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Suckers studied in wetland project
Published August 20, 2003
By DYLAN DARLING
John Crandall holds one of the keys of the Klamath Basin water wars in his hand - baby sucker fish.
The little juvenile fish lie still for a bit, hoping whatever has pulled them out of their watery home will soon put them back. After a while they start to squirm, trying to get free.
Crandall, the Klamath Basin fisheries ecologist for The Nature Conservancy, douses them with formaldehyde and bottles them up in a glass container about the size of a baby food jar.
The fish - perhaps a couple of months old - will be taken back to the lab and examined under X-rays and microscopes to figure out what kind of sucker they are, and what they have been eating.
The information could help scientists learn what needs to be done to restore sucker populations in the Klamath Basin.
"The ultimate goal is to get these fish off of the endangered species list," said Crandall, who has a federal permit to gather endangered fish for research.
Two kinds of suckers found in the Klamath Basin - Lost River and shortnose - were listed as endangered in 1988.
The baby suckers had been living at a wetland offshoot in an elbow of the Williamson River on The Nature Conservancy's Tulana Lake Farms.
The "river bend" project will help the many scientists involved with the task of restoring sucker habitat figure out what type of habitat needs to be restored and where.
The environmental conservation organization, which has 116 million acres of land worldwide, bought the 4,800-acre Tulana Farms in 1996.
Scientists are using aerial photographs from the 1940s and comparing them to some from the 1990s to study out how to restore habitat on the Williamson River delta.
It added the 2,700-acre Goose Bay Farms, which is the property just to the south of Tulana Farms on Modoc Point Road, in 1999, bringing the total amount of land to 7,500 acres.
In fall of 2000, The Nature Conservancy used excavators to bring down a three-quarter-mile stretch of levee that had held the Williamson in a channel that arched around an alfalfa field. Now the alfalfa field has been replaced by sprigs of willow and wetland plants.
In early spring the Williamson spreads out over the land. As the months go on, temperatures heat up and the lake level goes down, leaving two back bays of water just over knee-deep. Crandall said the pools packed with vegetation have proved to be popular areas for young suckers.
This is probably because the back bays are a place to get food, said Mark Buettner, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
He said past studies have shown that after sucker larvae hatch up on the Williamson and Sprague rivers, they quickly swim down to Upper Klamath Lake, where many end up dead because they made the big swim on an empty stomach.
So far, river bend seems to be a place where baby suckers can fill up.
It could also be a place that would provide protection from the harsh water conditions out in Upper Klamath Lake, which can take a toll on young suckers.
While the project could be providing a sanctuary for young suckers, it could also be home to their predators and competitors, such as yellow perch and Tui chubs. He said more study is needed to see how the habitat is used by other fish, and they might affect suckers.
The river bend project is The Nature Conservancy's first attempt at seeing what a return to seasonal flood plains might look like. And, so far, sucker larvae and juveniles have been showing up and using the habitat.
Crandall goes out once a week looking for sucker larvae. In May and early June, he caught tiny sucker larvae that look like miniature "transparent eels," using a small dip net, like one used to pull goldfish out of their bowls. He estimates that thousands of young suckers have used the river bend area.
When there is water in river bend, Crandall sets up nets once a month at the entrance and exit of the back bays to catch juvenile suckers. He said he doesn't want to take too many juvenile suckers, because if the fish has made it to that stage it is beating the odds.
Mortality is usually high with any type of fish in its larval stage. Of the larval suckers, almost 90 percent don't make it to be juveniles, he said.
"They have to deal with adversity," he said. "It is a tough environment out there in the Basin for suckers."
Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com.
By DYLAN DARLING
John Crandall holds one of the keys of the Klamath Basin water wars in his hand - baby sucker fish.
The little juvenile fish lie still for a bit, hoping whatever has pulled them out of their watery home will soon put them back. After a while they start to squirm, trying to get free.
Crandall, the Klamath Basin fisheries ecologist for The Nature Conservancy, douses them with formaldehyde and bottles them up in a glass container about the size of a baby food jar.
The fish - perhaps a couple of months old - will be taken back to the lab and examined under X-rays and microscopes to figure out what kind of sucker they are, and what they have been eating.
The information could help scientists learn what needs to be done to restore sucker populations in the Klamath Basin.
"The ultimate goal is to get these fish off of the endangered species list," said Crandall, who has a federal permit to gather endangered fish for research.
Two kinds of suckers found in the Klamath Basin - Lost River and shortnose - were listed as endangered in 1988.
The baby suckers had been living at a wetland offshoot in an elbow of the Williamson River on The Nature Conservancy's Tulana Lake Farms.
The "river bend" project will help the many scientists involved with the task of restoring sucker habitat figure out what type of habitat needs to be restored and where.
The environmental conservation organization, which has 116 million acres of land worldwide, bought the 4,800-acre Tulana Farms in 1996.
Scientists are using aerial photographs from the 1940s and comparing them to some from the 1990s to study out how to restore habitat on the Williamson River delta.
It added the 2,700-acre Goose Bay Farms, which is the property just to the south of Tulana Farms on Modoc Point Road, in 1999, bringing the total amount of land to 7,500 acres.
In fall of 2000, The Nature Conservancy used excavators to bring down a three-quarter-mile stretch of levee that had held the Williamson in a channel that arched around an alfalfa field. Now the alfalfa field has been replaced by sprigs of willow and wetland plants.
In early spring the Williamson spreads out over the land. As the months go on, temperatures heat up and the lake level goes down, leaving two back bays of water just over knee-deep. Crandall said the pools packed with vegetation have proved to be popular areas for young suckers.
This is probably because the back bays are a place to get food, said Mark Buettner, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
He said past studies have shown that after sucker larvae hatch up on the Williamson and Sprague rivers, they quickly swim down to Upper Klamath Lake, where many end up dead because they made the big swim on an empty stomach.
So far, river bend seems to be a place where baby suckers can fill up.
It could also be a place that would provide protection from the harsh water conditions out in Upper Klamath Lake, which can take a toll on young suckers.
While the project could be providing a sanctuary for young suckers, it could also be home to their predators and competitors, such as yellow perch and Tui chubs. He said more study is needed to see how the habitat is used by other fish, and they might affect suckers.
The river bend project is The Nature Conservancy's first attempt at seeing what a return to seasonal flood plains might look like. And, so far, sucker larvae and juveniles have been showing up and using the habitat.
Crandall goes out once a week looking for sucker larvae. In May and early June, he caught tiny sucker larvae that look like miniature "transparent eels," using a small dip net, like one used to pull goldfish out of their bowls. He estimates that thousands of young suckers have used the river bend area.
When there is water in river bend, Crandall sets up nets once a month at the entrance and exit of the back bays to catch juvenile suckers. He said he doesn't want to take too many juvenile suckers, because if the fish has made it to that stage it is beating the odds.
Mortality is usually high with any type of fish in its larval stage. Of the larval suckers, almost 90 percent don't make it to be juveniles, he said.
"They have to deal with adversity," he said. "It is a tough environment out there in the Basin for suckers."
Reporter Dylan Darling covers natural resources. He can be reached at 885-4471, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at ddarling@heraldandnews.com.
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