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James Hatten

James is a Research Biogeographer at the USGS, Columbia River Research Laboratory.

Research Interests:

I am a research biogeographer that examines the current and future distributions of common, threatened, and endangered species. I have developed habitat models across the western U.S. for fish, birds, mammals, and reptiles. Climate-change, ecological flows, and riparian obligates are my focal areas.

Professional Experience

  • 2002 to Present - Research Biogeographer, U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia River Research Laboratory, Cook, WA

  • 1997-2001 - Senior GIS Analyst, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ

  • 1995-1996 - GIS Coordinator, Peabody Coal Company, Flagstaff, AZ

  • 1988-1994 - Timber/Fish/Wildlife (TFW) Biologist, Hoh Indian Tribe, Forks, WA

Education and Certifications

  • M.S. 1996. Geography, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ.  Concentration: Analytical Techniques (GIS, Remote Sensing, Biogeography)

  • B.S. 1984. Environmental Studies, Western Washington University, Huxley College of Environmental Studies, Bellingham, WA. Concentration: Terrestrial Ecosystems Analysis

Science and Products

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Southwestern Willow Flycatcher

Southwestern Willow Flycatcher Habitat Viewer

For planning and management purposes, agencies require a web application that can locate, map, and monitor Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (flycatcher) breeding habitat across its range. The Habitat Viewer can identify potential flycatcher habitat and monitor changes caused by stressors, such as beetles, fire or drought.
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Invasive Species Program (unpublished), National Land Imaging Program, Wildlife Program (unpublished), Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)
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Southwestern Willow Flycatcher Habitat Viewer

For planning and management purposes, agencies require a web application that can locate, map, and monitor Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (flycatcher) breeding habitat across its range. The Habitat Viewer can identify potential flycatcher habitat and monitor changes caused by stressors, such as beetles, fire or drought.
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Weighing sturgeon

Columbia River Basin Sturgeon Habitat Modeling

A study was conducted to identify habitat characteristics associated with age 0 White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus Richardson, 1863) recruitment in three reaches of the Columbia River Basin: Skamania reach (consistent recruitment), John Day reach (intermittent/inconsistent recruitment), and Kootenai reach (no recruitment).
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)
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Columbia River Basin Sturgeon Habitat Modeling

A study was conducted to identify habitat characteristics associated with age 0 White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus Richardson, 1863) recruitment in three reaches of the Columbia River Basin: Skamania reach (consistent recruitment), John Day reach (intermittent/inconsistent recruitment), and Kootenai reach (no recruitment).
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Image: Jemez Red Rocks at Walatowa

Identifying the Vulnerability of Birds and Reptiles to Changes in Climate in the Southwest

Biodiversity is declining worldwide, and this trend could potentially become more severe as climate conditions change. An integral component of proactive adaptive management planning requires forecasts of how changes in climate will affect individual species. This need has been identified my multiple federal agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of L
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers
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Identifying the Vulnerability of Birds and Reptiles to Changes in Climate in the Southwest

Biodiversity is declining worldwide, and this trend could potentially become more severe as climate conditions change. An integral component of proactive adaptive management planning requires forecasts of how changes in climate will affect individual species. This need has been identified my multiple federal agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of L
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An estuary with many channels widening towards the sea through lush forests and grasslands, village in distance.

Climate Change Threats to Fish Habitat Connectivity

Many fish species, including mountain whitefish and bull trout, need a variety of habitat types throughout their different life stages that include appropriate water temperatures, flows, refugia from predators, and adequate food. Key to a fish finding and using these different habitats is the connectivity between them. Changing conditions in the future, including increased air and water temperatur
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers
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Climate Change Threats to Fish Habitat Connectivity

Many fish species, including mountain whitefish and bull trout, need a variety of habitat types throughout their different life stages that include appropriate water temperatures, flows, refugia from predators, and adequate food. Key to a fish finding and using these different habitats is the connectivity between them. Changing conditions in the future, including increased air and water temperatur
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A systematic review of potential habitat suitability for the jaguar Panthera onca in central Arizona and New Mexico, USA

In April 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released its recovery plan for the jaguar Panthera onca after several decades of discussion, litigation and controversy about the status of the species in the USA. The USFWS estimated that potential habitat, south of the Interstate-10 highway in Arizona and New Mexico, had a carrying capacity of c. six jaguars, and so focused its recovery p
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Species Management Research Program, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)

Final report: Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) and Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus occidentalis) surveys and habitat availability modeling on the Santa Clara River, California, 26 March 2020

Our project aimed to conduct population surveys for Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax trailii extimus; SWFL) and Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus; YBCU) in 2018 and 2019, apply existing habitat models to illustrate and predict past, current, and future habitat suitabilities for these two species, and update and standardize classification and mapping of riparian vegetation to refle
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)

A spatial model of streaked horned lark breeding habitat in the Columbia River, USA

The streaked horned lark (hereafter “lark”; Eremophila alpestris strigata) is a federally listed bird subspecies of the Pacific Northwest that occupies open landscapes with short vegetation and abundant bare ground. Across its breeding range, which has contracted dramatically, the lark relies primarily on human-modified habitats maintained in early successional states (e.g., agricultural fields, a
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)

Substrate and flow characteristics associated with White Sturgeon recruitment in the Columbia River Basin

A study was conducted to identify habitat characteristics associated with age 0+ White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus Richardson, 1863) recruitment in three reaches of the Columbia River Basin: Skamania reach (consistent recruitment), John Day reach (intermittent/inconsistent recruitment), and Kootenai reach (no recruitment). Our modeling approach involved numerous steps. First, we collected in
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Species Management Research Program, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)

Risk assessment for the reintroduction of anadromous salmonids upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams, Northeastern Washington

The Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT; Spokane, Colville, Kootenai, Coeur d’Alene, and Kalispel Tribes) and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife want to reintroduce anadromous salmonids to their historical range to restore ecosystem function and lost cultural and spiritual relationships in the upper Columbia River, northeastern Washington. The UCUT contracted with the U.S. Geological Survey
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Species Management Research Program, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL), Fish Health Program (FHP)

Case studies of riparian and watershed restoration in the southwestern United States—Principles, challenges, and successes

Globally, rivers and streams are highly altered by impoundments, diversions, and stream channelization associated with agricultural and water delivery needs. Climate change imposes additional challenges by further reducing discharge, introducing variability in seasonal precipitation patterns, and increasing temperatures. Collectively, these changes in a river or stream’s annual hydrology affects s
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Southwest Biological Science Center, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL), Office of Science Quality and Integrity

Identifying western yellow-billed cuckoo breeding habitat with a dual modelling approach

The western population of the yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) was recently listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Yellow-billed cuckoo conservation efforts require the identification of features and area requirements associated with high quality, riparian forest habitat at spatial scales that range from nest microhabitat to landscape, as well as lower-suitability
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Fort Collins Science Center, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)

A satellite model of Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) breeding habitat and a simulation of potential effects of tamarisk leaf beetles (Diorhabda spp.), southwestern United States

Executive Summary The study described in this report represents the first time that a satellite model has been used to identify potential Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus) (hereinafter referred to as “flycatcher”) breeding habitat rangewide for 2013–15. Fifty-seven Landsat scenes were required to map the entire range of the flycatcher, encompassing parts of six States and
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Species Management Research Program, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)

Identifying bird and reptile vulnerabilities to climate change in the southwestern United States

Current and future breeding ranges of 15 bird and 16 reptile species were modeled in the Southwestern United States. Rather than taking a broad-scale, vulnerability-assessment approach, we created a species distribution model (SDM) for each focal species incorporating climatic, landscape, and plant variables. Baseline climate (1940–2009) was characterized with Parameter-elevation Regressions on In
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Southwest Biological Science Center, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)

Effects of dam removal on Tule Fall Chinook salmon spawning habitat in the White Salmon River, Washington

Condit Dam is one of the largest hydroelectric dams ever removed in the USA. Breached in a single explosive event in October 2011, hundreds-of-thousands of cubic metres of sediment washed down the White Salmon River onto spawning grounds of a threatened species, Columbia River tule fall Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. We investigated over a 3-year period (2010–2012) how dam breaching affe
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)

Assessing juvenile salmon rearing habitat and associated predation risk in a lower Snake River reservoir

Subyearling fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Columbia River basin exhibit a transient rearing strategy and depend on connected shoreline habitats during freshwater rearing. Impoundment has greatly reduced the amount of shallow-water rearing habitat that is exacerbated by the steep topography of reservoirs. Periodic dredging creates opportunities to strategically place spoils t
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Fisheries Program (unpublished), Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)

Mapping and monitoring Mount Graham red squirrel habitat with Lidar and Landsat imagery

The Mount Graham red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus grahamensis) is an endemic subspecies located in the Pinaleño Mountains of southeast Arizona. Living in a conifer forest on a sky-island surrounded by desert, the Mount Graham red squirrel is one of the rarest mammals in North America. Over the last two decades, drought, insect infestations, and fire destroyed much of its habitat. A federal re
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Wildlife Program (unpublished), Fisheries Program (unpublished), Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)

Southwestern Willow Flycatcher Habitat Viewer

The Flycatcher Habitat Viewer was developed to meet the needs of organizations by providing maps of predicted flycatcher breeding habitat throughout its range. Maps are provided from 2013 to present and cover 57 satellite scenes. Maps identify predicted flycatcher habitat based upon the amount of green vegetation within a 120-m radius of each cell, and the size of floodplain within a 360-m radius.

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Ecosystems Mission Area, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory (CRRL)
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Western Fisheries Science News, February 2019 | Issue 7.2

Identifying Habitat Characteristics for Successful White Sturgeon Recruitment in the Columbia River Basin

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New Study Details Endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher Habitat and New Threats

A new report by the U.S. Geological Survey shows, for the first time ever, detailed habitat information on the entire range of a federally listed...

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Some Birds and Reptiles Vulnerable to Climate Change in the Southwestern US

New study offers insights to minimize projected climate impacts through proactive land-management activities

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Western Fisheries Science News, November 2015 | Issue 3.11

Dam Removal and Salmon Response in the White Salmon River, WA

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Western Fisheries Science News, May 2014 | Issue 2.5

Assessing Climate-change Risks to Cultural and Natural Resources in the Yakima River  Basin, WA

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