POBR25 Day 5: Wellpinit Fairgrounds, Spokane Tribe of Indians 6-19-25

 

Today we met with a couple of really cool people from the Wellpinit Fisheries team. Jordyn who has over a decade in fisheries work and Josh from University of Idaho and Wellpinit Fisheries too. They work as field techs right now and they do a lot of electrofishing for conservation of the Redband Trout which is a native species that is endangered in the region. We first measured the depth of the Tshimakain Creek using the lifts installed by last year's crew who took the People of the Big River trip. This year our team is gathering a little bit of information and Jordyn and Josh will be comparing the results of the last two years in hopes to find some improvements to the quality of their wetlands project. Fingers crossed since they said there were subtly signs of improvement in increased flooding. Their goal of preserving the Redband's is admirable work I can get behind since the Yakama Nation does the same type of work- preserving salmon. I can’t wait to really get into the field and start doing work I can try to make a difference for. It is very cool to see the differences in the ways science is conducted and the way treaty tribes and constitutional tribes. This bothers me a lot but then again what can we do? Specially form the natural resources field. Anyways, the second part of the day we were electrofishing for the Redband's and the Brown Trout which is invasive and overrunning the Redband's territories. Jordyn and Josh were shocking and James, Raquel, Yoleth, Roman, Liz, and myself were trailing them with nets to capture the shocked fish and deposit them in the buckets. We had the jobs split between the six of us. It wasn’t a competition, but Jordyn's team won, and the second Raquel got the net she caught two of the invasive brown trout's that they were hoping to remove from the creek which I thought was cool. At the end of the electrofishing, we got to swim the small pool of water built up on site and the water was 15.6 Celsius and it really felt that cold. It was freezing until I took a few dips and finally got adjusted to the temperature. It was nice swimming, it's one of my favorite hobbies for sure so to end a field day doing work I get passionate about and then capping it off with an enjoyable hobby was for sure a great day. Not only this but the dinner tonight was so good! Monet (the camp chef) made quesadillas that were super good even if it was just seasoned chicken and cheese. It was a much-needed meal after a long week so far. It wasn’t a long day, but the week is dragging for sure. Tomorrow is our microscope and science day where we will be examining our water samples from the different sites we visited and getting around to our research posters.


 Invasive Brown Trout and Redbands Jordyn tagged

 Tshimakain Creek (one of the coldest waters I have swam in)


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