Category: Bio-technicians

Senior Biological Technician

B.S. Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology

 

West Sacramento, California

Bret is a Senior Biological Technician with experience in fish population monitoring and surveying, with a focus on salmonids. In his most recent position he has served as a fisheries technician and field crew leader for the US Fish and Wild Service in Red Bluff California.  As a fisheries technician he has specialized in video technologies to monitor threatened and endangered species on the tributaries of the Sacramento River. He has extensive experience with the installation, maintenance, and data processing of various monitoring technologies. These include, Vaki Riverwatchers, Didson and Aris Sonars, and surveillance style video monitoring systems. Bret has played a leading role in the surveying and video monitoring of reintroduction efforts of Sacramento River Winter-Run Chinook Salmon into Battle Creek near Anderson, CA.  He has led field crews on salmonid carcass and redd surveys, long-term rotary screw trapping efforts, electrofishing projects, and benthic macroinvertebrate surveys. Bret is also proficient in managing Access Databases and GIS data in ArcGIS.

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Senior Permitting Technician

B.S. Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity

Phone: (888) 224-1221

 

West Sacramento, California

Hannah is an administrative coordinator and biological technician for the California field office in West Sacramento. She has previous experience working with private environmental consultant companies upholding state and federal laws for both biological resources and vegetation management. Hannah has worked on fire restoration projects as a biological monitor conducting surveys for endangered species including the foothill yellow-legged frog and state protected nesting birds. As a technician at CFS, Hannah tends to administrative duties and assists with macroinvertebrate sampling, data management, video image processing and technical document editing. Her diverse background in environmental ecology and field data collection makes her a valuable member of the CFS team.

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Biological Technician

B.S. Marine Science

 

Auburn, CA

Jamie is a biological technician working out of the West Sacramento and Auburn offices. She has gained experience working in the field, lab, and office on projects throughout California, especially the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the wider Central Valley. Her field experience includes rotary screw trap maintenance, beach seines, macroinvertebrate collection, electrofishing surveys, and fish identification, tagging, and sample collection. She has gained laboratory experience analyzing ARIS videos as well as processing invertebrate and zooplankton samples. Throughout her time with CFS, she has worked on motorized and unmotorized watercraft and in a variety of environments and conditions. Prior to joining CFS, she conducted creel surveys, drafted reports, worked in a hatchery, and conducted carcass surveys in the North Central region of California. In addition to fisheries work, she has also surveyed aquatic invasive species and amphibians, and used drones to research marine landscape ecology and intertidal community dynamics.

Biological Technician

B.S. Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology

 

West Sacramento, California

Karyme is a biological technician at the West Sacramento office. She has extensive experience working in the lab, identifying freshwater macroinvertebrates and preparing samples such as tissue, scales, and otoliths for analysis. In previous roles, she assisted with projects regarding invasive plants in California, fire resiliency, coyote behavioral patterns, and turtle spawning. At CFS, she has participated in various data collection surveys such as beach seine, snorkel, steelhead spawning and pit tag mark-recapture.

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Biological Technician

B.S. Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology

Phone: (888) 224-1221

 

West Sacramento, California

Matthew has experience working in both marine and freshwater fisheries in California with governmental and private agencies. In the field, Matthew works to collect physical and biological data using various techniques including beach seining, fyke trapping, macroinvertebrate sampling, and snorkeling. He has experience with fish handling and identification along with data entry and QA/QC.

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Biological Technician
B.S. Aquatic & Fisheries Sciences
Phone: (206) 960-4008

 

Issaquah, Washington

Melinda has experience in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska collecting and analyzing fisheries and aquatic habitat data. Prior to joining CFS, Melinda evaluated sockeye mortality in Alaska and the effects of restoration on juvenile salmon densities as part of NOAA’s Strait of Juan de Fuca Intensively Monitored Watershed project. Melinda helps to collect data for habitat assessments and restoration monitoring programs by performing bathymetric, habitat, wood, and riparian surveys. She is skilled in boat and beach seining, eDNA sampling, and collecting physical samples from salmon (otoliths, gastric lavage). At CFS, Melinda conducts literature reviews, helps collect, QA/QC, and summarize field data in maps and figures, and assists with technical reports.

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GIS Analyst
B.S. Wildlife Resources
Phone: (888) 224-1224

 

Boise, Idaho

Michael is a GIS Analyst with experience in GIS analysis and salmonid monitoring and surveying. He is experienced with salmonid carcass and redd surveys, rotary screw trapping, PIT tagging, electrofishing, weir operation, mammalian surveys, and avian surveys. Michael also has experience with the esophageal implantation of acoustic tags and monitoring the migration of O. mykiss and O. tshawytscha using telemetry equipment in the Clearwater River, Idaho. He has piloted sUAS to compile aerial footage of Idaho’s forests, mountains, rivers, and streams. Michael has served as a fisheries technician Idaho Department of Fish and Game where he installed and operated a rotary screw trap and several weirs to monitor remote populations of O. mykiss and O. tshawytscha in the Red River and Crooked River, Idaho utilizing PIT tagging for mark-and-recapture studies. He is adept at handling and tagging salmonid species and has experience operating drift boats and other watercraft. Michael has experience in data collection, compilation, and analysis using GIS.

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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.

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Biological Technician

B.S. Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

 

West Sacramento, California

Nathan is a Biological Technician and is experienced in identifying, surveying and monitoring fish species in the California Central Valley. He has experience beach seining, rotary screw traps, electrofishing, data QA/QC, spawning surveys, fish handling, fish tagging, invertebrate drift net sampling, egg box incubation, weir fabrication and welding. He has additional experience working on a stream survey crew in Nevada using backpack electrofishing and experience working at a fish hatchery in Idaho.

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Biological Technician
B. S. Biology, Wildlife and Fisheries Science
Phone: (425) 275-9397

 

Issaquah, Washington

Pryclynn is a biological technician with extensive field experience performing habitat assessments and assessing restoration across Washington and Oregon. She is skilled in a variety of protocols (AEM, CHaMP, and USFS Level II), and survey techniques, including habitat and bathymetry mapping using an RTK GPS, snorkel surveys, macroinvertebrate collection, and longitudinal profile surveys. She also has experience in writing technical reports, SEPA and NEPA Environmental Impact Statements, and Habitat Conservation Plans. At CFS, Pryclynn contributes to multiple projects by performing literature reviews, data collection, QA/QC, data analysis, and mapping in GIS.

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Biological Technician

B.S. Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology

Phone: (503) 491-9577

 

Portland, Oregon

Stephan is a biological technician with experience in both laboratory and field settings within the Willamette valley of Oregon. His experience includes salmonid necropsy, spawning surveys, fish identification, PIT tagging, fish husbandry, boat operation, as well as gill netting and lake trap fishing. His fisheries career started with a C Ceratonova shasta monitoring effort in the Klamath River basin for Oregon State University. In this position, Stephan gained experience in microscope analysis of fish parasites, DNA extraction, water filtration methods, necropsy of various salmonid species, and coordinated husbandry for a variety of experimental aquatic species. Most recently, Stephan has served as lead field technician on both Green Peter and Look Out Point reservoirs to help better understand juvenile Chinook Salmon longitudinal out migration within these reservoirs. He also previously completed a carcass and redd survey on Quartzville Creek, navigating turbulent water on foot in a variety of inclement weather conditions.

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Biological Technician

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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Biological Technician

B.S. Agriculture Resource Management

Phone: (209) 605-4990

 

Ripon, California

Thomas has experience in GIS systems, SCADA, and orchard monitoring. He has also been involved in a research project discovering the uses and accuracy of remote satellite imagery for irrigation scheduling. Thomas graduated from Chico State University with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Resource Management in May of 2021. He has experience in fish identification and knowledge of local river systems.

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