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Category: Bio-technicians

Bret Fessenden, B.S.

Senior Biological Technician

B.S. Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology

 

Portland, Oregon

Bret is a Senior Biological Technician with experience in fish population monitoring and surveying, with a focus on salmonids. In his most recent position he has served as a fisheries technician and field crew leader for the US Fish and Wild Service in Red Bluff California.  As a fisheries technician he has specialized in video technologies to monitor threatened and endangered species on the tributaries of the Sacramento River. He has extensive experience with the installation, maintenance, and data processing of various monitoring technologies. These include, Vaki Riverwatchers, Didson and Aris Sonars, and surveillance style video monitoring systems. Bret has played a leading role in the surveying and video monitoring of reintroduction efforts of Sacramento River Winter-Run Chinook Salmon into Battle Creek near Anderson, CA.  He has led field crews on salmonid carcass and redd surveys, long-term rotary screw trapping efforts, electrofishing projects, and benthic macroinvertebrate surveys. Bret is also proficient in managing Access Databases and GIS data in ArcGIS.

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Emma Lauchner, B.S.

Biological Technician II

B.S. Microbiology

 

West Sacramento, California

Emma is a biological technician II with experience in fish monitoring and surveying across the Pacific Northwest, southern California, and the Central Valley, including PIT tagging, and installation and operation of rotary screw traps, fyke traps, and PIT tag antenna arrays. She also has experience with seining, electrofishing, and snorkel surveys. She recently served as the lead technician to monitor remote populations of O. mykiss in Piru Creek, CA utilizing mark-and-recapture techniques. She led the day-to-day operations of a rotary screw trap, fyke trap, and PIT tag antenna arrays to monitor emigrating O. mykiss on Piru Creek as well as surveying for California red-legged frogs, arroyo toads, and southwestern willow flycatchers. Emma also has experience monitoring fisheries populations using various technologies such as, analyzing ARIS and reviewing videos from the Sampling Platform. She has experience with laboratory methods, like scale mounting and macroinvertebrate identification. Before joining CFS, she performed lab testing on water samples during her internship at the Bozeman Water Treatment Plant and conducted sportfishing surveys and performed PIT tag retrieval to assist in the monitoring and management of salmonid populations of the Puget Sound.

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Griffith Bell, B.S.

Biological Technician

B.S. Oceanography and Environmental Science

 

Portland, Oregon

Griffith is a biological technician with a wide range of field experiences throughout the Willamette Valley. Since he began his time at Cramer, he has gained extensive experience in fish monitoring techniques such as PIT tagging, gill netting, nearshore sampling, live fish transport, and mark and recapture studies. Griffith has worked in collaboration with government agencies at both the state and federal levels, as well as in conjunction with other private consultants. Growing up in Oregon, Griffith has gained over a decade of local experience boating and navigating the waterways of the Willamette Valley and possesses firsthand knowledge of its native species. Griffith graduated from Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR, with a B.S. in Oceanography and Environmental Science with an option in Aquatic Biology. Most recently, Griffith worked at Cramer Fish Sciences as a field lead, focusing on capturing the behavior and survival of emigrating populations of juvenile spring chinook in reservoirs throughout the Willamette Valley using PIT tags, nearshore traps, gill nets, and limnology profiling.

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Hannah Lambach, B.S.

Senior Permitting Technician

B.S. Evolution, Ecology and Biodiversity

Phone: (888) 224-1221

 

West Sacramento, California

Hannah is a Senior Permitting Technician for the California field office in West Sacramento. She has previous experience working with private environmental consultant companies upholding state and federal laws for both biological resources and vegetation management. Hannah has worked on fire restoration projects as a biological monitor conducting surveys for endangered species including the foothill yellow-legged frog and state protected nesting birds. As a technician at CFS, Hannah tends to administrative duties and assists with macroinvertebrate sampling, data management, video image processing and technical document editing. Her diverse background in environmental ecology and field data collection makes her a valuable member of the CFS team.

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Jamie Byrne, B.S.

Biological Technician

B.S. Marine Science

 

Meadow Vista, California

Jamie is a biological technician working out of the West Sacramento and Auburn offices. She has gained experience working in the field, lab, and office on projects throughout California, especially the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the wider Central Valley. Her field experience includes rotary screw trap maintenance, beach seines, macroinvertebrate collection, electrofishing surveys, and fish identification, tagging, and sample collection. She has gained laboratory experience analyzing ARIS videos as well as processing invertebrate and zooplankton samples. Throughout her time with CFS, she has worked on motorized and unmotorized watercraft and in a variety of environments and conditions. Prior to joining CFS, she conducted creel surveys, drafted reports, worked in a hatchery, and conducted carcass surveys in the North Central region of California. In addition to fisheries work, she has also surveyed aquatic invasive species and amphibians, and used drones to research marine landscape ecology and intertidal community dynamics.

John Lyssenko, B.S.

Biological Technician

B.S. Environmental Biology

 

Portland, Oregon

John is a Biological Technician with a broad range of field experience. He has experience in fish monitoring techniques and population dynamic analyses, including PIT tagging, gill net sampling, mark-and-recapture studies, line-transect distance sampling, and acoustic telemetry. With over a decade of boating experience on oceans, lakes, and rivers throughout the Pacific Northwest, John has honed his skills in identifying Oregon’s diverse fish populations. John has experience collaborating with a diverse array of partners, some of which include private landowners, watershed councils, federal agencies, and tribes. John graduated from Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR, with a B.S. in Environmental Biology. Most recently, John worked at Cramer Fish Sciences as a field lead, focusing on capturing the behavior and survival of emigrating juvenile spring chinook salmon from the Hood River into the Columbia River using acoustic telemetry. He is now pursuing an M.S. in Fisheries Science at Oregon State University, starting in the fall of 2024.

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Karyme Orozco Salazar, B.S.

Biological Technician II

B.S. Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology

 

West Sacramento, California

Karyme is a Biological Technician II at the West Sacramento office. She has extensive experience working in the lab, identifying freshwater macroinvertebrates and preparing samples such as tissue, scales, and otoliths for analysis. In previous roles, she assisted with projects regarding invasive plants in California, fire resiliency, coyote behavioral patterns, and turtle spawning. At CFS, she has participated in various data collection surveys such as beach seine, snorkel, steelhead spawning and pit tag mark-recapture.

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Liz Hansen, B.S.

GIS Technician I
B.S. Geography
Phone: (888) 224-1221

 

Boise, Idaho

Liz Hansen is a GIS Technician with a background in mapping systems, natural resource research and management, and small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) operations. Her combination of field experience and technical proficiency enables her to integrate practical environmental knowledge with advanced geospatial analysis to contribute valuable insights for river system analysis and restoration projects. Specifically, Liz’s field work experience involves plant identification, habitat analysis, and data collection using methods such as electrofishing, GPS, and drone surveying. She has contributed to studies on the Utah fish population densities, trout otolith and carp spine aging surveys, and the management of the threatened June sucker (Chasmistes liorus). Liz has used both ArcGIS and QGIS to analyze habitat suitability, track aquatic invasive species, delineate watersheds, and to support habitat monitoring surveys. She is also a licensed sUAS pilot and has experience conducting drone surveys over varied terrain to monitor rare plants and vegetation conditions. Liz draws from her experiences working in natural resources to assist in the analysis and restoration of river systems.

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Melinda Paulus, B.S.

Biological Technician
B.S. Aquatic & Fisheries Sciences
Phone: (206) 960-4008

 

Issaquah, Washington

Melinda has experience in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska collecting and analyzing fisheries and aquatic habitat data. Prior to joining CFS, Melinda evaluated sockeye mortality in Alaska and the effects of restoration on juvenile salmon densities as part of NOAA’s Strait of Juan de Fuca Intensively Monitored Watershed project. Melinda helps to collect data for habitat assessments and restoration monitoring programs by performing bathymetric, habitat, wood, and riparian surveys. She is skilled in boat and beach seining, eDNA sampling, and collecting physical samples from salmon (otoliths, gastric lavage). At CFS, Melinda conducts literature reviews, helps collect, QA/QC, and summarize field data in maps and figures, and assists with technical reports.

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Mitch Gladding, B.S.

Biological Technician II

B.S. Biological Sciences

 

West Sacramento, California

Mitch is skilled at working in California freshwater and estuarine environments using a wide variety of sampling techniques, such as beach seining, fyke trapping, hoop trapping, and electrofishing. He has fish handling, identification, and tagging skills, and is also experienced in processing macroinvertebrate samples in the laboratory. Mitch has assisted in the conduction of laboratory experiments involving juvenile Chinook Salmon and Green Sturgeon metabolism and is also skilled in the care of captive fishes. He has experience working as a crew member aboard research vessels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Estuary collecting water quality and zooplankton samples. Mr. Gladding also has experience conducting population surveys for salmonid, reptile, and amphibian species, while navigating challenging terrain in the Upper American River Watershed. He is also experienced in deployment and recovery of environmental loggers in remote areas. Mitch works extensively with CFS staff on restoration monitoring and PIT tag mark-recapture studies in the lower reaches of the American and Yuba rivers. He is experienced in reviewing video recordings from the Sampling Platform and has supported the CFS team in the construction of resistance board weirs. He is also skilled in navigating swift water on foot or using non-motorized craft.

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Natasha Mayo, B.S.

Biological Technician II

B.S. Freshwater Fisheries Biology

 

Ripon, California

Natasha is a biological technician experienced in fish and wildlife surveying across the Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, and Pacific Northwest. Natasha possesses an A.S. in Water Resource Management and is a Certified California Naturalist. She brings immense training in species identification, ecological conservation, and various capture methods such as electrofishing, hook-and-line, minnow traps, seine nets, weirs, screw traps, and trawling. Natasha also has hands on experience with PIT tags, fin clips, floy tags, and dye marking for population monitoring and otolith analysis as well as scale aging, fish diet composition, and macroinvertebrate community structures. In addition, Natasha specializes in aquatic system plumbing, construction, and maintenance, biosecurity measures, fish spawning, husbandry, and incubation management.

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Nathan Stram, B.S.

Biological Technician II

B.S. Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

 

West Sacramento, California

Nathan is a Biological Technician and is experienced in identifying, surveying and monitoring fish species in the California Central Valley. He has experience beach seining, rotary screw traps, electrofishing, data QA/QC, spawning surveys, fish handling, fish tagging, invertebrate drift net sampling, egg box incubation, weir fabrication and welding. He has additional experience working on a stream survey crew in Nevada using backpack electrofishing and experience working at a fish hatchery in Idaho.

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Pryclynn Kubatka-Campbell, B.S.

Biological Technician
B. S. Biology, Wildlife and Fisheries Science
Phone: (425) 275-9397

 

Issaquah, Washington

Pryclynn is a biological technician with extensive field experience performing habitat assessments and assessing restoration across Washington and Oregon. She is skilled in a variety of protocols (AEM, CHaMP, and USFS Level II), and survey techniques, including habitat and bathymetry mapping using an RTK GPS, snorkel surveys, macroinvertebrate collection, and longitudinal profile surveys. She also has experience in writing technical reports, SEPA and NEPA Environmental Impact Statements, and Habitat Conservation Plans. At CFS, Pryclynn contributes to multiple projects by performing literature reviews, data collection, QA/QC, data analysis, and mapping in GIS.

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Taylor Truett, B.S.

Biological Technician

B.S., Biology concentrated towards Marine Biology

 

West Sacramento, California

Taylor is experienced in monitoring and surveying anadromous fish species in the Central Valley and Sacramento River watershed. She examined the distribution, abundance, and population trends of Central Valley steelhead trout in the Sacramento River watershed by using mark-recapture methods with large-wire fyke traps on motorized watercraft. She has experience handling, anesthetizing, tagging, and collecting biological samples from adult steelhead trout. While working at a dam on the Snake River, she performed Gas Bubble Trauma exams, while also participating in collecting, sorting, and sampling juvenile anadromous fish. She is skilled in making standardized observations such as species identification, length, age, signs of diseases or pathogens, and collecting fin clips or tagging fish. In addition, Taylor also has over two years of experience working in a water toxicity lab where she conducted Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) testing, Toxicity Identification/Reduction Evaluations (TIE/TRE), water quality criteria development, and Water-Effect Ratio (WER) studies. At CFS, she assists with macroinvertebrate identification, snorkel surveys on the Lower American River, and running a screw trap on the Stanislaus River. Taylor also has professional experience working with marine species. She previously worked in the Florida Keys where she helped college students gain hands on experience with long lines and tangle nets, while tagging and releasing various elasmobranch species in the Gulf of Mexico. She has experience conducting Aquatic Nuisance surveys using standardized scientific protocols in various waters throughout Colorado where she monitored and mapped zebra mussels, quagga mussels, New Zealand mud snails, and Eurasian watermilfoil.

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Thomas Avilla, B.S.

Senior R&D Biological Technician

B.S. Agriculture Resource Management

Phone: (209) 605-4990

 

Ripon, California

Thomas has experience in GIS systems, SCADA, and orchard monitoring. He has also been involved in a research project discovering the uses and accuracy of remote satellite imagery for irrigation scheduling. Thomas graduated from Chico State University with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Resource Management in May of 2021. He has experience in fish identification and knowledge of local river systems.

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Tyler Brownell, B.S.

Senior R&D Biological Technician

B.S. Marine Biology

 

West Sacramento, California

 

Tyler Brownell is a Senior Biological Technician with over a decade of extensive experience in fish population surveys and hatchery operations. His skills encompass boat operations for seining, snorkeling, and sampling across river and open ocean environments. Tyler has served as a field lead for creel surveys, monitoring angler effort and fish tagging in California’s Central Valley. Well-versed in all aspects of White Sturgeon husbandry, including spawning, tagging, egg evaluation, and machinery operation, his core fisheries background is complemented by diverse talents in fabrication, ranch operations, livestock management, plumbing, and electrical work. With his broad knowledge and hands-on experience, Tyler is an invaluable asset in both field and operational capacities.

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