Posted on 11/08/2004 7:39:51 PM PST by farmfriend
Suckers hang around restored wetland
Monday, November 8, 2004 1:34 PM PST
By DYLAN DARLING
MODOC POINT - Tiny juvenile suckers foraged this summer in a shallow bog that once served as a cow pasture beside Upper Klamath Lake.
The appearance of the endangered fish was particularly rewarding for the Nature Conservancy, which bought the land and breached a dike to let lake water flow in and out of the parcel to create sucker habitat.
"It is showing us that if we open up areas, they will use them," said John Crandall, the Klamath Basin fisheries ecologist for the Nature Conservancy. "Before, that was just theory."
Last fall the Nature Conservancy used excavators to cut a pair of notches in the decades-old dikes on the south pasture of Goose Bay Farms.
The pasture is now shallow marsh with heavy vegetation. Untold numbers of endangered Lost River and shortnose sucker larvae found their way into the marsh.
Crandall said he has caught thousands of sucker larvae and juveniles during his sampling this year.
By now the fish are several months old.
But there still is a mystery: Where do the older juveniles and young suckers go?
Scientists have been able to find adult suckers ranging in age from five years to more than 40 years. But younger suckers are hard to come by.
U.S. Geological Survey and Oregon State University researchers are among those seeking answers.
"We haven't really been very successful in catching those age classes," said Mark Buettner, a fisheries biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
He said scientists have been able to catch younger fish in open water of Gerber Reservoir and Clear Lake. They just aren't showing up in Upper Klamath Lake.
It's unclear whether the scientists are sampling in the wrong spots, or if suckers in that age group aren't surviving, Buettner said.
While the mystery of the young suckers remains, the Nature Conservancy plans to carry on with creating more rearing habitat for larval suckers.
The Nature Conservancy is adding another breach to increase the flooded area of the pasture from about 165 acres to 300 acres. When the lake is full, water is about 4 to 5 feet deep on the pasture.
And the pasture is just the start.
The Nature Conservancy plans to start on a larger project next summer. Along with the 2,700-acre Goose Bay Farms it bought in 1999, the group also has the 4,500-acre Tulana Farms purchased in 1996. The Williamson River flows through the properties, and the Nature Conservancy plans to restore sucker habitat on a grand scale.
"All of this used to be lake-fringe wetland," said Leslie Bach, a hydrologist for the group, sweeping her hand across an aerial photo of the Williamson River Delta.
Crandall said the larvae are using the re-opened marsh because it offers them shelter, food and warmth.
"Larval and juvenile sucker habitat is really a key in the Klamath Basin," Crandall said.
Crandall said the suckers he found in the marsh were spawned in the Williamson River. Having more habitat in the river's delta would help those fish particularly.
Mark Stern, Klamath Basin director for the Nature Conservancy, said it would also help to have other places opened up for sucker rearing habitat on the fringes of the lake.
"I think there are a number of pretty good options to do this around the lake," Stern said.
Crandall said the success of the re-opened marshland bodes well for future sucker habitat restoration projects in the Basin.
"If we open up these areas, they will come," he said.
I'm gonna get you sucka.
When I read the title, I thought is was another depressed Kerry-voter story.
If these are like leaches, I do not lament their loss of habitat.
I'm sure the Dems will find a way to get the fish to vote.
And state lottery officials are rushing there as we speak.
I love the euphemism, "wetland". They're talking about a freakin' SWAMP, the ones our forefathers busted their humps to clear out to make the land useful and habitable. If you go along with their way of thinking, we should get rid of ALL of the things our ancestors developed. What's next? Indoor plumbing? Opposable thumbs? Walking upright?
Fish?? I thought it was about DUmmies
On the other hand, if you found them in your farm pond, it would be time for the Rotenone...
SUCKER!!!
As if the mosquitoes and the gnats aren's bad enough in the Klamath region, these fools have to ahead and create more ecosystem for them to thrive.
An "unintended consequence" of this action would be for half of these "experts" to contract West Nile Virus.
Nothing like destroying farmland----AGAIN!!!
There's a sucker born every minute, so how could they be endangered?;)))
"Where do the older juveniles and young suckers go?"
They were going to kerry campaign rallies.
I guess they'll just hang around the swamp eating Cheetos and playing video games on their sofas, now.
Yumm, cheetos. My favorite. I often eat them for my morning break. Is 7am too early for cheetos?
Isn't the increased evaporation from this swamp a major loss of water for salmon?
P.T. Barnum is thrilled by this news!
It's never too early for Cheetos or cold pizza....:)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.