Images

An example of a riparian system within the rugged desert landscape. Zone-tailed Hawks nested in the trees in the bottom of the canyon. 

Jonathan Mawdsley (left), James Cummins (second from left), Joanna Prukop (center), Lowell Baier (second from right), and John Organ (right) attend a USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Program All-Hands Meeting in 2016.

The Smithsonian Natural History Museum offers hands-on learning experiences.

Mule deer is released after being radio-collared. The tracking information from this collar will enable researchers and managers to track the migrations of mule deer and evaluate their habitat and population performance and will aid in management of mule deer populations in Wyoming.  

The pallid sturgeon is an endangered riverine sturgeon with historical distribution restricted to parts of the Yellowstone, Missouri, Mississippi, and Atchafalaya Rivers. Although rare, pallid sturgeon in the lower Mississippi River appear to be naturally recruiting, and information about habitat use is important to conserve this species.

The tracking information from radio collars enable researchers and managers to track the migrations of mule deer and evaluate their habitat and population performance and will aid in management of mule deer populations in Wyoming.  

Student dusts the Model A Ford coupe used by USGS scientists from the 1930s to 1965. 

The Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) initiated a study on how its water operations influence fishes in the Missouri River basin above Fort Peck Reservoir. Of utmost concern is the effect of these operations on the spawning success and recruitment of endangered pallid sturgeon.

The Asian swamp eel is an invasive species that was introduced into the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area and has persisted for more than 20 years.

A southeastern myotis (Myotis austroriparius) that was caught while mist netting at Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge in the summer of 2015.

Mark Henderson recently started as the Unit Leader for the USGS Vermont Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Vermont. Prior to joining the Vermont Cooperative Research Unit, he was the acting unit leader at the California Cooperative Research Unit for six years.

This project is designed to assess the feasibility of "rescuing" specific genetic lineages of bull trout from likely extirpation in three imperiled major lake drainages in GNP, through translocation of drainage-specific stocks into lakes located above barrier falls within parental drainages.

Black tape is stretched across the stopper of the 'Niskin' bottle and secured to form a positive pressure seal.

Ungulate migration is one of the world’s most awe-inspiring animal behaviors, and it has important ecological benefits for the migrating species, as well as cascading effects throughout terrestrial food webs. Yet, ungulate migrations have been declining globally due to factors such as anthropogenic disturbances and environmental change.

Biologists in North America have been studying the effectiveness of fish stocking programs ever since fish were artificially spawned, reared, and stocked in the late 1800s.

Graduate student holds a pallid sturgeon. The goal of this study is to assess latitudinal variation in growth rates of pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon and determine how those rates are affected by diet and temperature.

Research of the Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit will continue to focus on applied fisheries-management problems and issues. Our studies are initiated in response to the needs of the Cooperators and other management agencies and are designed to provide information useful in directly improving management of aquatic resources.

Lila Warren at the USGS Tennessee Cooperative Fishery Research Unit holds a muskellunge fish.  To prevent the disappearance of muskellunge from the Cumberland Plateau, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) began stocking muskellunge into the upper Caney Fork River system above Great Falls Dam in 1976.

USGS researchers at the New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit are using trail cameras to track bobcats, black bears, and coyotes across New York. The researchers created an online database where the public can report wildlife sightings.

Diamond darter from the Elk River from Kanawha County, West Virginia in 2008. 

Atlantic salmon runs in the Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers of Maine are federally endangered and remain low. Inefficient fishways at dams continue to slow and prevent upstream migrations to spawning habitat, and delays of weeks to months are common. These delays expose fish to elevated water temperatures, resulting in increased metabolic demands.