Month: August 2023

Restoration Engineer

M.S. Environmental Engineering

Phone: (888) 224-1221

 

West Sacramento, California

Johnny is a restoration engineer with a background in environmental remediation, water resources, and habitat restoration. His experience includes aquatic habitat restoration design, hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, groundwater recharge design, topographic data collection, and construction monitoring. Through this work he has developed a fundamental understanding of surface water and groundwater interaction, restoration design, and project implementation across a variety of scales. Additionally, Johnny is proficient in a wide variety of computer-based tools including AutoCAD Civil 3D, ArcGIS, HEC-RAS, HEC-HMS, XPStorm, and MODFLOW. These skills along with his experience conducting topographic surveys and measuring discharge with Acoustic Doppler Velocimeters and Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers underscore Johnny’s ability to serve in a variety of technical roles. This technical basis and a diverse background allows Johnny to perform a wide variety of tasks at a high level, while bringing a holistic approach to restoration design.

Back to list of staff

Biological Technician

B.S. Biological Sciences

 

West Sacramento, California

Mitch is skilled at working in California freshwater and estuarine environments using a wide variety of sampling techniques, such as beach seining, fyke trapping, hoop trapping, and electrofishing. He has fish handling, identification, and tagging skills, and is also experienced in processing macroinvertebrate samples in the laboratory. Mitch has assisted in the conduction of laboratory experiments involving juvenile Chinook Salmon and Green Sturgeon metabolism and is also skilled in the care of captive fishes. He has experience working as a crew member aboard research vessels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Estuary collecting water quality and zooplankton samples. Mr. Gladding also has experience conducting population surveys for salmonid, reptile, and amphibian species, while navigating challenging terrain in the Upper American River Watershed. He is also experienced in deployment and recovery of environmental loggers in remote areas. Mitch works extensively with CFS staff on restoration monitoring and PIT tag mark-recapture studies in the lower reaches of the American and Yuba rivers. He is experienced in reviewing video recordings from the Sampling Platform and has supported the CFS team in the construction of resistance board weirs. He is also skilled in navigating swift water on foot or using non-motorized craft.

Back to list of staff

Fisheries Biologist

M.S. Fisheries and Aquatic Science

 

Boise, Idaho

Nicole Farless is a stream ecologist with experience in flow regime analysis, aquatic habitat surveys, fish community sampling, and two-dimensional hydraulic modeling. Nicole has years of experience studying the impacts of hydropeaking on downstream communities and habitat. Her work focuses on mitigating the impacts to fish and macroinvertebrate communities through improving available habitat, water quality, sediment regime, and flow connectivity. She has experience measuring discharge, bathymetry, and water surface elevation using global positioning system (GPS) equipment and geographic information systems (GIS) to plot and analyze the data. She also has experience conducting gravel augmentations to improve stream habitat and tracking substrate movement using passive integrative transponder (PIT) tags. Nicole received her M.S. in Fisheries and Aquatic Science from Oklahoma State University. For her thesis, she determined the thermal tolerance of fishes occupying spring-fed and non-spring fed stream systems and developed flow ecology relationships for fish species associated with various trophic and reproductive guilds.

Selected Publications and Reports

 

Starnes V., N. Farless, R. O’Hearn. 2023. Niangua River System Water Quality Alterations. Missouri Department of Conservation. Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Project F-55-R-5; F21AF02257.

 

Farless N. and V. Starnes. 2022. Niangua River System Flow Fluctuations. Missouri Department of Conservation. Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Project F-55-R-5; F21AF02257.

 

Farless N. and B. Landwer. 2020. Lower Osage River Habitat and Fish Community Evaluation. Missouri Department of Conservation. Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Project; F11AF00170.

 

Farless N., E. Baebler, B. Landwer, D. Lobb. 2018. Evaluation of Habitat for Mussels and Their Fish Hosts in the Lower Osage River. Missouri Department of Conservation. Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Project; F11AC01144.

 

Worthington T., A. Echelle, J. Perkin, R. Mollenhauer, N. Farless, J. Dyer, and S. Brewer. 2018. The Emblematic Minnows of the North American Great Plains: A Synthesis of Threats and Conservation Opportunities. Fish and Fisheries 19:271–307.

 

Farless N., and S. Brewer. 2017. Thermal Tolerances of Fishes Occupying Groundwater and Surface-Water Dominated Streams. Freshwater Science 36:866–876.

 

Worthington T., S. Brewer, N. Farless, T. Grabowski, M. Gregory. 2014. Interacting Effects of Discharge and Channel Morphology on Transport of Semibuoyant Fish Eggs in Large, Altered River Systems. PLoS ONE 9:1–9.

 

Worthington T., S. Brewer, N. Farless. 2013. Spatial and Temporal Variation in Efficiency of the Moore Egg Collector. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 33:1113–1118.

Back to list of staff