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Volunteers are the essential backbone of Trout Unlimited. By volunteering for various Alpine Angler projects, you get to give a valuable helping hand while enjoying being out in some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere!
Most of our projects involve working with Chris Kennedy of the US Fish &
Wildlife Service. Chris works incredibly hard monitoring the trout populations
within Rocky Mountain National Park. He will need volunteers once again for this 2008 season.
From Chris:
Attached is my completed schedule for the 2008 field season.
I have requested the use of the RMNP mules for the July28-Aug 1
Adams/Boundary/Upper Paradise and Sept. 15-19 Upper Ouzel projects. I am
hoping to get the use of ranger cabins/campsites for the July 21-25
Crystal/Lawn and Aug. 11-15 Fifth/Ten Lake projects, so if I get the use of
them we won't need camping gear. So that leaves the July 7-11 Ouzel
Lake, 14-18 Pear Lake, and Sept. 2-12 projects for TU mule support.
As always this schedule is subject to change. If I am unable to obtain the use of ranger
cabins/camps we will have to use a nearby campsite. For those people who
have not stayed at a ranger cabin/camp they have bedding, stoves, pots/pans,
silverware, etc. So if we are unable to use the cabins/camps we will have to
carry that gear in, unless we have the use of mules. Also please advise
potential volunteers that Trout Unlimited has money available to rent
horses/mules if people need to ride in.
For those people who have not volunteered before here is a description of
the type of work they will be doing based on the type of project. For all
projects volunteers will assist with weighing and measuring fish and
recording data.
Gill netting-Volunteers will assist with deploying and retrieving nets
and removing fish from nets.
Electrofishing-This is done using a backpack electrofishing unit which I
will carry. Volunteers will follow behind in the stream in waders and net
fish as they are stunned. We will also need people to carry buckets of fish
along the shore of the stream.
Mark-recapture population estimate-For the mark part of this we will need
volunteers to do hook-and-line sampling (technical term for fishing) to
collect fish. These fish will be marked and returned to the water. For the
recapture part we will use gill netting (see above).
2008 US Fish and Wildlife Service Fisheries Field Work
Schedule
Week
Site Work to be performed
June 2-6
Various Spawning surveys/thermograph retrieval
June 9-13 Various
Spawning surveys/thermograph retrieval
June 16-20 Various
Spawning surveys/thermograph retrieval
June 23-27 Various
Spawning surveys/thermograph retrieval
June 30-July 3 Various
Spawning surveys/thermograph retrieval
Lake Nanita Egg
collection-CDOW, mark fish for mark-recapture study
July 7-11 Ouzel Lake
Net/hook-and-line-tissue collection
July 17-18 Pear Lake (Day
hikes) Net/hook-and-line-tissue collection
We need to collect 30 tissue samples from this lake by hook-and-line
and/or gill net. We will do day trips each day. The hike to Pear is 5
miles with a 2100 foot elevation gain. We will meet each morning at the
Wild Basin trailhead.
July 21-25 Crystal
Lake Net/hook-and-line-tissue
collection
We need to collect 30 tissue samples from this lake by hook-and-line
and/or gill net. I have requested the use of the Lawn lake patrol cabin
for the week, but as of yet I have not heard back from the rangers. If I
cannot get the use of the cabin this trip will be a camp out at Lawn Lake.
The hike to Lawn Lake is 6.2 miles with a 220 foot elevation gain. From
Lawn Lake to Crystal lake the hike is 1.5 miles with a 700 foot elevation
gain.
July 29-Aug. 1
Adams/Boundary/Upper Paradise Net/hook-and-line, Thermographs,
electrofishing
We will be conducting gill net surveys on Boundary and Adams Lakes and
electrofishing surveys on upper Paradise Creek. We will be camping near
Stone Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. I have the use of the RMNP
mules to pack the gear as far as Stone Lake. The hike to Stone Lake is 5.5
miles with a total elevation gain of 2800 feet. Each day we will have to
hike over a 1100 foot saddle to get into RMNP. To get to Adams lake we
will have to climb an additional 1100 feet to get to the lake.
Aug. 4-8 Arrowhead/Rock
Lakes Net/hook-and-line-tissue collection
We will be doing gill netting and hook-and-line to get
tissue samples from the fish in both of these lakes. This will be a backpack
trip, no pack animals. It is about 5.25 miles with a 1000 foot elevation
gain to the site where will be camping. From there it is about 0.7 miles
with a 400-700 foot elevation gain to each lake.
Aug. 11-15 Fifth/Ten Lake
Park (Ranger camp) Net/hook-and-line-tissue collection
Aug. 18-21 Lake Nanita
recapture/SONAR, sample collection-endocrine disruptor study
Sept. 2-5 Lake Husted
(Pack horses available) mark-recapture population estimate
Sept. 8-12 Lake Husted (Pack
horses available)
mark-recapture population estimate
Sept. 15-19 Ouzel
Creek-upper (Mules available) Electrofish-population estimate
Sept. 22-26 Colorado River-Lulu
City Electrofish-tissue collection
Lower Forest Canyon-tissue collection
If you are interested in learning more about Chris Kennedy's projects or any
of the other volunteer projects Alpine Anglers offers, please email Austin
Condon at AWCFlash@aol.com
or call him at (970) 586-1762
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