Meet Rachel Malison. She’s a doctoral candidate at the University of Montana and finishing her research and dissertation on, lo and behold, the relationship between juvenile salmon and beavers.
“For my PhD I am studying the influence of beavers on juvenile salmon ecology in a large river floodplain in western Alaska,” she wrote. “A typical day in my PhD really depends on the time of year. In the winter (I’m generally) working on my computer, analyzing data and writing, identifying insect samples, or working on presentations, but occasionally we sample in the winter months as well. In the spring-fall while I was collecting data, a typical day included living in a wall tent five hours by jet boat from the nearest town in the Alaskan bush, jet boating up a remote river, sampling beaver ponds and spring brooks for juvenile salmon using minnow traps, collecting insect samples or habitat data and then returning to our camp for the evening.”
Rachel! Glad to make your acquaintance! Here at beaver central we are very, very interested in the relationship between beavers and salmon. Can’t believe we didn’t cross paths before! Here’s her CV for anyone who’s pining for a new professor. And her website for folks who are interested in her research. Rachel apparently hails from Idaho which, as you know, we’re ranking fourth on the fifty state scale of beaver wisdom (Washington being first, Oregon second, Utah third and California being some where around 15th. Well it could be worse. We could be Georgia. Sigh) (No offense BK)
Not sure how this relates to Pollock’s work, and how it adds to his research? Maybe a bigger scale? A wider flood plain? A different species? Maybe Montana just can’t take the word of a crazy researcher from the Pacific States, even if he works for NOAA? I know Montana isn’t exactly beaver-wisdom capital of the world.
One of the most critical life stages of salmon populations is the juvenile stage. In Alaska, some of the most important rearing habitat can be found in spring brooks within large river floodplains, but in many of these systems large landscape level changes to habitat result from the activities of beaver (Castor canadensis). I am conducting my field research in western Alaska, on the Kwethluk River, a tributary of the Kuskokwim. This is an ideal place to study the impacts of beaver on salmon as it is an unregulated river, with a plethora of beaver, that is largely unmodified by humans due to its inclusion within the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge.
Wouldn’t it be great if she was invited to present her findings at the State of the beaver conference in January? It’s freezing and dark in Alaska then, it’s not like she’d miss anything important. And she could meet Michael Pollock and Mary O’brien and Glynnis Hood….you know all the folks who might hire her eventually…seems like a good idea to me.
Oh and in case you never listened to the story of Michael Pollock’s doctoral research, Alaska travails, interships,and salmon findings: here it is again.
