USGS Redefines, “Working Remotely”

Research and monitoring an endangered sturgeon in a large, dynamic river like the Missouri River has always presented challenges.  Seasonal, and often unpredictable, extremes in weather and flow make tracking the movement and spawning behavior of pallid sturgeon in the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers difficult.  The present era of social distancing and restricted travel within various parts of the basin due to the COVID-19 pandemic have further strained our ability to keep tabs on the rare pallid sturgeon.  Researchers at the Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC) have developed technological solutions to overcome some of these challenges.  Monitoring and communication technologies developed at CERC now allow researchers to continuously monitor the movement of pallid sturgeon in even the most remote parts of the river without boats and without ever leaving the office (or home).

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The Missouri River Science and Adaptive Management Plan identified passive telemetry detection networks as fundamental tools for monitoring pallid sturgeon populations and their response to potential management actions in the Missouri River basin.  Data-logging radio receivers have been used for many years on the banks of the Upper Missouri and Lower Yellowstone river to monitor radio-tagged sturgeon.  Preliminary, proof-of-concept efforts by CERC scientists successfully added real-time data communication and connectivity to these receivers in 2019 (see previous blog post "Remotely Monitoring Pallid Sturgeon Movement in Real Time").  Since then, technical glitches in communications and power systems have been identified and addressed with new system updates.  With the new systems, scientists have the means to troubleshoot these remote devices effectively despite limited network availability.  Fail-safes for system malfunctions were also engineered, including a text-message-based remote power switch to reset the communication module without interrupting data collection by the telemetry receiver.  Five communication-enabled systems have been constructed and shipped to the USGS Fort Peck Project Office.  They will be deployed and functional by mid-May in time for spring migration and spawning.