Serving as ACE's water resources member for the Bureau of Land Management's Color Country District Office allows for a highly diversified day-to-day work schedule. Water resources encompasses a wide array of tasks and duties, including assisting with water rights adjudications, fisheries sampling efforts, stream and floodplain restoration projects, stream health assessments, and harmful algal bloom monitoring.
One thing I have really enjoyed about this position is the ample opportunity for inter-agency collaboration. This has allowed me to regularly work with entities such as the United States Forest Service, Utah Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, Brigham Young University, Southern Utah University, and others. With public land and natural resource conservation being the common goal, these diverse institutions rely heavily on each other for support with ongoing projects throughout Southern Utah.
Collaborating with the Utah Department of Natural Resources to assist with native fish monitoring is another way that I have been able to maintain strong inter-agency partnerships. Southern Utah's Virgin River is a biodiversity hotspot that provides critical habitat for six native fish species: Virgin River Chub, Virgin River Spinedace, Woundfin, Speckled Dace, Desert Sucker, and Flannelmouth Sucker. All six are native to the basin, and several have conservation designations, including federally endangered status or designation as a species of greatest conservation need.
Carrying a large seine net over your shoulder while trudging through the turbid, silty waters of the Virgin River might not look like the most graceful work, but seining is a highly effective method of active sampling for these smaller fish species. The process involves two individuals synchronously dragging a large seine net through the river, parallel to the bank. One takes the lead while the other follows closely behind. The goal is to sample roughly a 10-meter section of the river, capturing fish from their habitat in the net. From there, native fish biologists can examine the fish and identify things such as species presence or absence, condition, natural reproduction, and recruitment rates. This method is also effective for monitoring established invasive fish populations.
The Virgin River, like many other lotic systems in Southern Utah, supports substantial growth of benthic cyanobacteria. Harmful algal blooms can occur when algae or cyanobacteria experience rapid growth and accumulation, potentially resulting in increased cyanotoxin production and depleted oxygen levels in the water. If ingested, these toxins can be incredibly dangerous to humans, pets, and wildlife. Historically, monitoring of these harmful algal blooms has been limited, and there is still much to learn about cyanobacteria in the Virgin River.
Collaborating with Brigham Young University to assist with ongoing cyanobacteria monitoring and sampling throughout the Virgin River has been one of the most rewarding opportunities this position has provided me. It is my hope that the data collected from this ongoing study can be modeled to gain better insight into which environmental factors contribute to these harmful algal blooms and what impacts they have on aquatic ecosystems.
Below is a picture of me using a bathyscope to analyze the substrate for benthic cyanobacteria.
Another way that I have been able to support inter-agency projects has been by assisting the Utah Department of Natural Resources with invasive fish removal efforts. A piscicide is a chemical or compound that is toxic to fish and is strategically used for fish removal. Rotenone is a plant-derived piscicide used by the Utah Department of Natural Resources and other agencies for invasive fish removal.
These invasive fish removal projects, or rotenone treatments, require substantial planning and preparation by fisheries biologists. They also require substantial manpower. After the main rotenone drips at the top of the reach are activated, hours later a designated team of "sprayers" will traverse the stream from top to bottom, actively following the main channel and looking for seeps, tributaries, back eddies, or side channels. When these are located, they are thoroughly sprayed with rotenone from a backpack sprayer, helping minimize the potential for fish to escape.
It is the sprayers' job to minimize the potential for fish to escape the rotenone and potentially reproduce, which could allow invasive fish to repopulate the stream. At the bottom of the reach, potassium permanganate is evenly dispersed into the stream to detoxify the rotenone, making it no longer harmful to fish and macroinvertebrates below the treatment area.
The challenges facing our public lands and natural resources are far too large and complex for any one agency to address alone. Strong inter-agency collaboration not only creates productive working relationships between natural resource professionals, but also opens the door to valuable professional connections and future conservation partnerships. ACE has given me the opportunity to serve in a role where collaboration is at the heart of the work, and I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute alongside so many dedicated natural resource professionals.
