July 21st, 2013
Woke up really early :(
Headed over to meet with Jim Harbeck who is the field office supervisor for the Nez Perce Tribe. We checked out the Lostine River where the tribe is working to restore and track fish. Spring Chinook swim in this river but are on the endangered species list so they are working to help save those...
They are doing this through supplementation which means they are taking hatchery fish and trying to bring the original species back. They have made a lot of progress, in 1999 they caught 13 fish and as of 2011 they have increased that number to 3,000! That increase is a huge jump.
They showed us the radio tags that they insert into the fish. They insert diversions into the river and track how long it takes the fish to get past them. They track their spawning distribution and their overall travel rates. The have a total of 18 tags out and a 99% recover rate of those tags.
The Nez Perce tribe is probably one if the nicest tribes that we have in countered along the way. They are organized and very friendly. I recommend anyone to come check out their reservation!
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