Nik Zymonas

I joined the REDD group in 2024 as the Stream Temperature Scientist. Before joining REDD, I was the Project Leader for the Upper Willamette Bull Trout Project since 2008.  The goal of that project is to promote conservation of Bull Trout (ESA – Threatened) in the upper Willamette Basin.  We monitored population abundance, assessed entrainment of Bull Trout through dams, and promoted upstream passage efforts to increase abundance of spawning adults.  We conducted reintroduction efforts, evaluated the effectiveness of past efforts, and assessed feasibility of sites for future reintroduction efforts, and we studied other potential limiting factors such as pathogens and angling related mortality. Prior to joining ODFW, I worked on various desert fishes in New Mexico (NMDGF), Bull Trout in the lower Clark Fork drainage in Montana and Idaho (Montana State University), various salmonids in southeast Alaska (USFS), white sturgeon and other fishes in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River (USGS), and groundwater in Wisconsin (WI DNR).  These experiences have provided the awesome opportunity to promote conservation of species of concern by learning more about them and their habitat.