Written by Emilee Gooch, FOMR Seasonal Biological Technician
Photo of Emilee (front and center) with colleagues and holding a newly banded sandhill crane colt at Modoc National Wildlife Refuge.
July has been a very exciting (and very hot!) month for me here at Malheur, and it provided many more great opportunities to grow my skill set. The month started out with the incredible opportunity to travel with Dominic to Modoc NWR in Alturas, CA and assist with the banding of sandhill crane colts. This was hands-down one of the coolest things I have gotten to be a part of, and the chance to handle wildlife for the first time was an incredible experience. Also in the bird world, I joined Alexa and Teresa for a survey of Boca Pond here at Malheur, one of the impoundments that serves as important waterfowl habitat. Working with both Alexa and Teresa is always such an informative experience and a great chance to continue to learn about the bird species found here at Malheur.
Aquatic vegetation surveys are underway this month as well, and provided the opportunity to travel onto Malheur Lake with Dominic and Josie (from High Desert Partnership) to begin surveying vegetation throughout the lake. We found a large variety of species, some of the most prevalent including pondweed species, hardstem bull rush, cattail, and duckweed. Aquatic vegetation surveys will continue throughout the coming weeks, and I am excited to continue learning the species here, and become more familiar with the survey techniques utilized.
On the fish side of things, as water levels begin to drop in the later summer there have been fewer fish moving through the system, and the traps have not been able to be set as frequently. However, for the first few weeks of July I did still have the chance to continue working with the traps, collecting data on the species moving upstream. We continued to see high numbers of large, seemingly healthy redband trout, along with many shiners, suckers, mountain whitefish, and even some tui chub! For a brief period, we did experience carp moving into the traps and these were removed from the system. I have thoroughly enjoyed having the chance this summer to become much more knowledgeable of aquatic management and fish survey techniques and they are skills and knowledge I will definitely carry with me into the future.
I have just 3 more weeks here at Malheur, and I look forward everything they have to offer!
