6/10/14 – 2013 Season Report & Maps

6/10/14 – 2013 Season Report & Maps

by | Jun 11, 2014 | Five Year Mark & Recapture Study, News, Radio Telemetry Pilot Study, Tracking Updates

A  big thanks to all of our volunteers – over 100 in all – who contributed over 2,500 hours to the study effort. Our volunteers caught over 1,900 trout and 1,100 other fish during the course of the study. This study would not have been possible without your help! We’ve reconfigured our website.  Please visit our homepage or jump straight to the...
6/5/14 – 2013 Season Wrap-Up Meeting

6/5/14 – 2013 Season Wrap-Up Meeting

by | Jun 6, 2014 | Five Year Mark & Recapture Study, News

Esteemed citizen scientists,I’m pleased to let you know that the long-rumored Trout Study wrap-up meeting is finally about to happen, surmounting a raft of logistical issues that led to the delay. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, J…une 10, 6-7 pm at Springfield City Hall (225 5th St.) in the Council Meeting Room near the Library.Dave Thomas, Scott Kinney and I will have the written reports and go over the results for the 2013 sampling season. (Hint: they look very good.) As you know, the study was terminated at the end of last season prior to the planned 5th year of tagging that would have taken place this year. So in this meeting we will also be summarizing the entire study period, trying to put it all in perspective.We think that this study has been an important success, from several points of view. First, the results confirm that when a management regime is implemented that optimizes conditions for native wild fish on a river like the McKenzie, the wild fish population responds and the quality of the fishery improves. Second, it has demonstrated that concerned citizens, working together with government fish and wildlife professionals, can generate high quality results and have a big impact on fishery management. We have been told that the scale, persistence and caliber of this study’s effort has set a new standard for ODFW-sponsored citizen science across the state. You, the volunteers, made that happen. It is the results of your dedication that we will discuss on June 10. Hoping to see all of you at the meeting! You can RSVP on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/289894584511769...
9/10/13 – Tag Recovery

9/10/13 – Tag Recovery

by | Sep 11, 2013 | News, Radio Telemetry Pilot Study, Tracking Updates

Thanks to Arlen, Shannon, and Jason for the writeups on the past couple weeks’ progress! From 8/30: Following up on clues provided by Scott and Julia’s nifty detective work, last Friday four of us deployed on a casualty recovery mission to the borrow pit pond behind Roger’s Gardens at 42nd St. and Hwy 126, where they had detected 4 radio tags the previous week. Around 11am we launched our pair of sturdy and roomy craft, with Scott and Julia taking the lead with the receiver, while Shannon and I stayed close by to help with the recovery. We tracked tag #9 along the shoreline, and determined that the signal was strongest up the bank a ways. So while Shannon schmoozed with the nearby residents (making sure they didn’t shoot the trespassers), we remaining three dove into the shore-side underbrush; radio reciever + antenna, large magnets and metal detector in hand. This is the kind of ground we were picking through, only with the tag half-buried and much better hidden than in this re-enactment photo: Other radio signals seemed to be emanating from the water just offshore, and we spent quite a long time in this spot, with Scott up to his neck in water as he dug around in the bottom muck feeling for tags, all the while slowly disappearing into the ooze himself. Rather than spoil the suspense, I’ll wait for Scott, Julia and Shannon to weigh in with their additions to the story and the final results of our sojourn. I will just say that the reported 100-200 cormorants that over-winter at this pond have been very busy. Arlen...