Middle Fork Willamette Bull Trout

Besides working in the fly shop this Summer, I have been doing an internship with the Forest Service at the Middle Fork Willamette Ranger District out near Oakridge. I have been interning as a fisheries biologist and have had the opportunity to work beside, and shadow an extremely knowledgeable and experienced fisheries biologist, Matt Helstab. Together we have been investigating and learning as much as we can about the bull trout that inhabit the Upper Middle Fork Willamette river above Hills Creek Reservoir. The work primarily consists of monitoring movement of tagged bull trout, maintaining tagging stations, snorkeling, and doing a host of other biotic and abiotic surveys. Below is a quick GoPro edit of a snorkel that Matt and I did earlier in the Summer. We use snorkeling primarily as a presence/absence survey to observe bull trout and hopefully see bull trout of many different life stages both within the main stem Willamette and the many creeks that join it. Whether I’m snorkeling a small, shallow pocket within a spawning creek or floating through a 10 foot deep pool on the main stem river, I have been amazed by the world that exists underneath the surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvFj8C37ylc&feature=youtu.be

Andy Archer