All quiet on the district front... For today.

(These are the beautiful mounts above Derek's office. A moose sits center-left, with the big-horn sheep on the right.)

Hello again!

As my evening winds down after my second official day working as a fisheries intern with the ODFW, I now realize one thing quite quickly: I am tired! Even after just the second day of working, I find myself at the end of my day a bit exhausted, and quite ready for sleep. A great feeling, because I know that another day of work lies ahead of me tomorrow. Last night after I sat down to write my blog (which, sadly, will likely end up being one of the longer ones I will write, considering that it was my first day performing the trap operation duties, and I had a lot to take in at once), I zoned out pretty good and typed away... and before I knew it, it was VERY late in the evening (early morning). Regardless, I need to make a better effort to finish all of my blog writing duties at a reasonable hour, so that I still have time to wind down and go to sleep at a half-decent hour. Tonight shouldn't be a big deal though.

Thankfully before I went into my shift today I gave myself a little extra time to find a good place to get my morning coffee fix. I truly think it helped keep me awake earlier on in the day. I'm going to try my best not to make coffee a necessary habit, as it adds to my expenses and isn't necessarily the best thing for me. But I'm not going to lie, it's hard to avoid a good cup of coffee when you feel like you really need one. 

I started my morning off by meeting at the office at 8am again, likely my basic routine for the next 2 months. Christine, Derek, and Bob were all out of the office today attending a regional meeting at Silver Falls, so it was just me and Evan in our little corner of the office all day. I got the chance to meet Chris, who is a biologist with the Life Cycle Monitoring crew (LCM). Their crew operates several rotary-screw fish traps in several areas along the mid-coast range. The rotary-screw fish trap is a special kind of fan-like trap that swirls in a circle and sort of sucks in juvenile fish, giving biologists the chance to monitor and perform experiments on salmonids that are in the juvenile stage of their life cycles. It is pretty much universally agreed that the salmon and steelhead's juvenile life cycle is no doubt the toughest and the most important part of their whole life cycle (mostly because that's where the majority of their mortality occurs), and by better understanding it, biologists have the opportunity to monitor population indexes, as well as experiment and implement new ideas on how to better the survival rate of juvenile fish. This can have huge implications for present and future management. 

After chatting with Chris a bit (and hopefully securing a time later to be announced to take a trip with him to help run a rotary screw trap and get some experience with that), Evan informed me that it was pretty much a catch-up day. We had a list of things to do, but it was also a time that we got to use to go explore a bit and do a little scouting trip (what Evan likes to call "Learn Your Watershed"). We geared up, wrote "Bohananon" on the big sign-out blackboard under our names (the board everyone uses to let everyone know where we are at different times), and packed into a white Ford Ranger. And we were off!

The first order of business was going up to Bohananon Falls fish trap, located on Drift Creek - a tributary of the Alsea River basin. We took a few short cuts through Toledo, drove up the Yaquina River highway a small bit, and then got onto a very well used logging road (Road 1000, or "The 1000 Line", as Evan likes to call it). Just like for the Siletz Gorge road, we use a CB Radio to call out our position on the 1000 line to any logging trucks that are coming out so that they know where to look for us. Unlike the gorge drive yesterday, we actually ran into two logging trucks on our trip up the 1000 line. I learned that for the most part as long as you are very careful and cautious about where your position is in conjunction to the logging truck's position, it is relatively easy to find a pullout in time. At least, on this particular road, in this particular truck. The road was quite active, and as we meandered through the spotty hills of the Gopher Creek watershed, we saw one logging anchor line that was in use. Logging is quite the intense operation, and the logging company (Plum Creek) that owns the land we were driving through is looking to make a lot of money off it's land. Evan showed me a color-coded map of all of the mid-coast range, and it is very surprising how little of it is actually public land. Most of the timber land is owned by private entities, namely Plum Creek and Forest Capital. After that, the land is a fair bit of US Forest Service, and then patches of other private companies as well as BLM and a few other public entities as well. It is quite overwhelming at first to see just how many entities are involved in owning and managing land in this district. Fish biologists must work hand in hand with these landowners to ensure that their use of the land, whether it is for agricultural gain or managing for public recreational use, does not terribly disturb the local watershed's fish and wildlife. It is a tough juggle to handle, but the mid-coast district ODFW office does everything it can to provide the best advice when new issues or projects come along.

We arrive at a pull out in the road, with a trail leading through the bushes that is covered with brush debris. Evan exclaims that someone needs to get out and mow the trail down, as it hasn't been serviced in quite a while. I could agree, the trail is quite hidden in the brush. But at the same time, I think that it's meant to be that way. These fish traps are meant to only be used by ODFW staff only, and keeping unwanted conspicuous subjects away from the trap is ideal. The Bohananon falls trap this time of the year is pretty dead, as it is between runs. Drift Creek receives returns of wild winter steelhead, and fall chinook and coho salmon. A bit later down the line, coho and chinook smolts will be heading their way downstream to the ocean, and soon the adults will be taking their place once again. For now, we examine the trap for any needed repairs. Evan uses a large stick to clear out the top floodgate that has accumulated quite a few snags, which impede fish from going anywhere in the trap. They keep the gate open between runs so that native coastal cutthroat and resident rainbow trout have leeway to move up and down the falls with ease. Evan makes a note using a measuring tape to replace two boards that are on the verge of needing replacement - as they are severely waterlogged and rather rotted away. He also makes a note to bring some grease for the valve that is used to raise and lower the top floodgate, as it will rust without proper care. We make our notes, and head on out. 

We make our way back down the 1000 line, and decide to do a bit of exploring. We decide our next destination is Elk City, located at the confluence of the Yaquina River and Big Elk Creek. We look at a finely detailed map of all the forest service roads to ensure that we can find a passage from our current position to the main road that will take us to Grant Creek Road, which will drop us directly into the Big Elk Creek watershed. From there, we can follow the road it meets all the way down to Elk City, and eventually back to Toledo and Newport.Evan has me secure a route on the map, and I'm pretty sure that I know what way we need to go. We turn off the 1000 line and begin our trek through the single lane forest service road. It looked simple enough. At every intersection we get to, take a left. There should be two left turns total, and that's it. After taking two left turns, we realize that we aren't quite where we want to be. Evan continues on, and eventually we find ourselves laughing as we end up back on the 1000 line, down the road from where we turned off. Evan then reorients himself a bit and realizes where he is at, and takes a new route that takes us directly where we wanted to be in the first place. Go figure, my first day out in the woods trying to orient myself, and I get lost. Alas, having Evan with me made it a easy fix. 

We made our way down to Elk City, and then back onto the Yaquina River highway to Toledo and Newport once again. We decide our next stop is the lumber yard, where we pick up a 14 foot board that we will use to replace the two boards out at the Bohananon falls trap. After that, we end up at the shop, where we decide it's time to do a little cleaning.

Inside the ODFW shop, it's quite organized, but in a very chaotic manner (much like the majority of things in my life). The shop is part of a large storage complex, where they have their own storage building within a large number of them all next to each other. Evan calls it "ODFW's little corner of the world". Inside rests virtually all of the equipment (for both fish and wildlife) used by the Mid-Coast District office. Canoes, kayaks, seine nets, dip nets (for fish trap operations), broodstock tubes*, dry suits, waders, boots, racks of kiddie trout poles, deer traps, bird houses, and much, much more line the shelves and walls. 

 *A broodstock tube is a tube with open barred ends, intended to hold caught native steelhead in them to allow them to respire in the tube without dying. They are given to and used by fishermen who catch native steelhead and then turn their fish over to ODFW so that they are later used in the hatchery process to make tougher, wild-gene driven hatchery steelhead, called "broodstock". These fish tend to exert more fit, wild genes and are considered the prime of the hatchery sport fishery when it comes to hatchery made steelhead. 

Although I only have two photos today, one of them is a very interesting story. 

In this rather dark photo are a number of antler racks that are mounted onto the wall of the ODFW shop. These antlers were confiscated by the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division (OSP F&W) from a man who was poaching these animals and then getting antler mounts. Around twenty racks are present (there are a few behind the bird houses). After they were confiscated, they ended up on the wall here for aesthetic purposes. If you look close, just to the right of the light, you can see one of those was a big, big bull! A success story for OSP, clearly, to catch the man who was poaching these magnificent animals.

In the shop, we do some moving around, namely using rope pulleys to raise a very large and heavy seine net above the floor so that it is out of the way of our workspace. We then collect a few tools that we will need for our next project.

As the STEP biologist for mid-coast district, one of Christine Clapp's jobs is to promote fishing and provide educational outreach programs for those in the district. One of the ways that Christine does this is by hosting family fishing events throughout the area to promote education as well as get youngsters and families into the sport of fishing. One project that she has been working on recently has been what she calls the "ODFW fishing libraries" project. This project is a simple one - at each of the libraries located along the coastal towns, brand new fishing poles will be donated that can be "rented" out, much like renting a book out, for free. This will give those who can't afford or don't own proper fishing equipment the opportunity to check out free fishing gear that can be used to get new participants into fishing. Today at the shop I helped Evan put together three standing cabinets. These cabinets will hold the fishing rods and gear, and soon will be donated to libraries in the mid-coast district for the public to check out. Although it wasn't the most fascinating project, I found it to be very fulfilling, as giving back to the community and supporting the community is a big part of ODFW's unofficial mission. Creating and sustaining a positive outreach program within the district is critical to maintaining a positive relationship between ODFW and the public. The public that gets reached out to, might in fact, grow up to be volunteers and advocates for ODFW one day.

We end the day with our third cabinet, and then head back to the office, where we debrief and head out for the evening. Before heading back to the office though, we stop at the ODFW Marine Research office located literally 50 yards away from my apartment at Hatfield. Evan introduces me to a number of biologists working out of the marine research office, and he uses his brother's computer (a fellow marine wildlife biologist) to print off some flyers for an up and coming family fishing event that me and Christine will be helping to host on the 8th of July. Here is the flyer:

If you are in the area and are looking for a fun family event to bring the kids to, this is the one. If you have any questions or comments about the event, please feel free to leave me a comment.

Thank you so much for staying with me and reading my 3rd post! I am off to bed.

~Teddy

P.S. - from here on out, I think I am going to start spacing my blog posts out a bit more. While it's been fun to blog every night, I want to give myself time to build up more information and topics to blog about, so I'm going to take a day or two to do that. Look for my next post to come likely around the weekend, unless something crazy comes up that I can't wait to tell you. Thanks again!

First official day in the books!

Hello again folks!

I write at a very late hour, as it's been quite a long day. I started my internship this morning at 8am sharp, and I'm just now about to go to bed. I apologize for lack of enthusiasm in some parts of this post, as I am quite tired. But, here's the gist of what my day looked like!

I started my morning by making my way across the Yaquina Bay bridge and finding the ODFW office for the first time. Funny enough, the ODFW office is located off of Alder Street in kinda-central Newport, just off Highway 101. Not that that's funny, the funny part is that it's located on the top floor of Newport's Pig 'N Pancake restaurant. You'd think that ODFW, especially down here in the center of all the action near the coast, would have a much bigger establishment. Definitely not the case, but I think that it reflects one of many things. I think one of the biggest things it reflects is that, at least in this district, a huge office isn't exactly necessary, and might not even be practical. They have everything they need, packed into one neatly packed space. Maybe not so neatly packed in some cubicles, but they make great use of the space that they have.

Immediately upon entering the office as I'm greeted by Christine Clapp, the mid-coast region's Salmon Trout Enhancement Program (STEP) biologist and my supervisor for this summer, I don't recognize much that would make one think it's not just your typical office. Cubicles upon cubicles fill the room - with your standard desktop computers, filing cabinets, coffee mugs, printer paper, binders, and the like. But after paying a bit more attention, you realize that you are definitely not in your standard office. Waders hang from the sides of the cubicles, untied wading boots sit idly next to desk chairs; a shelving unit is filled with all sorts of technology used for tracking or performing some kind of science that is foreign to my eyes. A large skirted fishing jig hangs from the ceiling and dangles right above the head of where one of the bottomfish fish biologist sits every day, a very interesting office ornament. A "Thank you" card hangs outside the cubicle of one ODFW worker, filled with the signatures of several first graders from a local elementary school that got the chance to have an educational field day of sorts with the department. Upon entering one corner of cubicles (where the intern desk of yours truly resides), one worker (Derek Wilson, the assistant district fish biologist) has two mounts of animals that he has taken himself in the field - one a incredibly beautiful white haired sheep mount, and the other a mount of antlers from a moose he has taken (from Alaska). His office is filled with framed photos of deer and pictures of him with his kids. Immediately it's easy to see that these workers have their hearts in the right place - and that it won't be hard for me to relate to any of them. They are passionate in their jobs because they live the other side of their jobs in their downtime.

The cloudy, rainy Monday morning starts off as any typical Monday would in the ODFW office, as we start the day with a morning meeting in the office of Bob Buckman, the Mid-Coast District fish biologist, and my actual boss. I get the chance to introduce myself, and everyone else explains their agendas for the week and what everyone's doing. After some chit chat, around a quarter to 9 we meet in the break room to have a meeting with several ODFW volunteers - older fishermen who are very passionate about fishing and want to give back and help ODFW in any way that they can. Most are from local fishing clubs in the nearby Newport area, and some commute from quite a ways to help out. Around 9:30, we have to take off because we have "official business" - it's time to run the Siletz River fish trap.

I try on a pair of baggy, yet comfortable, work waders and a set of boots, and we are off. Today I get to work with Evan, a ODFW Fisheries Technician who graduated from Oregon State in 2006 and was hired on by ODFW in 2008, and has worked for them ever since. He will be my side kick for most of my internship days as he will be helping me run the fish trap during the peak run, and for the next couple of weeks until I get my feet wet a bit. As for his journey in F&W, he had to hop around for a bit to find a spot where he was able to settle, but he has since landed in the fisheries tech position with the Mid-Coast district and he loves it. He says that his favorite part of the job is that while there are some things he gets to do year round (seining, operating fish traps, etc.), there is also another part of the job where you have to be very flexible and willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that whatever needs to get done will get done. On this job, if something breaks - you don't necessarily buy a new one. You use what tools are given to you, and you try to fix it first. A big part of his job detail is to operate and maintain whatever equipment he uses - so if a net gets a hole in it, he fixes it. If the generator operating the hydraulic lift that carries the gigantic bucket of water used to transport live adult steelhead from the fish trap to the aerated tank in the work truck breaks, he tears it apart and does whatever repairs needed to be done. If there's something that needs to be built for a project, he builds it by hand. The ODFW shed, located across the river relatively close to Hatfield, has a myriad of tools, work saws, welder, and other assorted equipment necessary to complete most necessary jobs, and Evan has full permission to use whatever he needs. He's essentially the district's handyman.

We hop in the beast of a Ford F250 Super Duty work truck that has a large aerated tank built into the bed. This tank is used for the transport of live adult hatchery summer steelhead that we would later be using to recycle downstream to give sport anglers a second opportunity at catching and retaining these fish. I am a bit unsure of exactly what percentage of these fish actually get caught, but it seems to be a fair number of them. Any fish that return to the trap a second time (easily identifiable by a red floy tag that is inserted right behind the dorsal fin for any steelhead that was previously trapped) is bonked on the head with a iron mallet. Depending on the condition of the fish, they are then either transported to food share (We work with the Lincoln Co. food share as well as the food share for the Siletz Indian tribes) or used for stream nutrient enrichment. Their carcasses are laid in the riparian zone in or around streams to allow the rich nutrients from the fish to recycle back into the ecosystem.

After meeting up with Corby, a fellow local fishing club member and Siletz River fishing fanatic (one that I'm told "hasn't missed a Monday fish recycling in 10 years"), we make our way up the windy Siletz River highway. Past the town of Siletz, and up into the hills a bit, we pass by Moonshine Park and eventually find ourselves on a gravelly, dirt road. The road is owned and operated by a private logging outfit that logs during the weekdays (closing access to the upper stretches of the Siletz gorge), but allows access on the weekends for fisherman. As we pass the gate leading to the upper gorge, we see plenty of fisherman parked just outside of it, likely a dozen rigs, maybe more. Fishing must be picking up. Corby and Evan had gone out the day before, and Evan picked up his first summer steelhead ever. Fish are definitely moving into the system in decent numbers, and after the day was over, I'd get a decent idea of just how many.

We drove 13 miles up the windy gorge road, filled with potholes and exquisite views of logged hillsides. It would have been quite the spectacle to see what this gorge looked like 50 years ago, before most of the logging was done in this area. Even with some rather large blank spots, the hillside was beautiful in it's own right. Driving up the gorge road, Evan uses a CB radio to let anyone in the area know that he is driving upriver. He does this every 1/2 mile advance, as logging trucks have a bad habit of sneaking up on you when you are least expecting it. Even when riding in this beast of a Ford Super Duty, you have the feeling that you would stand no chance against a fully loaded logging semi-truck, driving 30 miles an hour down the road with typically a steep cliff meeting parallel to you on one side. Not exactly my idea of a way to go out!

Eventually we came to a little side road that went parallel off the main road and downhill. Corby unlocks the gate, and we make our way down to the hydraulic lift structure. Evan backs the truck underneath, close enough to where it will be easy to load fish into the tank. He climbs up a series of ladders that lead to a generator that powers the hydraulic lift. After turning it on, he climbs down and uses a controller to lift a very large steel "bucket" up, and then down and across the Siletz River. After it gets down far enough, he lowers it down slowly into the fish trap. We make our way down a steep wooden incline, and we cross high above the river by a hand-operated 2-man cable car, made possible by the generous force of gravity. As we cross, I get a beautiful view of the Siletz gorge down below the trap, and the pristine high-quality spawning habitat that is the prime target for wild fish waiting for us in the trap.

After getting across we take a moment to prepare our gear, which surprisingly isn't much at all. Two nets, a tally board with several rows and columns made into it, pencil, small envelopes for taking genetic sampling, and a red floy tag gun (effectively just like a clothing tag you'd find on a shirt at a clothing store). Down below in the fish trap, a metal mallet and a hole punch are found for bonking ripe hatchery fish and for hole-punching native fish, respectively. We hole punch any native fish we find with a upper caudal (tail) fin punch (does no harm to the fish itself) so that if the fish were to swim downstream and return to the trap, we know it isn't a stranger. After getting some well-worn gloves on, it's time to finally get to the real work.

I start off by helping Corby with the netting. After we successfully capture a fish with the net, which is a pretty easy job when the fish are confined to a specific area like they are in this trap, Evan takes the fish out of the net and puts it into a wooden "fish holder' (effectively two pieces of wood in a "V" shape with a plastic covering over the top to prevent fish from flopping out of your hands while you work with them), and then takes the species, sex, and disposition of the fish. As stated earlier, if the fish is a hatchery summer steelhead that hasn't been previously tagged, it is then tagged with the red floy tag and put into the large metal "bucket" to be recycled downstream. If the fish is a wild summer, it is hole punched, and then carefully put above the trap so that it may pass upriver unimpeded the rest of the way to do it's thing. If the fish is a "re-run" (hatchery summer steelhead that was previously tagged), it is bonked and put aside for later transportation. In addition to the summer steelhead, we also received a spring chinook salmon in the trap as well. They are handled in the same manner as a wild steelhead, so they also get a hole punch in the upper caudal fin and passed upstream. Overall today we collected 41 hatchery steelhead to be recycled, 4 re-runs, 1 hatchery summer fish that was too colored to recycle, 2 wild fish, and one spring chinook.

After taking up each batch of fish one load at a time (the weight limit for the bucket is about 20 fish with water included, so we had to make a few runs), we successfully transported the fish into the aerated tank located in the truck bed. We were then able to shut the operation down, collect the re-runs, and head back down the gorge road. We dropped Corby off at the spot we picked him up at, and continued downstream to Old Mill boat launch. After backing down quite a precarious launch, we set up the tank with a feeding tube and raised the hatch, which allowed the summer steelhead to shoot out of the tank and back into the Siletz River to give the anglers another chance at hooking one of these prime fish. After watching them mill around for a few moments (I have to admit, it was quite entertaining watching them roll like salmon do in the deep holes in the fall), we made our way back to Newport and dropped off the collected fish to the food share. The worker was VERY happy to receive 5 beautiful summer steelhead, ready to go to a hungry table in the community. We then made our way back to the office, where we winded down the day with some data entry (important for looking back on later). Evan then gave me a quick tour of the ODFW shop shed, where they store all of their equipment that they use for their projects. After that, we went back to the office for one last meeting, where Christine gives me a heads up about some of the upcoming projects I will be helping her with in the month of July, including a couple of family fishing events sponsored by ODFW, as well as a seining project where we will be seining for juvenile chinook salmon in 4 different estuaries in 4 days.

Looking back on my first day, it was a day of extreme success. I learned that the ODFW is a hard working, extremely under appreciated group of individuals who work their tails off to do what they can to preserve fish stocks in the state of Oregon. They also have a very friendly atmosphere, and each employee enjoys what they are doing. It never seems to get too mundane, and they work in some remote settings that some people would likely feel sick to learn about (sick of jealousy of course). I was blown away quite a few times on my first day, and I am very excited to get my first paycheck so that I can afford to buy a waterproof camera. I would have taken more photos but I did not feel safe taking my $250 smart phone out of the truck. With fish slime, constant rain and river water all around me, I feel I made the right decision.

With further ado, I present a few pictures from the day before I go to rest and wake up to see what's next in store for me in my second day with the ODFW.

A crappy, yet somewhat telling photo of the Siletz Gorge, and the crazy logging activity that has been done on it quite recently. Older trees line the hilltop to the left, an empty patch lines the middle, and a patch of newer trees grows to the right. 

The ODFW Mid-Coast region office. Cleverly disguised as a popular breakfast restaurant.

My reward for the day, my very own ODFW hat! I'm told I have to give it back at the end of the summer. Apparently they don't want any impostors running around. That's okay, I plan on getting it as slimy as possible...

Ended the day with a jetty walk and a little bit of fishing. Haven't fished the jetty in quite a few years, and the rocks are still just as snaggy as I remembered.

Looking up into the Yaquina Bay, with the bridge quite far into the background.

Looking towards the North Jetty at sunset.

A rather large flock of pelicans fly over my head, as I try desperately to avoid being crapped on.

Looking on the ocean-side of the south jetty, wondering how long it's going to take before those nasty clouds reach me.

A setting sun breaking through the clouds and coloring up the sky.

A fishing vessel makes it's last tussle up the bay to return home.

And with that, I am on the way home, myself.

Thank you for reading! I will see you next time. Hopefully on Wednesday it will be a bit dryer, so I can get better photos of the fish trap area and part of the actual collection process. Stay tuned!

~Teddy

From the ashes, a new beginning.

Hello fellow readers,

I welcome you to my inaugural post of Summer 2012! I hope that you find this blog in good tidings, and that the start of your summer has been a good one.

Mine has been a bit rough - as I'm sure some of you that are friends with me on Facebook, those of you from Small Stream Salmon Fishing's forum, or those that just plain know me in person, might know. On Friday I had to say goodbye to my best friend and loyal companion at home, Blue the yellow lab. I have posted about him in the places previously mentioned, and I will not elaborate here. I will say though that I miss him dearly, and it was certainly strange coming home Friday evening and not hearing his trademark barking, or getting a chance to pet him as I approached the front door to our Portland home. An eerie silence fell upon our home the day we took him in to have him put to rest, and it will likely remain for some time. But time is the universal healer, and I know that he is in a better place as I write this. From the ashes of his passing, a new day rises, and better, happier times are on the horizon.

The last three days have been a bit of a whirlwind for me, as after tonight, I will have spent the last 3 nights in 3 separate beds. Thankfully, the bed I stay in tonight is one that I will be staying in for the next ten weeks or so. I'm sure some of you are curious as to why I'm writing this blog, so I will get right to the point!

I'm writing this blog to document my experiences as a summer intern with the Oregon Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (ODFW), in the Newport, OR district. I have decided to do this for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I felt that it was important to document my time spent with ODFW, as they are one of the big players in the state of Oregon for management of fish and wildlife as a natural resource. Because of this, they are a possible candidate for me as a professional career in the near future. I wanted to have my experience documented so that I can keep a fair record of the duties, job skills, and experiences that I have as an intern and to give those in my life who aren't always in touch with me a chance to see what I'm doing during my summer. Virtually all that I have told about my summer exploits have been excited and anxious to know what I'm doing down here. I assure you, I am just as excited! This blog will be a good place to find this information over the course of the next several weeks.

Secondly, for those who do not know, I am a senior moderator for an online educational sport fishing forum, Small Stream Salmon Fishing, known as Portland, OR's Premiere Educational Fishing Community (http://www.northwestfishing.info). Over there I am known as "Twise95", and I am the 6th original member of the forum that started in the spring of 2009. I was hand-picked by the owner of the forum, a great friend and fishing buddy, to be a familiar face of the community as I continue on my journey through college at Oregon State University as a Fisheries and Wildlife Science major. I have told the community what I am doing this summer, and I wanted to give all of the fine folk who are a part of the community - conservation and educationally minded anglers - a small glimpse into my summer, as I work hands-on with the ODFW in several fisheries-related projects in the Newport district. As they probably know, work that I will be participating in will be directly related to the sport fishing opportunities and projects in this area. Guys, this is for you! Hope you enjoy it, and you get as much out of it as I am putting into it.

At this point in my college career as I begin my fifth and (hopefully) final year, I am still a bit unsure as to where I will end up professionally, but I am extremely hopeful that it will be in this field of science. The one thing I love so much about anyone that I meet in this field is that I have yet to meet a single person who doesn't seem excited or passionate about what they are doing. That is exactly how I feel. Everything I've learned so far has been exciting and interesting, and I thoroughly enjoy my classes at OSU. This internship will be my first hands-on experience in the field of fisheries and wildlife, and I have a busy summer loaded to the hilt with a plethora of projects and experiences waiting for me.

My job details are long and likely a bit head-scratching to most of you, so I will do my best to explain them to you in layman's terms so that you have a good idea of what I'm doing. Anyway, here is a list of the basic duties I am expected to perform this summer, which I'm sure is bound to change:

"The ODFW Mid-Coast District intern will be based out of the Newport field office. Work will be conducted throughout the district, from the Salmon River down to the Siuslaw River.

The Mid-Coast intern will assist with a diverse range of fisheries management activities. Primary duties include: 1) operating district fish traps, 2) estuary seining for juvenile chinook, 3) electro-fishing for juvenile salmonids, and 4) monitoring anadromous cutthroat trout populations via snorkel surveys. District fish trap operations include monitoring wild salmonid populations and assisting with the summer steelhead fishery on in the Siletz basin. Spring chinook and summer steelhead are monitored at the Siletz Falls adult fish trap; as part of this operation, the intern will be trained in fish species and gender identification as well as genetic and scale sampling. The intern will also help collect hatchery broodstock and recycle hatchery fish to enhance the Siletz River summer steelhead fishery. In addition to these primary duties, the intern will be expected to complete some basic data entry and may have the opportunity to assist with site preparation for stream habitat restoration. There may also be opportunities to assist with wildlife management activities such as deer spotlighting surveys. The typical work week is 8AM-5PM Monday-Friday, but the schedule is subject to change. Students will be expected to work in a range of weather conditions, and often in cold, swift flowing rivers."

Whew! That was a mouthful. So to be honest, I have absolutely no idea which of these duties will constitute the majority of my work week. As much as I'd like to go into detail as to what I think each of these duties will entail to, I must stop for the night. My first day of work starts tomorrow at 8AM, and I think after tomorrow I will have a good idea of what to expect. It is nearing 11PM, and I must be going to bed soon so I can wake up bright-eyed and bushy tailed in the morning. I will do my best to elaborate more on these things tomorrow, and hopefully my supervisor will be going over a lot of this stuff with me.

I will leave you folks with a photo I took earlier this evening of tonight's sunset, overlooking Nye Beach:

I have a feeling this is a great omen of things to come.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!

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~Teddy