Radio Transmitters to Help Oregon DFW Biologists Track Juvenile Salmon, Steelhead
OutdoorHub 10.24.13
Biologists with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will be capturing and implanting radion transmitters in juvenile salmon and steelhead in the John Day Basin in order to follow their movements through the mainstem of the John Day River.
Biologists will target young chinook salmon and summer steelhead as they migrate from Canyon Creek, Beech Creek and the South Fork of the John Day River this fall and winter. Work is expected to begin in mid- to late October.
According to Jim Ruzycki, ODFW fish research Mid-Columbia program manager, these activities are designed to identify fall and winter habitat for juvenile salmon and steelhead in the John Day River.
“Knowing where juvenile salmon and steelhead spend these cold periods and how well they survive will help direct future conservation actions such as habitat improvement,” he said.
“People may see us driving slowly down roads with antennas protruding out of vehicles or floating the John Day River between the towns of John Day and Kimberly in small inflatable boats,” Ruzycki said. Biologists will be contacting landowners prior to launching and retrieving boats to request access to private lands where fish may be wintering.
The ODFW is conducting this work in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation and The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation.
