Meet the team! L–R: Ben Kissinger, Angus Lothian, Spencer Kielar, Parker Makkreel, Kate Marouelli, Sam Chevalier, Hank Sauer, Selina Walters, and Claire Allore. Standing in front of the iconic Old Faithfull geyser. Photo: a kind tourist.
By Claire Allore
After nearly a year of anticipation, part of the fRI Research Water and Fish team along with some of Ben’s MSc students from the University of Calgary attended the 14th Wild Trout Symposium held in West Yellowstone, Montana. The +15-hour drive was well worth it for the chance to learn and share knowledge on wild trout management techniques across borders (and the chance to explore Yellowstone National Park).
Our team prepared to WOW our southern neighbors with an impressive lineup of posters and presentations. On the first day of the conference Claire gave a presentation on fRI Research’s Collaborative approach to modeling stream temperatures, more info can be found here. This talk was immediately followed by Angus’ presentation focusing on novel occupancy modelling approaches to understanding the temporal and spatial trends in mountain fishes in relation to human processes. More information here.
The evening concluded with a poster session where 6, yes 6, MSc students affiliated with fRI Research had the chance to present their projects. Bear with us while we break down all these posters/projects:
Presented by Kate, a Biologist at fRI Research and a MSc Student at the University of Calgary. Her work showcases a collaborative approach to Arctic grayling recovery in the Swan River Watershed. More info on this project here.
Presented by Sam, a Biological Technician at fRI Research and a MSc student at the University of Calgary. His work focuses on the use of remote site incubators for bull trout conservation translocation above a waterfall barrier. More info on this project here.
Presented by Hank Sauer, a student at the University of Calgary co-supervised by Ben Kissinger. His work focuses on non-native eradication and westslope cutthroat trout reintroduction in the Rockies.
Presented by Selina Walters, a student at the University of Calgary co-supervised by Ben Kissinger. Her work focuses on evaluations of population monitoring methods for Arctic grayling in Alberta.
Presented by Parker Makkreel, a student at the University of Calgary co-supervised by Ben Kissinger. His work focuses on Field and Analytical Models of Critical Habitat of At-Risk Stream Fishes for Recovery Strategies. This project is in collaboration with Spencer Kielar’s project and more information on their work can be found here.
Spencer Kielar, a student at the University of Calgary co-supervised by Ben Kissinger. His work focuses on the effects of environmental variables on bull trout movement ecology and habitat selection.
A special shoutout should also be given to Parker for receiving the Marty Seldon Graduate Student Travel scholarship! Like at any good fish conference, our team was hoping to learn different techniques for wild trout monitoring. We were not disappointed. Some highlights included a talk focused on TroutCast, a fantastic tool that can create projections of trout populations trends and drought risk within a given area. Our interest was also piqued by a poster by Ellyse Anderson highlighting the use of gill clips instead of fin clips or mucus swabs to assess stress in trout. Other talks, such as from James P. Losee or Gustav Hellström, explored the complexity of movement patterns for trout species. Their work re-affirmed the important role fish movement plays in managing fish populations.
Ben echoed that thought: “It was great to hear about advances in fish movement research that could be applied to our work in the Highwood,” and went on to add, “many projects within the USA are much better resourced and many of them are decades ahead of our work for native trout in the Eastern Slopes so it was great to see examples of their success in recovering native trout. For example the Apache Trout has be delisted from the Species At Risk list in the USA due to recovery actions.”
By the end of the conference our leader, Ben, determined we needed more adventure. Our intrepid team of 9 set out to explore Yellowstone National Park to see if it truly could compare to the wild beauty of the Albertan Eastern Slopes. Spoiler, it was fantastic and we completely understand why the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout calls this stunning place ‘home’ but nothing will beat the world’s longest freshwater boardwalk in Hinton Alberta.
