5 am: Magic on the River

If, one month ago, someone had told me that I would soon be excited to wake up at 5 am, it is highly likely that I would have been quite skeptical. But the thing is… they would have been right. There is something truly wondrous about waking up before the sun rises and hopping into a canoe for a full day of field research. With freezing cold fingers and two layers of pants under my Simms waders, we launch into the river from the log jam or from the bank of the river by Millionaires, searching out the next point on our map of spots that we must cover to complete habitat surveys. It’s best to be on the water as early as possible. This way we can avoid disturbing fishermen during peak fishing hours, and the wind is far weaker in the morning – making for easier rowing. For the last few weeks, I have had the privilege of spending several days on the water with Zach Kuzniar (a grad student at Grand Valley State University in Michigan) who is conducting research on adult rainbow trout habitat use in the ranch portion of the Henry’s Fork. Part of this research involves a series of in-depth habitat surveys: at 200 points on the river we measure water velocity, temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, water level, substrate, and a whole slew of other variables. And it is always an adventure.

A green drake that landed on our boat during habitat surveys - fishermen's dream!

I had the special opportunity to help conduct surveys on the water before the ranch portion was open to fishing, when herds of elk and other animals that are native to that area had not yet been permanently frightened into the woods by the presence of too many people. On my first day on the water, Zach, Chris and I watched an enormous herd of elk running across the river. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I was completely entranced by the natural wonder before me. I felt like I was in an incredible National Geographic TV special. Now that the ranch is open, I have seen far fewer animals, and none in herds. This is a pity, because it is a truly awesome experience to be that close to something that seemed so primal, but which is simply a part of everyday life in the wilderness. It was torrentially down-pouring that entire day, but it was one of my favorite days of the summer because I spent it on the water, in good company, in the name of science. I really don’t know what more I could ask for (perhaps a touch of sunlight, but then again… the rain added to the experience. Plus I get to brag about how hard-core my field research experience is to all of my friends back home!)

Measuring water velocity
(p.s. Check out my Simms waders! They make me feel like a true outdoors woman)

Habitat surveys themselves can get a bit monotonous, but all I ever have to do is look up and take in the breathtaking sight of the Henry’s Fork and I am reminded of why I love being here in Idaho. After a month, the beauty of this place is still remarkable to me. I have never been anywhere so open in my life. I can see for miles, all the way to the crest of the caldera and far beyond it. How many people can say that they can see the Tetons all day while they work? The air here is fresh and my lungs are definitely grateful. After having spent the last five months of my life in London (a wonderful city… but a city with tons of gas-guzzling cars and pollution), the purity of this landscape is such a constant joy to me. Right now I am gazing into our backyard, where a beautiful black horse is grazing in the thick grass…which stretches for miles and miles… until the green blends into the bright blue of the sky, which is endless here. I can't dream of a better place to spend my summer.

:D Arielle 

Welcome to the Reel World

 This is the true story…of seven strangers…picked to work in a watershed…live together and blog about their lives…to find out what happens…when people begin to catch fish…and start getting reel…The Reel World: Henry’s Fork Edition.

MTV seriously dropped the ball when they didn’t get the rights to follow Henry & the Forks (trademark pending) around this summer.  With California (x2), Idaho, Michigan (not really an intern, but we let him hang out with us), Mississippi, New York, and Pennsylvania all represented, we’ve got a variety of demographics covered.  It has been an interesting social experiment the past three weeks living with such a diverse group, but I can’t imagine a better situation.  After spending long days together, we all gravitate back to the living room at the end of the day (sometimes because we’re too tired to make it to our rooms) to rehash the highlights of the day, e.g. spending twenty minutes “mowing” the field for Henry’s Fork Day only to realize that you have to put the blade down on a ride-on mower for it to actually cut the grass.  (In my defense, I had only ever used a push mower, also known as character building.)  Another example, the time Jeff (a.k.a. Nugget) ate an entire box of expired Raisin Bran cereal in one afternoon (true story). 

             It’s stories like those above that, for me, will be the most meaningful takeaways from this internship.  I’ve learned so much about conservation management and the inner workings of a nonprofit in the past three weeks, but it’s the people I’ve met, the stories I’ve heard, and the memories I’ve made so far that really make me appreciate the intangibles this internship has to offer. 

            Now that we’ve got the blog up and running for the summer, keep a look out for posts from the rest of the interns!

Peace, love, and oreo balls,

 

Bess

 

Introducing Henry & The Forks - Summer Field Crew 2013

            So many wonderful, new, exciting things have happened since I arrived here in Idaho three weeks ago that I hardly know where to begin. I have tucked myself into a canoe before sunrise to assist with habitat surveys on the ranch portion of the Henry’s Fork River, gaining field-research skills I could never learn in a classroom. I have wrestled with trout of all sizes at the Buffalo fish ladder, discovering the incredible (and humbling) strength of these creatures so much smaller than myself. My new intern friends and I have spent days hauling the remnants of the Thurmon Creek weir through the forest, learning about the inglorious but nonetheless important side of field-research. And somehow, in the midst of all of this, 22-inch-long rainbow trout have miraculously appeared on the end of my fishing line! It has been a busy blur of summer days well spent, with plenty of learning, laughing, and country music to boot.

Arielle with her first trout: a 22-inch rainbow

            When I first accepted this internship, I had only an inkling of what this summer would hold. I knew that I would be assisting with field-research, that I would finally get to spend my summer outdoors again, and that I would be moving into a house with six other interns from across the country. Little did I know that I would be making some truly amazing new friends who share my passions for the outdoors and conservation. I also didn’t know that I would have a very hard time learning how to hold a live fish… but that with lots of kind encouragement and coaching, I would learn how to gently but deftly handle those little guys in no time. I still have much to learn out here beneath these beautiful Idaho skies, and I can’t wait to see where the next seven weeks will take me and the rest of the 2013 field crew.

            So here I am, a girl from the suburbs of New York City, writing to you from rural Idaho – and loving every moment of it. Stay tuned for more blog posts from me and the rest of Henry & The Forks (as we interns have named ourselves) as we keep you updated with stories of our summer adventures! 

Sunrise on the Henry's Fork

Waterfalls, Cliffs, and Cutthroat. All in a day’s work.

E-fishing doesn’t sound that hard, right? You just have to walk through 100 meters of stream and scoop up all the fish you stun. No biggie. The hidden challenge is getting to the sites. Armed with our trusty GPS, we look for the easiest way to get to the stream from the car. Sometimes it’s an easy hundred meters. Most of the time it’s a lot farther.

Gorgeous Waterfall on Wyoming Creek

Last week we headed into Wyoming Creek, in Targhee National Forest. We followed a deer trail for a while, which was pretty easy-going, but then the banks of the creek turned to cliffs, and we realized we needed to walk up the stream in order to reach our site.  We put on our waders, only to realize that Chase managed to grab two left wader boots. He managed to stuff his neoprene cover feet into his Chacos, and we started splashing upstream, only to hit a series of 10 ft. waterfalls. We managed to climb over the first one with our gear, but the second was above a deep pool. Time to improvise. Luckily Charlie, the resident rock climber, had some webbing and carabineers in his pack, so Matt climbed up and we hauled our gear up and over the cliff next to the falls, and then scrambled up ourselves.  All in all, our site was only 1 km as the crow flies. Unfortunately we are not crows, and the trek took us over 2 hours.

Hauling our e-fisher up the cliff

Two left shoes :( 

Our next stop was Squirrel Creek, which is pretty close to Ashton.  Our first site was right off the road, and we were excited for what we though was going to be an easy day.  We started hiking in to the second site and it wasn’t too bad: we just had to walk around a swamp. Suddenly we broke through an aspen grove and found ourselves on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the creek far below. We were momentarily stumped because there was no way we were going to be able to climb down safely, much less get back up. Hmmmm. With a little scouting, we found a tiny break in the cliff that was less steep, and made it down to the bottom in one piece.  Found some great looking cutthroat at the bottom, so the adventure was all worth it!

Nessa and a Cutthroat from Squirrel Creek

Stopping Erosion with Native Plants

A few weeks ago we teamed up with North Fork Native Plants and Intermountain Aquatics to restore a portion of bank on the lower Henry’s Fork. They have done several restorations in the past and have determined a method based on trial and error. The status quo for stopping erosion is to use large rocks, which works when the natural substrate of the river is rocky, but is not effective in sandy riverbeds because the rocks are just washed away. Rocks also do nothing to re-establish native vegetation. 

Bio-logs

Partially restored bank

            Instead of rocks we used organic materials and native plants to secure the banks. After an excavator had leveled the steep slope, we staked down a burlap cloth made of biodegradable coconut fibers on the tow of the slope.  Above this, we dug a huge trench and dropped in bio-logs. Bio-logs are pre-planted with a mixture of native grasses and young willows and are given their cylindrical structure by more burlap. After the bio-logs, we planted coyote willows of various sizes, and a mixture of hawthorn, currant, roses, and snowberries. As Katie Salsbury of North Fork Native Plants explained, diversity is the best insurance policy when it comes to successful restoration.

Check out the awesome video that Matt put together about our week! Watch it to the end, it gets really good.

Catching our First Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout!

Hiking in all of our gear

This week we electro-fished the wonderfully named Jackass Creek in Grand Targhee National Park. The sites we were surveying had only been electro-fished once before and the notes on how to find the sights were pretty vague. One description informed us that the beginning of a unit was near a “large split pine”. There were around a million large split pines on the creek. Luckily, we had some GPS coordinates. Unluckily, the first day, we plugged in the wrong coordinates and spent around an extra hour crashing through the woods before we realized we had hiked way too far carrying all of our heavy gear. Oops. On the bright side, the wildlife sightings were great! We saw a baby skunk, some snakes, a bird’s nest, and best of all; Matt found a full set of epic moose antlers!!

Yellowstone Cutthroat!

     
Hands down, the stars of the show at Jackass Creek were the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout.  These were the first YCT we’ve caught this summer and they are stunning fish. We learned that the population at Jackass creek is unique because it is the only pure and original YCT population left in the Henry’s Fork Watershed. The rest of the watershed has non-native brook or rainbow trout mixed in, or has been seeded from Yellowstone Lake. The fish we caught were incredibly wild and very difficult to measure and keep in the bucket. We also caught more of them than had been caught the last time this creek was surveyed, so that is potentially very good news for the cutthroats.  It was exciting to explore  this remote part of the watershed full of bear signs and cutthroats. 

Matt and the Antlers

Bird’s Nest

Gillnetting Island Park Reservoir

The other day we met up with some great folks from Fish and Game (Greg, Jamie, and Jordan) and helped them survey the fish populations in Island Park Reservoir.  They had put down ten huge nets at various sites the night before, and we pulled them out in the morning.  We brought the nets over to the shore and set about detangling the fish. Gillnets are appropriately named because the fish’s gills get tangled in the holes when they try to swim past. Untangling them without mutilating them was a little tricky, but we had to be careful because we needed to accurately measure the length of each fish.

Fish and Game has been tracking fish populations in the Island Park Reservoir for a while, so the data we were collecting will help them determine population trends. For each fish we weighed and measured them. For the few rainbow trout we caught we also collected the otoliths aka the ear bones. Charlie was able to pull them out in a record 11 seconds! All in all we caught close to 1,000 fish, mostly suckers and chubs. One little kokanee also made it into a net!  Working with Fish and Game was super fun; they treated us to a delicious lunch and taught us the difference between the types of fish.  Hopefully we can grab a few more beautiful days out on the water with them.