Refuge Assistance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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