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Taylor Ranch
Wilderness Field Station
University of Idaho
HC 83 Box 8070
Cascade, ID 83611
Satellite Phone:
1-254-543-9291
Fax at Arnold Aviation:
208-382-3941
Email:
tayranch@hughes.net
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Ellen Hamann
DeVlieg Taylor Graduate Research Assistantship
2007-2009
Master's Candidate
Environmental Science Program
Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources
Brian Kennedy, Ph.D.
Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Resources
University of Idaho
CIFEES - Integrative Fish Ecology
and Ecosystem Studies Website
Life history Variability in the Middle Fork of the Salmon River system: Migration Decisions in an Undisturbed Wilderness Environment
Brief Description (ppt)
Research Goals
The overall goal of this study is to understand ecological drivers of movement and life history variation of Pacific salmon in the Big Creek Watershed. We then hope to place these relationships between habitat and movements in the context of pristine salmon rivers throughout the northern Pacific. Currently, little is known concerning juvenile salmonid movements, and my research will look at these movements in the context of environmental conditions that may be driving migrations. We will be using a combination of techniques from PIT tagging to otolith microchemistry to determine differences in fish size, growth rates, and migration timing within the watershed. Additionally we are collaborating with researchers at the Salmonid Rivers Observatory Network (SaRON) based out of the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station. SaRON’s goal is to look at salmon productivity and biodiversity from a habitat perspective, focusing on the type, amount, and quality that is available. They look at habitat as a constantly shifting mosaic shaped by dynamic biophysical processes over long time scales. SaRON observatory sites are located throughout the Pacific Rim from Russia to Alaska and British Columbia, and collaborations with them will enable us to make cross-site comparisons between Big Creek and international pristine river systems.
Electroshocking Upper Big Creek for juvenile Chinook and steelhead and packing our gear along the Big Creek trail.
 
The field work for my research is based out of the University of Idaho's Taylor Wilderness Research Station located in the Frank Church/River of No Return Wilderness area of central Idaho.
Wilderness environments are valuable research settings for looking at what current successful life history strategies are and using them as a reference for what historical strategies might have been. We can then use these pristine systems as a basis for comparison to other habitats that have been impacted by anthropogenic effects. This type of research becomes even more relevant in an era of increased environmental change and human impacts that threaten to alter entire ecosystems. Global warming and climate change have huge implications for anadromous salmonids. Remote headwater streams like Big Creek will be of utmost importance for the continued persistence of the species as thermal barriers and altered hydrologic regimes continue to impact stream and river networks throughout the Pacific Northwest.
 
Weighing the juvenile steelhead and then inserting a PIT tag.
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