Staff
Meet the CURRENT STAFF here at the Native Fish Investigations Program.
Interested in joining the team? Find information about job opportunities here.
I joined ODFW in 2019 as the Program Manager for Native Fish Investigations. I work with rogram staff and partners to develop and implement applied research and monitoring projects across the state of Oregon to support the conservation of Oregon’s native non-game fish. For example, some recent projects include updating a genetic assessment of Umpqua Chub, developing eDNA monitoring for Warner Sucker, and planning lab-rearing experiments to investigate age-0 survival for Bull Trout. Prior to joining ODFW, I worked as a fish conservation geneticist in the American Southwest, researched visual communication and behavioral ecology in Anolis lizards in Central America, and trapped small mammals to detect trends in zoonotic disease, among other adventures.
Chris Derrickson
I am currently working as a Project Biologist in Corvallis as a work out of class rotation from Enterprise, OR. I have worked a variety of postitions since graduating from Oregon State in 2018, including rotary screwtraps, spawning surveys, snorkel surveys and habitat surveys. I enjoy hiking, fishing, hunting and being in the outdoors. I look forward to being able to apply my knowledge to be able to aid the native fish of the state I so love.
I’ve worked for ODFW as a fish biologist since 2000 in various regions of the state. My areas of research have included early life-history characteristics of anadromous salmonids in streams of eastern Oregon, migration survival of juvenile Chinook salmon including passage survival through hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River, and behavior of juvenile anadromous salmonids in large reservoirs in the Willamette Valley. With the Native Fish Investigations Program, I work on the conservation and recovery of fish species in the high desert of Oregon including Foskett Speckled Dace and Borax Lake Chub. My current work is focused on the recovery of Warner Suckers in the Warner Basin in SE Oregon. Throughout my career, my research has been focused on providing the scientific knowledge and information needed to help in the conservation and recovery of our native fish species.
Matt is the lead Project Biologist on the Oregon Chub Monitoring Project. He began working for ODFW in 2013, one year prior to graduating from OSU with a bachelor’s degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Science. After working various seasonal and permanent positions all over Western and Central Oregon, he began working his current position at the Corvallis Research Lab in September, 2018. His work has made him an authority on non-game fish of the Willamette Valley. Matt is conservation focused and enjoys working with others to responsibly and mindfully manage our precious wildlife resources. When he is not working, Matt is likely hunting, fishing, or spending valuable time with his family, friends and dogs.
I conduct applied research and monitoring efforts aimed at conservation and recovery of Oregon’s native freshwater fishes. My research focus lies within the broad context of native fish conservation with a specific emphasis on application of ecological theory to address topics of conservation and management concern. Within the Native Fish Investigations Program, I am currently evaluating habitat use and survival of juvenile Bull Trout in the Odell Creek subwatersheds, modeling the distribution of Bull Trout in Northeastern Oregon, quantifying hybridization rates between Bull Trout and Brook Trout in Northeastern Oregon, and evaluating the efficacy of using MYY Brook Trout as a tool to manage non-native Brook Trout Populations. My past research has covered a variety of topics including population genetics, landscape ecology, food web ecology, competitive interactions between native and non-native species, thermal ecology, and population assessment and monitoring techniques.
Since 2008, I have been the Project Leader for the Upper Willamette Bull Trout Project. The goal of this project is to promote conservation of Bull Trout (ESA – Threatened) in the upper Willamette Basin. We monitor population abundance, assess entrainment of Bull Trout through dams, and promote upstream passage efforts to increase abundance of spawning adults. We conduct reintroduction efforts, evaluate the effectiveness of past efforts, and assess feasibility of sites for future reintroduction efforts, and we study 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.
Steve Starcevich has been a fish biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife since 1996 and is now a Project Leader with the Native Fish Investigations Program. He has led research and monitoring projects throughout the state focused on population status, habitat use, and movement patterns of Bull Trout, Redband Trout, and Pacific Lamprey. His current projects include monitoring population status of Bull Trout reintroduced into the Clackamas River basin and an evaluation of spawning site enhancement for Bull Trout in the Odell Lake Basin, among others.
I am currently working to reintroduce and recover a self-sustaining population of bull trout upstream of Hills Creek Dam in the Middle Fork Willamette River and assisting with bull trout population monitoring efforts throughout the upper Willamette River Basin. Previously, I worked in the South Fork McKenzie River to minimize the risk to a bull trout population isolated upstream of Cougar Dam. I previously worked for NOAA Fisheries, through an IPA with Pacific States Marine Fisheries, on hatchery and harvest ESA issues in Upper Columbia River. Also, I worked in Northeast Oregon’s Grande Ronde River Basin for the state, on a spring Chinook salmon early life history project. I received a M.S. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, program in Natural Resource Ecology and Conservation Biology, working to determine the genetic relationships among and between bluegill populations in the upper Midwest at the Illinois Natural History Survey, Center for Aquatic Ecology. I worked to develop half-duplex PIT tag interrogation technologies for fisheries applications in larger river systems, since 2001. I also enjoy soaring and thermal free flight with a paraglider, white water kayaking, underwater photography, and rock climbing.
Photo not available: Delia Negru (Clackamas bull trout), Beda Hernandez (Warner Sucker), Camden Esch (Warner Sucker)
Former staff members have shaped fish conservation efforts across Oregon. This is a partial and incomplete list of some of the people who have had a big impact on this program and on the State.
