Written by Emilee Gooch, 2024 Seasonal Biology Technician

As June comes to an end, writing this blog has been a great opportunity to think back on all the experiences I have had the chance to be involved with this past month. With the Friends group, the month started out with the Migrate through Malheur event, which was a really fun chance to be connected with the public and be involved in their exploration of the refuge. This month we also hosted the In a Landscape concert held at the refuge, a very unique event that provided a chance to see the refuge in a new way. Both of these events were very fun ways to be involved with the community, while also raising awareness of Malheur! I also had the chance to assist Dominic, Alexa, and Teresa with the Summer of Science program at the Harney County Library’s Summer Reading Program. My station focused on educating about pollinators. This was a great event, and I loved having the chance to work with kids from the local area.

On the biology side of things, many of my mornings this month began with setting and checking the four fish traps throughout Malheur, in order to monitor populations moving through the system. I feel I’ve gained a much better understanding of the function of these traps, and some of the work that goes into aquatic monitoring. We’ve had a variety of species in the traps this season, including redband trout, bridgelip suckers, longnose dace, many mountain whitefish, and others.

I had the chance to travel with Travis and 3 botanists from the Wet Meadows Collaborative into the field for a day, surveying mainly the abundance of certain invasives within the meadows, at 5 different sites. This was my first in-depth vegetation survey, and it was very informative of not only learning the vegetation of the region, but also one of the possible techniques which can be utilized for these types of surveys.

One of my absolute favorite experiences this month was the chance to participate in the snowy plover survey with Teresa and some great volunteers! This was 2 days out on the playas surveying for plovers, along with noting other shorebirds present. This is an area of the refuge and a type of ecosystem I had yet to visit, and it was such a cool experience. It was also my first chance to partake in a large-scale wildlife survey, and it was a phenomenal, very educational opportunity.

That same week, the Tribal Stewards were at the refuge. The Tribal Stewards are a group of Indigenous young adults local to Burns. The crew represented Burns Paiute, Umatilla, and Pit River Tribes with Crew Leaders representing Klamath and Klamath/Modoc Tribes. Having the chance to spend a few days with them and share my knowledge of the refuge while learning more from these individuals about their culture was a wonderful experience. Together we learned about automated recording units for bird surveys, the cultural harvest of bull rush, and how to make a traditional duck decoy. 

This month has been so great; it’s crazy that my time here is already halfway over! I look forward to the next half!

The Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge proudly fund this position which is critical to supporting the Refuge’s busy field season of inventory and monitoring projects. We are thrilled to welcome Emilee to the team and have her share her experiences with you, who make this possible, through our newsletter.

Funding this position costs approximately $8,500. If you want to support this work, please Donate today!