Join the UPP (USGS-PSU Partnership) for our May science seminar. We'll hear from our 2025 seed grant recipients, PSU's Shelby Anderson and USGS's Mackenzie Keith, followed by a networking hour with light refreshments.
Abstract:
Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) fishing and consumption are essential community practices connecting Indigenous communities across time and space. Lamprey are also a key component of healthy river ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. These people-lamprey relationships are affected by the disruption of Indigenous fisheries management, habitat degradation, and regional declines in lamprey populations since the 18th century. In the Willamette River Basin, Oregon, multiple river management and restoration efforts are directed at documenting, conserving, and restoring lamprey habitat and numbers. Though management and restoration draw upon a growing body of research and incorporate findings from cross-disciplinary work, these collaborative efforts lack long-term baseline data describing the interrelationships of people and lamprey that are essential to understand the deep historical context for contemporary practices and fisheries issues. This study informs lamprey restoration efforts in the Willamette River Basin by bringing hydrogeomorphic, archaeological, ethnographic, and historical data together with Indigenous knowledge. We are synthesizing records on lamprey harvest, distribution, and habitats with characterization of past hydrogeomorphic conditions across the landscape. The initial phase of this study will translate text-based lamprey-related oral histories and ethnographies into geospatial data. These data will be used alongside other hydrogeomorphic and ecological datasets to identify patterns of historical and precolonial lamprey use in the Willamette River Basin. The data and findings from this work will be used to identify knowledge gaps and outstanding questions, and will ultimately broaden understanding of lamprey habitats, distribution, and cultural-significance. This research will also inform short-term lamprey restoration efforts and longer-term conservation plans.
Abstract by: Shelby Anderson (PSU), Mackenzie Keith (USGS), Michael Lewis (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde)