Tuesday, June 26, 2012

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!


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