of the Night

2010-09-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

With the nights growing longer and Halloween just around the corner, the time seemed to perfect to have a family event called "Creatures of the Night". The CRFPO sponsored the free event.

Over 30 kids and their parents came to the program. During the evening, we learned about bats, owls, opossums, beavers, and raccoons. A presentation featuring Simon, the screech owl, was a hit for both young and old. We also dissected owl pellets, an activity that most of the people had never done before. The evening ended with a walk along the river. On the way, the bat detector I held gave off the sounds of a bat, although we did not see it. We were later rewarded with a great view of a few bats hunting through the wetlands. From the reviews, it seems that everyone enjoyed the program and would like to see more events like it.

Submitted by Donna Allard

A Visit to the Gorge

2010-09-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Amy, the educator for Columbia Springs, and I held the 3rd annual fish workshop called Healthy Water Habitats and Hatchery Tour. We met 12 teachers at Columbia Springs and carpooled up to Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery (NFH) where spawning activities were in full swing. We left a rainy Vancouver and arrived at the hatchery to find a warm, sunny day. After a brief introduction to the PIT (passive integrated transponder) tag detector station and a short visit to the fish ladder, the teachers suited up into raingear and had the chance to spawn some of the Tule fall chinook salmon. They got a first hand, up close look at the bustling activities that take place this time each fall. In addition to spawning activities, excess fish were being loaded into totes in preparation for a trip to the food bank.

Just before lunch, we headed up to Carson NFH. After lunch, I gave a short presentation on an education trunk I developed last year called "The Columbia River" trunk. It highlights some of my favorite species including coastal cutthroat trout, Pacific lamprey, and Western Pearlshell mussels. A last section raises awareness to the threats of aquatic nuisance species.

We reviewed some of the activities in the trunk and 'played' a short activity called "Water address". This activity allows students to identify plants and animals and their habitats by analyzing clues that describe water-related adaptations of aquatic and terrestrial organisms. At this point we were running out of time but not before we learned more about Carson NFH from the assistant manager, Thomas.All in all, the day was great, the teachers were an exceptional bunch, and the rain held off until the end of the day. Can't ask for more than that.

Posted by Donna Allard

My Time with the Lovely Lamprey

2010-09-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

Working with the US Fish and Wildlife service has been one of the best experiences of my life thus far. In 21 years of existence I cannot say that I enjoyed working as much as I did here. I looked forward to every day and what it could possibly entail. Most days included trekking through dense woods with praying mantis probes for arms while simultaneously getting bitten by numerous amounts of mosquitos. Sweating through entire shirts was inevitable and wiping dirt off my face or picking tree parts out of my hair was pointless. But I would not have wanted it any other way. I got to see things that most people will never see in their lives. Gorgeous 100 ft. waterfalls that are in the middle of nowhere, breathtaking valleys six miles into a hike that you had to bushwhack to get to, bald eagles flying right over you, riding the white caps in the Columbia River Gorge and watching the sun come up, just for some examples. I felt lucky to have this opportunity every day and I could never replace the memories I have from this job. On top of all of that beauty I got to study one of the coolest, most interesting fish out there. Lamprey are so understudied and so misunderstood. I would feel honored if I were able to engage in future studies that help to create more public awareness about these creatures and help eradicate the negative connotation that is most commonly associated with them. This job has excited me into wanting my Master’s to focus on some aspect of lamprey and I can’t wait to do that.

Before being hired in May of 2009, I had never heard of lamprey. I’m not going to lie, at first I was a little bummed that I wasn’t going to be working with salmon or some other type of more “fish-like” fish. I grew up fishing and hiking so I had fallen in love with the image of what is more commonly linked to the word ‘fish’. But I immediately learned to love lamprey and my love has only grown over the last two summers. I worked with Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) and Western brook lamprey (Lampetra richardsoni). Pacifics are generally grayer in color with a lighter caudal ridge and a darker fin (a fade) while Western brooks are generally more olive colored with a dark caudal ridge and a clearer or speckled fin. The westerns also usually have a yellow stripe that runs from their anus to the tip of their caudal ridge. It amazes me that they are blind for the larger part of their life and have managed to exist since before dinosaurs were around. They live in the sediment in creeks and rivers during their ammoceote phase (5-7 years) filtering out nutrients from the water. Ammoceotes are the life stage that I mostly was working with but I would see the occasional transformer or adult. Pacifics are an anadromous fish. They transform into macropthalmia (macs) and out-migrate to the ocean where they feed off of the blood of other fishes. Western brook lamprey transform and stay in freshwater to spawn and die. These fish have been able to withstand and adjust to catastrophic world events that wiped out everything else and yet humans have presumably managed to make enough of an impact to cause a huge decline in the numbers of lamprey migrating back from the oceans to spawn. We have been around for a miniscule fraction of the time that lamprey have existed but have impacted them as though we were working to kill them off all along. There is a lot of good work being done to create better Pacific lamprey passage through dams and decrease mortalities of both out migrating macs and adults coming back to spawn but population counts have shown a steady decline in numbers, especially more recently. I am anxious to see what is done in the near future to improve their situation and hope to be involved in some way.

Lamprey have grabbed my heart and I am so interested and excited to study them more. I love my team (LAMPREY ROYAL!!) and thank you so much for teaching me and making this experience what it was. I have grown as a student and a person by being part of the STEP (Student Temporary Employment Program) and I have gained knowledge that could never be taught in a classroom.

Submitted by Michaela Satter

The Search for a “Fish-Friendly” Tide Gate

2010-09-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

I never thought that I’d learn so much about tide gates. I’m a biologist, so I know about fish identification, important measures of fish habitat, and how to catch fish in a scientific context. But why would I need to know anything about tide gates? Well, tide gates can have a big impact on the quality of habitat and the ability of fish to enter and exit these habitats. Tide gates along with levees (or “dikes”) are used in tidal areas of the Columbia River and other coastal rivers to help keep water out of the natural floodplain of the river. Tide gates let water out when the tide is receding and block water from entering as the tide comes back in. The floodplain can then be used for cropland, grazing or other development without the threat of seasonal or daily flooding.

Old-style, top-hinge, steel tide gates are difficult for fish to get past and don’t allow any exchange of water.

The Columbia River has experienced over 100 years of flood control. Through changes in river flow from dam regulation and the installation of levees and tide gates, the amount of shallow water habitat in the Columbia River has been greatly reduced. It’s estimated that over 60% of historical tidal freshwater areas of the lower Columbia River has been lost. Much of this lost habitat is behind levees and tide gates. These areas were where young salmon grew and hid from predators before heading to the ocean. Now, these young salmon have difficulty accessing feeding areas behind the tide gates and much of the habitat behind the gates is of poor quality. The low quality of the habitat is mostly due to the lack of water exchange between the river and the slough habitat behind the gates. This can cause higher water temperatures than salmon can tolerate. These higher temperatures can also be good for non-native fish species, like largemouth bass, that will prey on young salmon.

Chinook Salmon

Fortunately, restoration is taking place in parts of the Columbia River Estuary to recover some of this lost habitat. These restoration projects can take many forms. Sometimes it is possible to remove a levee or tide gate and allow the river to spill into its historic floodplain. Other times, flood protection must be maintained, so the options available for land managers are more limited. In these situations, new tide gate designs are being tested to determine if they allow better fish passage and water flow between the river and flood plain.

Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1972 for the protection and management of the endangered Columbian White-Tailed Deer. Land managed by the refuge includes uplands, riparian area (land along the water), wetlands and sloughs. Restoration to improve aquatic habitats, including the replacement of older tide gates with newly designed tide gates, has been occurring since 2007. Because the primary purpose of the Refuge is to protect White-Tailed Deer, removing levees to allow natural flooding of the refuge is not an option. Instead tide gates designed to allow improved fish passage and tidal water exchange have been installed with the hope that the aquatic habitat behind the levees improve and that fish have an easier time passing the gates.

My job is to determine if these new tide gates have improved fish passage (movement through the gate) and the aquatic habitat behind the gate. One way that we do this is to capture fish that enter through the new tide gates and compare the numbers and types to those that we caught when the old tide gates were in place. We also compare the numbers and species of fish captured to sloughs without tide gates to see how closely the sloughs with the new tide gates resemble sloughs without any tide gate at all. We also look at how temperature and other things to determine if the quality of the habitat has been improved by the new tide gates. In addition to all this, we also attempt to determine how long fish stay in these areas and how fast they grow.

Trapping fish entering through new tide gate.

Biologists collecting fish with a beach seine.

We will be collecting information on fish and these habitats through the spring of 2012. At that point we expect to have a pretty good idea of whether there is an improvement in fish access and habitat quality and, if so, how much of an improvement. If results are good, these types of tide gates will likely be used in other restoration projects where some level of flood control is needed but improvement for fish is desired.

Newer-style tide gates are designed to improve fish access and exchange of water.

Submitted by Jeff Johnson

Tryon Creek Restoration Efforts

2010-08-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went for a walk in the park. That’s right, Tryon Creek State Park. Jen and I were conducting the biweekly spawning ground survey in Tryon Creek. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the creek, it is a relatively undisturbed urban watershed. Most of it lies within the boundaries of the state park in southwest Portland. Historically, the creek probably supported abundant populations of anadromous fish. Now it seems that most of those fish populations may be depressed. One of the reasons for this may be a culvert running under Highway 43 which was constructed in the late 1920s. The design most likely blocked lamprey migration and was not ideal for salmonid passage, either. The baffles within the 400 foot long culvert were not fish friendly and the drop at the outlet of the culvert was too high for fish to negotiate at times.

Back in 2003, the City of Lake Oswego secured a Metro Greenspaces grant to analyze the best alternative for replacement or removal of the culvert under Highway 43. Soon the Oregon Department of Transportation came up with some more money. Lots of other partners became involved as well.

In 2006, our office began a project to monitor the effectiveness of restoration actions. We began by determining the existing habitat conditions and the presence, absence, and distribution of lampreys and salmonids, both above and below the culvert. Larval lamprey of two species were captured below the culvert, but none above. Cutthroat trout, steelhead/rainbow trout, coho, and Chinook salmon were found both above and below the culvert.

Culvert Baffles - Before and After

In 2008, the baffles in the culvert were replaced and the drop at the outlet of the culvert was reduced with a series of natural step pools. Restoration efforts are ongoing in the portion of creek below the culvert to improve fish passage. We continue to monitor the presence of fish in Tryon Creek to determine the success of the restoration effort to improve fish passage through the culvert.

Fish Passage into Culvert - Before and After

In 2009, no lampreys were found in any section of Tryon Creek. The same species of salmonids were found both above and below the culvert. Cutthroat trout spawning activity was observed above the Highway 43 culvert as well. Still, it is too early to determine the effectiveness of the restoration work.

We will continue to sample Tryon Creek to further our understanding of all fish species within the system. Monitoring will provide further evidence for the level of success of the improvements made to the culvert and to the creek below the culvert as well as the efficiency of passage through the culvert by lampreys and salmonid species.

For more information, read the latest report.

The Oregon Chub - A Little Fish on the Road to Recovery

2010-08-16T14:42:00.000-07:00

The Oregon chub is a small minnow found only in the Willamette River basin in western Oregon. Adults are typically less than 3.5 inches in length. They live in habitats such as beaver ponds, side channels, and flooded marshes, with little or no water flow, silty bottoms, and aquatic vegetation for cover for hiding and spawning. Historically the Willamette River had many side channels, oxbows, and overflow ponds that provided ample habitat for the chub. Periodic flooding of the Willamette also created new habitat and transported the chub into these areas to create new, or help sustain existing populations.

There are many reasons for the severe decline of Oregon chub populations. Construction of dams and flood control projects changed the Willamette River significantly, preventing the formation of new habitats and the natural dispersal of the species. Other factors responsible for the chub’s decline include: habitat alteration such as channelization and bank hardening, the introduction of non-native fish and amphibians, herbicide and pesticide runoff from farms and roadways, and diversions.

The Oregon chub was first listed as endangered in 1993. In 1998, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a recovery plan for the chub. The goal of the plan was to reverse the decline of the Oregon chub by protecting existing wild populations, re-introducing chub into suitable habitat throughout its historical range, and increasing public awareness and involvement. The criteria set forth in the plan for downlisting the species to “threatened” was to establish and manage 10 population of at least 500 adult fish. All of these populations had to exhibit a stable or increasing trend for 5 years as well.

Along with the efforts of other agencies, active programs have been put in place to protect Oregon chub habitat. Critical habitat was designated in March of this year. The species’ status has improved recently. On April 23, 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service changed the Endangered Species Act classification of the Oregon chub from endangered to threatened.

To learn more about critical habitat, visit http://www.fws.gov/endangered/what-we-do/critical-habitats.html

To learn more about the Endangered Species Act, visit http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/esact.html

Submitted by Donna Allard.

Habitat improvements in the wake of a dam removal

2010-07-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

Last month I got outside and saw first-hand how stream habitat can begin to change following the removal of a dam. Hemlock dam, built in 1937 on Trout Creek in the Wind River watershed, was initially constructed to provide power and water to the Civilian Conservation Corps and Forest Service. Trout Creek provides critical habitat for Lower Columbia River steelhead, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, but the dam (even with a fish ladder) effectively blocked fish passage to spawning grounds and degraded habitat for fish downstream by increasing water temperatures in the creek.

Hemlock Dam, 2006 (photo by USFS)

In the 1990's, several federal and partner agencies decided that the creek should be restored and the dam removed to benefit the steelhead and other native fish in the community. The Fish Passage Program under the Fish and Wildlife Service contributed approximately $250,000 along with funds from partners totaling $2.1 million, and in the summer of 2009, action finally took place: the pump house was removed, the creek was diverted, Hemlock dam was dismantled, the creek channel was reconstructed, invasive weeds were removed, and riparian habitat was enhanced with native shrubs and trees.

Today, one year later, you can see the benefits of the dam removal project. Most notably, Hemlock Lake is no longer there! In its place is a meandering creek channel, with small trees planted on the banks that were previously under water. It will take time for the trees and brush to fill in, but in the meantime, the restored section of Trout Creek has likely been recolonized with lotic aquatic insects for fish to eat, sediment that had built up behind the dam over the years has been removed, and temperatures are no longer near the lethal limit for fish. Additionally, removing this barrier has opened upstream habitat for spawning and migrating steelhead.

Hemlock Lake, 2006 (photo by USFS)

The same view as above in June 2010, only it's now Trout Creek instead of Hemlock Lake! (photo by Donna Allard, USFWS)

With this improvement to Trout Creek, I'm looking forward to seeing how the habitat changes in the project area in the years to come. Be sure to take a look at the Forest Service's website about the project - it even has a video of an adult steelhead that moved up through the project area just hours after flow was restored through the creek bed! The video also shows a tractor moving large woody debris into the floodplain of the stream to enhance fish habitat...word gets out fast among the fish, it appears!

Common Carp - The Biomass Black Hole

2010-07-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

Nonnative species can have extremely harmful impacts on ecosystems. Take the case of the common carp in North America – some people call it “the perfect invader”. It possesses many traits that make it great at exploiting new habitats: high growth rates, high fecundity (a 5-pound female may produce half a million eggs a year), tolerance to range of temperatures and oxygen concentrations that other animals don’t have. This fish was intentionally introduced widely in the 1800s thinking they would be a great food fish like it was in Europe. Alas, the idea never caught on. Carp, at least in high densities, can degrade water quality and denude aquatic vegetation. Thus, they can be detrimental to sport fish populations as well as waterfowl and shorebirds.

I had an opportunity to participate in the renovation of a small lake in north-central Nebraska during my graduate work. The 158-acre, shallow, prairie lake had an abundant common carp population. This lake certainly had been affected by the carp, as it contained almost no submergent aquatic plants and algal blooms were abundant. The water often looked like chocolate milk. As part of an ongoing research project, we decided to remove the entire fish community. Three airboats were used to apply the liquid rotenone (a plant-derived fish poison) and one prop boat was used to distribute some powdered rotenone as well. In addition, an amphibious vehicle equipped with a plant sprayer was used to get into the hard to reach backwater areas and cattails beds of the lake to ensure the chemical was distributed throughout. We didn’t want to leave any hiding spots for the fish we were trying to eliminate. Two small carp of opposite genders left alive could ruin an expensive operation!

The first small fish started surfacing within an hour of first adding the chemical. Toward the end of the day numerous adult carp were observed struggling at the surface. The biggest part of our job came after the rotenone application. We needed to estimate the number and total weight of all fish species in the lake. We walked certain areas of the lake shoreline and counted every dead fish. These counts were then used to estimate how many fish were in the entire lake. We know that lakes have many fish living in them but it sure is impressive to see all of those fish at one time! By the third day we wondered if we should be on the “Dirty Jobs” television program as the fish definitely were getting ripe! All in all, we believe that the lake contained about 5,412 adult common carp and 2,658,249 fathead minnows. Plus, these are probably underestimates because many fish sink to the bottom and may not float in time to get counted!

It will be interesting to watch potential changes in the lake after the treatment. Will the water clear up and new aquatic vegetation sprout up next year? Only time will tell. However, we certainly hope so! Both the sport fishes and the waterfowl should benefit from increased amounts of submergent aquatic vegetation. Without the use of rotenone to remove the undesirable fish, we could never have attempted this project. Breaking news on this ongoing project – after several years (post- carp removal) without noticing any increase in vegetation – all sampling sites now have an abundance of aquatic vegetation. It looks like the lake might be “recovering”!

Malheur Lake and Malheur National Wildlife Refuge has a carp problem. A big one. Malheur Lake alone (not counting its tributaries) roughly averages 37,500 acres. If the carp density was the same as the lake in Nebraska (34 carp/acre), extrapolating for lake size, Malheur Lake could contain almost 1.3 million carp! In terms of biomass, at a rate of 234 pounds/acre, this translates into almost 8.8 million pounds of carp swimming in the lake. Just think if you could convert this biomass of carp into plants and invertebrates! The lake is denuded of vegetation and only produces a quarter of the ducks that it did in the ‘40s. Although there are likely several potential reasons for this, the lack of vegetative habitat and associated invertebrate prey items is surely related. Earlier this year a coworker and I attended a workshop at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge where refuge staff and some of the best “carp minds” in the country gathered to discuss Malheur’s problems and brainstorm an attack plan. A thorough assessment of the problem is ongoing. A recent article in The Oregonian also highlighted the problem: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/fish_invaders_are_eating_birds.html. Finally you can visit Malheur NWR’s Aquatic Health page to learn more about this issue: http://www.fws.gov/malheur/wildlife/aquatichealth.htm.

Submitted by Jeff Jolley.

Inspiring the Next Generation of Nature Lovers

2010-07-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

Connecting people with nature is one of the top conservation priorities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. One of my most favorite and most rewarding duties as a biologist is working with and teaching young people about the natural environment. Recently I had the unexpected opportunity to share a meaningful outdoor learning experience with some children very dear to my heart – my six year old niece Amelia (Mia) and four year old nephew Max.
When my husband and I first agreed to watch the kids, we were a bit worried because we didn’t have television or any age appropriate toys or video games in the house to keep the kids entertained. Thankfully, the education and outreach coordinator at my office (Donna Allard) set us up with an assortment of fun ideas and activities for the kids.

When my niece and nephew arrived, we presented them with their very own magnifying glasses. The kids absolutely LOVED them! My niece didn’t set hers down the entire time she was at our home! Max and Mia had a great time looking for things to inspect under the glass. Some of their favorite “case studies” included: broccoli flowerets, garden spiders, a dead bee on the window sill and a scab on Mia’s leg – excellent gross-out factor!

After dinner the kids asked if they could watch some TV before bed. It was time to bust out the big guns – owl pellets. Another success! After some assurance that owl pellets were not poop, the kids literally dug right in. For over an hour we picked fragments of bone and separated bits of fur from tiny skulls and vertebrae. Max and Mia deemed this activity “very cool” and decided they loved to “explore” things. My niece even expressed her desire to become a scientist when she is older.

By the next morning, television was the furthest thing from their curious minds. After breakfast the kids sampled some of the first strawberries and tomatoes from the garden, helped us water the plants, created a number of stone pagodas or “castles” in the yard, looked for spiders and other creepy crawlies to inspect under the magnifying glass, collected pits from our cherry tree to plant at home and simply enjoyed playing outside. Who would have thought the kids would have so much fun simply observing and interacting with nature!

As an adult, connecting children with nature is an important, EASY and very rewarding experience. Whether it is sitting around a campfire, planting a garden, visiting a park, going fishing or taking a walk or bike ride together, sharing outdoor activities with children and encouraging them to explore and ask questions about the environment helps them develop an important appreciation for nature and nurtures a love for the outdoors that will last a lifetime. Who knows, you may even end up inspiring a budding scientist or future environmental steward in the process.

Although it’s going to be tough to top the owl pellets, my husband and I are looking forward to sharing many more outdoor adventures with Max and Mia!

For more information, Let's go outside!

Submitted by Jennifer Poirier.

Refuge Assistance

2010-07-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

One of the really fun parts of my job is called “Refuge Assistance,” which means working with National Wildlife Refuges in our area on a variety of issues concerning fish and aquatic habitats. Our area covers the Washington and Oregon sides of the lower Columbia River and all of Oregon with the exception of the Klamath River basin, which is covered by Service offices managed out of California. There are over 20 individual Refuges located throughout our area. Most are located along major rivers or the coast, and their size ranges from a few hundred acres up to several thousand acres. However, there are three refuges that cover well over a hundred thousand acres. These are in eastern Oregon, and the majority of one extends into Nevada.

Electrofishing on the refuge.

Refuges were established for several different purposes. Many were formed to provide habitat for various species, whereas others were established to provide certain types of habitats or for specific species or populations, like the Columbian white-tailed deer or Aleutian cackling geese. In addition to a refuge’s purposes, management is also directed toward other priorities so long as the other priorities are compatible with the refuge’s purpose. These priorities broadly include Service trust resources—migratory birds, threatened and endangered species, interjurisdictional fish, and marine mammals; biological integrity, diversity, environmental health (also called BIDEH); and compatible public uses. Overall, BIDEH refers to the native plants, animals, and habitats of a refuge, and conditions that support them. Public uses include wildlife observation, wildlife photography, interpretation, environmental education, hunting, and fishing.

Assistance that our office provides ultimately is intended to help refuges achieve their purposes and address other priorities. Doing so can involve several types of activities. One example of an activity is inventory work, which involves determining the types of fishes and their habitats found at a refuge. Another type of activity is effectiveness monitoring, which assesses such actions as aquatic habitat restoration so that the success of a restoration project can be evaluated. Technical assistance is a broad type of activity that covers such things as conducting literature reviews, designing studies to inform management decisions, and participating on technical planning teams.

Checking a fish trap.

The wide variety of refuges, with their associated purposes and other priorities, makes working with them a great part of my job. We have an annual workshop to present findings and discuss aquatic issues. Summaries of the workshops are available at: http://www.fws.gov/columbiariver/programs/RAP/refuge.html if you are interested in learning more about Refuge Assistance.

Submitted by Sam Lohr.

Recycled Arts Festival

2010-06-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I helped out at the Recycled Arts Festival. In its fifth year, the event was bigger and better than ever. The event is sponsored by the Clark County Department of Environmental Services. Artists came from all over to display and sell their wares at Esther Short Park this past weekend. All products were made using recycled materials. The works of art were all unique and included metal garden art, airplanes made from soda or beer cans, fine wood furniture from wood pallets, bags and baskets made from plastic bags, and beads made from beer and wine bottles. And that's just a few examples. One vendor made hand bags from recycled chip bags. You know, the ones that never go away. Ever. He actually collected chip bags from the Student Environmental Leadership Forum (See blog, May 4, 2010) and displayed the bag at his booth during the festival.

In addition to the artists selling their wares, a tent called 'Tossed and Found' was set up and run by Waste Connections. Beginning months prior to the festival, staff collected items that were dropped off at the transfer station. The items were all in great shape and some were even brand new, still in the box. They included furniture, grills, golf clubs, dishes, and tools. Anyway, people wanting an item received a ticket. When their number was pulled, they got in line to pick out an item for free. All these items would have otherwise ended up in the landfill. Needless to say, this event was very popular with the crowds.

Throughout the festival, bands performed on stage, puppets and a stiltwalker paraded through the park and entertained young and old alike. Events for the kids were plentiful as well, including making their own puppet out of recycled materials and a birds of prey show in which kids and adults learned about wildlife conservation. They also got to get pretty close to a red-tailed hawk, a falcon, and screech owl. This whole event is a great way to educate and encourage the public to reduce waste by reusing and recycling. Or as some say, upcycling.

Why is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, specifically our office, involved in an event such as this? Simple. We have a policy stating that we will participate in recycling programs in an effort to conserve natural resources and protect the environment. Makes sense to me.

Check out the website for the recycled arts festival and be sure to put it on your calendar for next year.

Mussel Mania Part 3 - Glochidia

2010-06-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

Glochidia size compared to a dime.

Well, last time I wrote about seeing seeing the mussels releasing their larvae (called a spat). You can read about it at Mussel Mania Part 2. Anyway, at the time, I gathered up a net and some containers and scooped up some of the conglutinate masses to verify that these masses actually contained glochidia. As soon as I got back into the office, I went to the lab where we have a microscope with a camera attachment, and sure enough, the masses were filled with glochidia. Most of them looked like spheres but some of them which were opened looked like little pacmen. The glochidia are only .05mm in length. Not hardly visible with the naked eye. If these glochidia (well, not the ones I collected) are lucky enough to find a suitable host and attach to the gills, they will actually grow to twice their length (about .4mm which still isn't that large) before falling off and beginning their life as free living mussels. That is, if all goes well.

Glochidia clusters, open glochidia

Preparing for Removal of Condit Dam

2010-06-01T11:00:00.001-07:00

Dam removal is as controversial as ever in the Pacific Northwest and, from my experience, has a myriad of fish restoration factors to consider much less all the other addditonal considerations that go into the decision to remove a dam. Biologists in our office have done assessments that are trying to either enumerate or document the presence or absence of species in areas both upstream and downstream of Condit Dam. These assessments will provide the pre-removal "snapshot" of White Salmon River fish populations and, hopefully with additional assessments and monitoring in the years after the removal, there will be a story of the repopulation of both anadromous and resident fish species into newly available habitat.

For the past two years, I worked with several other U.S. Fish and Wildlfie Service biologists, Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery staff, PacifiCorp (owner and operator of Condit Dam), Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Marine Fisheries Service, Yakama Nation Fisheries, The U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Geological Survey's Columbia River Research Laboratory on planned capture and transport of Lower Columbia River fall Chinook salmon. The breaching of Condit Dam and draining of Northwestern Lake will temporarily inundate the spawning habitat of fall Chinook salmon with sediment in the lower White Salmon River. This will in turn affect the survival of the salmon eggs placed by fall Chinook salmon in the lower White Salmon River (annually in September) immediately prior to the scheduled removal of the dam (currently October 2011). A decision was made by representatives of the previously mentioned agencies, and the operator of the dam, to transport adult fall Chinook salmon upstream of Condit Dam and allow them to spawn naturally in an area of the river that will be unaffected by sediment released from removal of Condit Dam. This decision was informed by other assessments and data collection of fall Chinook salmon spawning abundance, genetics, and juvenile production in the lower White Salmon River.

The following videos show some of the work that was performed during 2008 and 2009 assessments. In 2008, we assessed three different capture mentods in an effort to catch and transport Lower Columbia River fall Chinook salmon upstream of Condit Dam to document how successful our proposed actions might be. In 2009, we assessed the use of a resistance board weir in combination with a dormant adult salmon collection facility and a Video Passage System (VPS). Here are the links to the 2008 report and the 2009 report to view them in their entirety. Aspects of these efforts are ongoing in 2010.

Submitted by Rod Engle.

Bike Commuter Challenge May 21, 2010

2010-05-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

On Friday May 21st, 2010, the USFWS, Columbia River Fisheries Program Office (CRFPO) participated in a "bike commuter challenge" as part of National Bike to Work Day. The competitors in this friendly challenge included two of our neighboring offices: WACOM, a software development company, and US Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory. The goal of the challenge was to see how many people from each office would ride their bikes to work on Friday.

The CRFPO quickly organized: bikes were tuned up, routes were planned, and equipment needs such as bike pumps and extra tire tubes were discussed. Those participating in the challenge decided to meet at various points along the route and ride to the office together.

The weather leading up to Friday's big commute was promising- partly cloudy, low 60's, and just a few mild rain showers in the afternoon. Friday morning, however, was a different story. Rain, temps in the upper 40's and a blustery wind. I was pretty sure those who had committed to doing the ride earlier in the week would change their minds once they saw the forecast . I mean even a seasoned commuter would scoff at such conditions!

Despite the wet weather, the CRFPO had 11 people that commuted by bike into work. Our office won the challenge ...by a landslide. The total participation rate per office was: USFWS: 21%, USGS 12% and WACOM 7.7%. We also won for the following categories: total round trip mileage commuted by an office (CRFPO 255 miles, WACOM 153 miles), and total round trip mileage commuted by one person (CRFPO 42 miles, WACOM 31.2 miles).

To quote one of our competitors from WACOM "I caught up with 9 of FWS's riders this morning on my way in, and I was impressed that they had all ridden across the 205 bridge together. Not only that, but they wanted to make the group ride a monthly event!"

The following week we had a community, lunchtime potluck with our competitors, and we collectively celebrated everyone's participation in the challenge. The potluck also provided a forum for discussing how we can reduce our carbon footprint in an office environment.

To learn more about the Federal Green Challenge and how you can help reduce carbon emissions check out the following link:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/road.html

Mussel Mania Part 2

2010-05-10T09:04:00.000-07:00

Western Pearlshell mussel releasing conglutinates.

OK, in February I wrote a bit about the reproductive cycle of freshwater mussels. Well, last week I witnessed part of the cycle. It was very exciting. Apparently Western pearlshell mussels release conglutinates, a mucousy white mass filled with glochidia (mussel larvae). The conglutinates break up in the water current and settle to the bottom of the stream, where they resemble little white worms. That's the easy part of the life cycle. Soon after being released, a suitable host fish needs to eat 'the worm'. After being ingested, the glochidia attach to the gills of the fish and begin their transformation into free living mussels. That is, if all goes well!

Wormlike mass of glochidia.

Student Environmental Leadership Forum

2010-05-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

Last month, the 3rd annual Student Environmental Leadership Forum (SELF) was held at Clark College. SELF is a conference for students in the Clark county area who wish to make positive change. The conference provides environmental education as well as leadership tools so that students may become active, aware, and effective community members. This year, over 150 students, representing fifteen schools attended the event. Environmental topics included climate change, waste reduction, clean water, and local food systems. Topics for the leadership sessions included volunteerism, building a clean energy future, a student-run campaign to stop people from idling car engines outside of schools, and turning great environmental ideas into great businesses. After the conference, student attendees were able to apply for a small grant from Clark County to implement their own ‘action project’. Past action projects have included construction of a compost system, creating a model hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, planting a native garden, and manufacturing of biodiesel.

Heritage High School Biodiesel Club

Connecting Children with Nature

2010-04-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

Connecting kids with nature is getting a lot of hype these days. But it is not really a new idea at all. I have been part of a great program since its beginning, nearly 15 years ago. It's called Cascade Stream Watch and it's run by a non-profit called Wolftree. They get kids from urban schools and bring them out to wild places such as Wildwood, a BLM recreational area near Welches. The kids get to explore life in the creeks and wetlands, learn about the forest plants and trees, and navigate using a compass among other things. Rain or shine, it doesn't matter to these kids. At the end of the day, the kids all share what they learned or found or thought was amazing. And there is usually alot to share. For more about this program visit www.beoutside.org. They are always looking for mentors who are willing to help eager students explore the outdoors.

Working with Bull Trout

2010-04-07T12:35:00.000-07:00

Having worked mainly with salmon the past 2 years I never really thought much about other fish species. Makes sense as salmon seem to be the primary focus on the west coast. But as of October of 2009 I became part of a new field crew called the Native Trout Crew. Within my first week with this new crew I found myself learning about a new fish species, the bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus). What I have learned so far is that Bull Trout are currently listed under the Endangered Species Act and that they tend to be found in colder water at higher elevations. Lucky for me this means a lot of cold weather, with temperatures as low as -11 °F at times. I can also tell you that Bull Trout prefer habitats such as pools, reservoirs, and lakes.

My favorite adventure thus far working with bull trout has been to the Eagle Caps in Eastern Oregon. Winter time looking for bull trout has proven to be quite an adventure. I actually had no idea fish biologists worked in the snow, but they do. Thanks to our friend max, our amphibious ATV, we are able to reach our PIT tag antenna sites at elevations of 6000 feet. So every month the native trout crew adventures out to Eastern Oregon to download data from our PIT tag antenna sites and make sure everything is operating correctly.

Submitted by Shawna Castle.

Springtime at the CRFPO

2010-03-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

Most folks who work in an industrial park such as ours, look out the window to see well manicured lawns and ornamental shrubs and trees. And the constant sound of leaf blowers, lawn mowers, sprayers, and hedge trimmers can be heard all of the time. ALL the time. Not so much around our building. We were lucky enough to have a clean slate when we moved in, meaning just dirt around our new building. That was back in 2004. We were fortunate enough to convince our landlord that we should plant a completely native garden around our office. Lori with Bosky Dell Native Plant Nursery was gracious enough to help us with the planning and planting.

That first year, a killdeer laid eggs in a patch of gravel right outside the door. That was a sign of good things to come. Since then, I have found numerous nests in the trees and shrubs. And I have witnessed mother birds taking care of their young as well. Migratory birds are frequent visitors to our garden. Hummingbirds can be spotted throughout the year. A pair of short-tailed weasels were seen outside of my window one year. I hope to see them again this year. And talk about rabbits. They are not an uncommon sight. They have plenty to eat and nest under the shrubs. Let's not forget about the bees. They stay busy pollinating the flowers all spring and summer.

Springtime is a great time around here. The Oregon grape and high bush cranberry are in full bloom, leaves are budding, and flowers are popping up. It seems that you can leave for the weekend only to return to a garden in full bloom. The garden may seem stark right now but you just wait.

A Small Fish with a Long History

2010-03-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

I remember back when I was just starting out as a fish biologist, old timers, much like I am now, and even younger co-workers who grew up in the Northwest, would talk about the smelt season. Around this time of year they would talk about taking huge dipnets, standing alongside the banks of the Columbia, Cowlitz, Lewis, and Sandy rivers, and filling 5 gallon buckets with these small fish. It sounded fun and seemed really cool to imagine swarms of fish in such vast numbers, that you could scoop up a full net with one swipe. I also remember as time went by, a little talk about the disappointing smelt runs and pretty soon, hardly any talk about smelt at all.

The Pacific smelt, officially known as the eulachon, is a small anadromous fish, barely 9 inches, which historically ranged from northern California to the Bering Sea in Alaska. They return to the freshwater in masses to spawn, usually at night. Most adults die shortly after spawning. They are important to Native American tribes, the ocean and freshwater food chains, as well as both commercial and recreational fishers.

Sadly, the numbers are at a historical low right now and the National Oceanic and Atmopheric Administration (NOAA) says that the fish is at “moderate risk of extinction”. On Tuesday, NOAA listed the Pacific smelt as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. You can read more about that here.

“This evening we were visited by Comowool the Clatsop Chief and 12 men women and children of his nation . . . The Chief and his party had brought for sail a Sea Otter skin, some hats, stergeon and a species of small fish which now begin to run, and are taken in great quantities in the Columbia R. about 40 miles above us by means of skimming or scooping nets . . . I find them best when cooked in Indian stile, which is by roasting a number of them together on a wooden spit without any previous preparation whatever. They are so fat they require no additional sauce, and I think them superior to any fish I ever taste, even more delicate and luscious than the white fish of the lakes which hae heretofore formed my standaart of excellence among the fishes.”

From the Journals of Captain Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (February 25, 1806)

Photo of drawing reproduced from the Journals of Lewis and Clark (Illustration by Meriwether Lewis from American Philosophical Society)

Lampreys of the Deep

2010-03-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

Lampreys are pretty cool creatures. They are really old (as a species). They barely even count as a fish since they don’t have bones (they have cartilage) and have a very simple spine (called a notochord). The only fish close to the same age are hagfish, which are also odd looking creatures of the deep ocean. Lamprey have probably been around for the last 360 million years and changed very little in that time!

Even though they have been around for a long time we know much less about their biology and ecology than we do for other fishes. The conventional assumption is that Pacific lampreys use mainstem river habitats (Columbia or Willamette Rivers) mainly as a migration corridor. Adults return from the sea and migrate upriver to tributary streams (much like salmon) to spawn and die. Juveniles migrate downriver to the sea after spending a time period in the tributary streams. In the sea they begin their parasitic part of their life. Nobody really thinks they use the mainstem areas as a place to live – although no one has ever really thoroughly looked.

We used quite a contraption – a deepwater electrofisher – to collect lamprey ammocoetes from deepwater habitat in the Lower Willamette River from Willamette Falls downstream to the confluence with the Columbia River. Ammocoetes are the blind larval stage that burrow into the sediment and filter feed detritus and organic material. Our contraption is basically an electrified suction dredge. The “bell” is lowered to the bottom with a winch and the pump is turned on. Then the electricity is turned on and any ammocoetes that are in the sediments are stunned and sucked up and filtered through a basket. No, we don’t get any other crazy things from the bottom - like bones or sunken treasure. Most of the time we just got little bits of mussel shells and twigs. The video at the bottom shows the device in action.

Sure enough – the lamprey larvae were down there! We found both Pacific lamprey and western brook lamprey (a native non-parasitic freshwater lamprey) in water up to 53 feet deep! We even found them right in downtown Portland. We found them in shallow water and we found them in deep water. At this point we really couldn’t identify a pattern to where they may occur. We also found a wide range in sizes from less than 20 mm to over 140 mm meaning that they are likely a variety of ages. They weren’t really there in high numbers but they were there consistently enough to start thinking that they might be using these habitats to live and grow. Although we are not sure if the larvae migrated there or were “swept” downriver by strong currents it is conceivable that they are using the mainstem sediments as areas to feed and grow. Interestingly we did not find any larvae in the Multnomah Channel even though we thought this may be a good area for them – and we looked at over 60 sample sites! They may be in the channel but probably just in really low numbers.

It is encouraging and exciting to find lamprey in these areas but it also poses a whole host of concerns regarding lamprey welfare. Issues like channel dredging, contaminants, and flow alteration are examples of things that need to be studied further to understand their effect on the larval lamprey. We plan to keep looking in more areas for the lamprey larvae. We are going to look in the Columbia River at various locations downriver toward the estuary. We also want to look below and above some of the mainstem dams like up in Bonneville Pool. Also, it may be interesting to look at areas before and after channel dredging occurs to evaluate the potential impact of this activity. Stay tuned for future lamprey updates.

For the Love of Fish

2010-03-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

One of the most gratifying aspects of the work and culture at CRFPO is working with students. Long-term (a.k.a old) employees, such as myself, get to share their experience and passion with students. In turn, these students share and develop their passions with us, as well as rekindle the passion we sometimes forget about. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife has a program called STEP (Student Temporary Employment Program). Each year we try and hire a number of Biological Science Technicians through the STEP program. This program (and these students) help us get important work done and helps students get invaluable practical experience as their resumes begin to take form.

In 2009, the Conservation Team at CRFPO was fortunate enough to hire three STEP technicians, Kim, Michaela and Brian. These students worked on various projects for the C-Team. Their experiences (okay, job responsibilities) included work with bull trout that are listed under the Endangered Species Act and with Pacific Lamprey (although not listed under ESA, a species of concern). They were able to work in areas that ranged from the mainstem of the Willamette River (yes, they had to drive a boat on the river) to remote wilderness areas in NE Oregon (yes, they had to camp). They got to network (work side by side) with federal, state, tribal and city biologists. Among other things, they learned how to electrofish, operate big boats, identify larval lamprey, and put PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) tags into fish. Like all of us, they had good days and bad days “on the job”. Fortunately the good days far outweighed the bad days. How do I know? Well … Kim was a second-timer (would you come back for more if you hated it?); Michaela is hoping to be a second-timer; and Brian never left!

The work that these students completed was incredibly valuable to the species we are trying to help conserve. I get to use results of their work every day. More importantly, the passion they expressed for the work and the gratitude they expressed for the opportunity was infectious. They are the future. And the future is bright!

Submitted by Tim Whitesel, Conservation Assessment Team

Electronarcosis... not as shocking as you may think

2010-03-03T15:37:00.000-08:00

When people think of using electricity on fish, the usual first reaction is that it can’t be a good thing. There are volumes of scientific literature investigating the effects of electricity on fish behavior, physiology, reproduction, survival, etc. Most of them discuss the pros and cons of using electricity to capture fish – electrofishing. You may have heard of it… people have been using electrofishing since the early part of the 20th century. It has merit, if done correctly. But, that is a discussion for another day.

Did you know that you can also use electricity to put fish to sleep? It is an extremely effective method of putting a fish into a state of narcosis – electronarcosis. You use constant DC voltage… the same type of power found in your car battery. In fact, we hook up a power supply to a car battery! We just put the fish in a cooler full of water with aluminum electrodes on each end that are hooked up to the power supply, turn up the power to around 40 volts, but only about 0.1 amp, and the fish “falls asleep”. What is really happening is that the electrical field is inhibiting any communication between the brain and the rest of the fish’s body, resulting in a completely relaxed fish presumably feeling no pain.

Why would you want to do this? As fish biologists, we handle fish all the time to identify them, measure them, tag them, collect tissue samples from them, or for any number of other reasons. Some of the activities can result in elevated stress levels from all of the handling. So, we use anesthetics to relax the fish, reducing stress and decreasing related impacts such as changes in behavior, growth, or reproductive potential. Historically, one of the most common anesthetics has been a chemical called MS-222. It has a really long name and all kinds of research associated with it… Google it! Most notably, it is one of the few chemical anesthetics approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use on fish that could potentially be harvested for consumption. But, since it has some nasty side effects (such as being a possible carcinogen), if it is used on fish that could potentially be harvested for consumption, those fish must be held for 21 days prior to release to ensure the chemical is out of the fish’s system. This requirement presents problems with adult salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest. Because these fish could potentially be harvested, biologists can’t use MS-222 on them. The alternative has been using no anesthetic on them, probably increasing handling stress in the fish, with unknown consequences.

We finally have a solution to this problem… ELECTRONARCOSIS!

Using this approach, biologists can now release the fish immediately after being anesthetized… literally. With MS-222 or other chemical anesthetics, it takes a while (sometimes 15-30 minutes) for a fish to recover from the anesthetic. With electronarcosis, as soon as you turn the power off, the fish is upright, swimming and ready for release within 10 seconds.

We have been using this on bull trout to surgically implant radio tags (again… a story for another day). Check out the video. When you see my hands go across the screen at the beginning and end, I am turning the power on (beginning) and off (end). There is enough of an electric field to put the fish to sleep, but not bother me the entire time my hands are in the water. These fish go under immediately, are relaxed throughout, are gilling (breathing) regularly, show no signs of pain at any time, and recover from the anesthetic immediately. They would be ready for release if we hadn’t just conducted major surgery on them! So, we hold them for a couple of minutes, and since we have been able to track them subsequent to tagging, we can confirm no delayed mortality.

It is pretty amazing what you can do with technology these days!

Urban Restoration Conference

2010-03-03T15:29:00.000-08:00

In January, I presented “Tryon Creek Restoration Monitoring” at the 8th Annual Urban Ecology and Conservation Symposium. The UERC is a consortium of various agencies interested in sharing urban ecosystem research in the Portland/Vancouver area. I highlighted the history of Tryon Creek and the collaborative movement to improve fish passage conditions at the Highway 43 Culvert. (In August of 2008, the culvert was modified to make entry and passage through the culvert a little easier).

There were 20 presenters and an audience of about four hundred people participating. I learned of the many efforts in our region by various agencies, both public and private. These programs contribute to the health of natural areas and develop ways to integrate the landscape with urban use.

Submitted by Brook Silver.

Mussel Mania - Part 1

2010-02-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

I never really thought about freshwater mussels until a few years back. Now I think about them all the time. Especially since I will soon be conducting a small pilot project studying them in Merrill Creek. More on that later. They are fascinating creatures. Even though they are one of the most endangered groups of animals on Earth, very little is known about the life history and habitat needs of many species.
We do know that freshwater mussels are dependent upon fish. After mussel larvae, called glochidia, are released from the female into the water, they have a very short time to find a host fish. If they find one, they will clamp onto its fins or gills, form a cyst around itself, and remain there for days or even months. During this time, the fish may swim many miles, thus helping to disperse mussel populations. Anyway, the chances of glochidia finding a suitable host, (yes, some mussel species are dependent upon only certain species of fish), landing in a suitable habitat after detaching, and reaching adulthood can be as high as 1 in 100,000,000. All I can say is WOW. Stay tuned for more interesting facts about freshwater mussels. If this has piqued your interest, go to the Pacific Northwest Native Freshwater Mussel Workgroup. There you can read a few documents or download the 2nd edition of the Field Guide to the Freshwater Mussels of the Pacific Northwest. And if you are ever wandering around in a creek and find any mussels, I’ll bet they would love to know.

Women in Science

2010-02-16T07:47:00.000-08:00

On Feburary 3rd, I had the opportunity to be a guest speaker at the "Women in Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Technology (STEM)" event at Clark College in Vancouver, WA. The women in STEM seminar is an open forum designed to welcome women into the science community and broaden their perception of careers in math and science. It's also a great chance for college students to network with other female students, faculty, and professionals.

I talked about my career as a Fish Biologist, what I do on a daily basis for my job, and the educational requirements necessary for a career in fisheries management.

It was a great way to spend an afternoon, and I hope to be part of this awesome program in the future!

Maureen