Author: IT Support

Image Analyst II

B.S. Natural Resource Conservation

 

West Sacramento, California

Andrew has experience performing freshwater fisheries assessments using common capture techniques, age/growth sampling, diet composition, water quality sampling, and laboratory analysis. He was a fisheries observer in the North Atlantic on both scallop and groundfish commercial fishing vessels, as well as an observer for marine mammals. His training allowed him to observe on vessels that fished using several gear types, including dredge, mid-water/bottom trawl, gillnet, rod and reel, and longline. He spent over 300 days at sea collecting extensive biological data pertaining to targeted catch, bycatch, environmental factors, as well as fishing effort and behavior. He is currently working to develop robust code to help automatically detect, enumerate, and classify organisms from images in order to automate processes and efficiently produce quantitative metrics from fisheries surveys.

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Technical Writer I/Proposal Coordinator

B.A. in Journalism and Media Production

 

Portland, Oregon

 

Lauren Ellenbecker is a journalist who shares stories about the Pacific Northwest’s environmental intricacies, how degradation manifests within its landscapes, who is impacted and what is being done about it. Lauren’s reporting has brought her to scorched old growth forests, rivers altered by antiquated logging operations and the dining table of a homeowner who fears their life will be swept away in a flood. These experiences contain multitudes of personal, scientific and thought-provoking tales, all of which converge with the perseverance, recovery and transformation of both humans and the environment. Now, Lauren continues to expand her knowledge but from a different angle: working alongside those moving the needle in ecosystem research and recovery. She supports the Cramer Fish Sciences team by preparing, executing and delivering proposals so they can find steadfast solutions for fish populations across the Pacific Northwest. Lauren continues to write often, whether it’s compiling a proposal, freelancing or weaving together a poem about the wonders of nature.

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Fisheries Biologist II

B.S. Biology; M.S. Natural Resource and Ecology Management

 

West Sacramento, California

Maeghen is a fisheries biologist with experience in both freshwater and estuarine fish research including abundance estimation, occupancy relationships, mark-and-recapture, and life history studies. She recently served as an inshore fisheries biologist for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources – Marine Resources Research Institute where she conducted long-term population monitoring of freshwater and estuarine finfish, sharks, turtles, and marine mammals. She has diverse field survey experience including snorkel, eDNA, radio-telemetry tracking, electrofishing, seine net, trammel net, gill net, longline, drumline, and trawl gears. She is an experienced boat operator in rivers, deltas, bays, and nearshore waters. Additionally, she is experienced in laboratory techniques including otolith, fin-ray, microplastics, and histological sample processing and staging. Maeghen also has experience managing and analyzing fisheries abundance, occupancy, life history, and hierarchical data using RStudio, SAS, and JAGS programs. During her graduate career, she developed protocols and led research on Prairie Chub abundance and life history relationships in the Red River basin of Texas and Oklahoma.

Selected Publications

Steffensmeier, Z. D., S. K. Brewer, M. M. Wedgeworth, T. A. Starks, A. W. Rodger, E. Nguyen, and J. S. Perkin. In press. Conservation at the Nexus of Niches: Multidimensional Niche Modelling to Improve Management of Prairie Chub (Machrybopsis australis). North American Journal of Fisheries Management.

 

Steffensmeier, Z. D., M. M. Wedgeworth, L. Yancy, N. Santee, S. K. Brewer, and J. S. Perkin. 2022. Paradigm versus paradox on the prairie: testing competing stream fish movement frameworks using an imperiled Great Plains minnow. Movement ecology 10(1):1-18.

 

Wedgeworth, M. M., R. Mollenhauer, and S. K. Brewer. In press. Variation in Prairie Chub hatch relationships across wet and dry years in the upper Red River basin. North American Journal of Fisheries Management.

 

Steffensmeier, Z.D., M.M. Wedgeworth, L. Yancy, N. Santee, S. K. Brewer, and J. S. Perkin. 2022. Paradigm versus paradox on the prairie: testing competing stream fish movement frameworks using an imperiled Great Plains minnow. Movement ecology 10:1-18.

 

Mollenhauer, R., S. K. Brewer, J. S. Perkin, D. Swedberg, M. M. Wedgeworth, and Z. D. Steffensmeier. 2021. Connectivity and flow regime direct conservation priorities for pelagophil fishes. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 31: 3215-3227.

 

Wedgeworth, M. M., 2021. “Variation in Abundance and Hatch Date of Prairie Chub Machrybopsis australis in the upper Red River Basin.” Thesis dissertation. Oklahoma State University.

 

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Biological Technician II

B.S., Biology concentrated towards Marine Biology

 

West Sacramento, California

Taylor is experienced in monitoring and surveying anadromous fish species in the Central Valley and Sacramento River watershed. She examined the distribution, abundance, and population trends of Central Valley steelhead trout in the Sacramento River watershed by using mark-recapture methods with large-wire fyke traps on motorized watercraft. She has experience handling, anesthetizing, tagging, and collecting biological samples from adult steelhead trout. While working at a dam on the Snake River, she performed Gas Bubble Trauma exams, while also participating in collecting, sorting, and sampling juvenile anadromous fish. She is skilled in making standardized observations such as species identification, length, age, signs of diseases or pathogens, and collecting fin clips or tagging fish. In addition, Taylor also has over two years of experience working in a water toxicity lab where she conducted Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) testing, Toxicity Identification/Reduction Evaluations (TIE/TRE), water quality criteria development, and Water-Effect Ratio (WER) studies. At CFS, she assists with macroinvertebrate identification, snorkel surveys on the Lower American River, and running a screw trap on the Stanislaus River. Taylor also has professional experience working with marine species. She previously worked in the Florida Keys where she helped college students gain hands on experience with long lines and tangle nets, while tagging and releasing various elasmobranch species in the Gulf of Mexico. She has experience conducting Aquatic Nuisance surveys using standardized scientific protocols in various waters throughout Colorado where she monitored and mapped zebra mussels, quagga mussels, New Zealand mud snails, and Eurasian watermilfoil.

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