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"Jay DeLong" <jdelong at nwifc_wa.gov>: NANFA-- collecting trip account

--------- Begin forwarded message ----------
From: "Jay DeLong" <jdelong at nwifc_wa.gov>
To: nanfa at aquaria_net, BockR at hd03_nichd.nih.gov,
jbondhus at lkdllink_net,Harold.J.Schmidt-1 at tc_umn.edu, zak38 at aol_com,
es at nwifc_wa.gov,kcurrens at nwifc_wa.gov
Subject: NANFA-- collecting trip account
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 1997 23:07:14 +0000
Message-ID: <199707080611.XAA23275 at chinook_nwifc.wa.gov>

Over the 4th of July weekend Dan Logan, Louise Christensen-Zak, Norm
Edelen, Lisa Hayashi and I went on a once-in-a-lifetime nature trip. 
If I wrote about it in the detail I'd like, this message would be too
long, so I'll give you a condensed version.  I hope Chris and Bob
think it is AC material, because Norm, Lisa and I are prepared to
write an entertaining and detailed account of the weekend.

Barton Evermann (1853-1932) was a naturalist and ichthyologist who
worked for the US Fish Commission, the precursor of the US Fish &
Wildlife Service and National Biological Service. Evermann described
many fish in the western US.  During a 1-month period in July-August
1897, he traveled from Medford to Lakeview then to Crater Lake,
Oregon, collecting fish along the way.  Last year, an Oregon State
University friend of Dan located Evermann's original trip diary and
photocopied the portion describing the Oregon travels.  Dan then
conceived the idea of recreating a portion of Evermann's journey
across southern Oregon as a centennial remembrance and to compare his
findings with our own (now you know what I mean by
once-in-a-lifetime).  

All Dan had to do was ask and we were hooked. There are lots of
endemic fish species in the basins of southern Oregon, so we knew we'd
see fish and other animals we hadn't seen before.  After a long drive
(especially for the 2 of us from Washington) we arrived in Klamath
Falls, located on the southern end of Klamath Lake about 30 miles from
the California border.  We arrived after midnight Thursday and spent a
fairly sleepless night, waking often and finally getting up early to
begin our exploration of the arid sagebrush steppe which was to be our
home for the next 3 days.

Sites visited by us and Evermann, along with the fish species we
collected were:
Klamath Lake: shortnose sucker, blue chub, tui chub, marbled sculpin, 
yellow perch, fathead minnow, and an unidentified lamprey Norm saw a 
Western grebe capture.

Williamson River: slender sculpin, tui chub, speckled dace, redband
trout, fathead minnow.

Spencer Creek: Klamath River lamprey, speckled dace, redband trout,
fathead minnow.

Lost River: tui chub, yellow perch, pumpkinseed, largemouth bass.

JC Boyle reservoir (unimpounded in 1897): Sacramento perch, speckled
dace, redband trout, fathead minnow, Klamath largescale or Klamath
smallscale sucker (juveniles).
____________________________________________________________

We also investigated a gravel quarry where partial fish fossils were
exposed, but the fragile sedimentary rock was hard to work with and
the fossils were scarce and unimpressive.  

We tried to identify all animals we saw with some success and field
guides.  Some of the more common and/or memorable ones were pronghorn,
mule deer, coyote, white pelican, sandhill crane, Caspian tern, black
tern, bald eagle, Virginia rail, magpie, black-crowned night heron,
great heron, barn owl, Brewer's blackbird, yellow headed blackbird, 
bank swllow, pileated woodpecker, sagebrush lizard, alligator 
lizard, Western fence lizard, yellow-bellied marmot, tiger or 
long-toed salamanders and Pacific tree frog. 

We visited 2 springs in Lake Klamath where the endangered Lost River
sucker and shortnose sucker spawn in the spring.

On the drive home Sunday we fished in two streams, catching rainbow,
brook and brown trout, as well as capturing 2 Pacific giant
salamanders.

My favorite site was Kirk's Canyon on the Williamson River. The
Williamson River is a low-gradient tributary of Klamath Lake known for
its large trout. At Kirk's Canyon, we found one of the most idyllic
spots any of us had ever seen.  Steep rock walls paralleled the
meandering river's 300-foot wide valley.  The dusty sagebrush desert
was gone and we found ourselves in a lush, green valley colored by a
multitude of wildflowers.  The river was tannin-stained, and the
substrate was dark.  The speckled dace we collected there were
dark-colored as well.  The only bad part of this spot was the
mosquito assault.  Before hiking in to the canyon area we all applied 
insect repellent, but it was so hot that we sweated it off and we all 
had a painful mile-long trek back to the cars.

I'm sure each of the others has their favorite memories of the trip.  
Even the not-so-favorite parts (the constant heat, dust, sunburn, 
little sleep, truck stop food, mosquitos) made the experience a 
memorable one. 

Jay DeLong


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