Since childhood, Ben has shown an interest in wildlife and the natural world, joining the Ventura Audubon society at age 10. He became a volunteer at BeachCOMBERS for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at age 14 and surveyed a coastal segment for four years. He pursued a double major as an undergraduate in Biology and Environmental Science at Willamette University. During summers in-between years of undergrad, Ben worked multiple positions as a Wildlife Biology Intern at the U.S. Department of Defense and a Wildlife Biologist for Tetra Tech at Pt. Mugu. At Duke University, Ben studied Environmental Management with an emphasis in Environmental Economics and Policy. During his time in graduate school, Ben became highly proficient in statistical software programs such as Python and R. Additionally, Ben became interested in using Structured Decision-Making and Geospatial Science to improve wildlife/natural resource management through his graduate internship experiences at the Center for Biological Diversity and Duke Global Health Institute. As a long-term goal, Ben wants to become a Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and potentially pursue a Ph.D. in ecology.

Where do I start… First off, sorry for the extended intermission in blog posting. One of my new year’s resolutions is to post blogs more consistently, so here’s to documenting more of the unique experiences I’ve been having. It’s been eight months since I last wrote a blog post, and over those eight months, I’ve grown, failed, been exhausted, and yet had some of the most inspiring and formative experiences of my life. The opportunities this fellowship has provided thus far have been enriching and grounding. I’ve had the chance to dip my toes in a wide variety of subjects, all of which have had some tie-in to ecological transformation and climate change research/planning/adaptation. With each month, I feel that I am learning new skills and sharpening my knowledge in a multitude of other fields that I had initially only scratched the surface of using. Just from the experiences I’ve had so far with this fellowship, I feel more confident about where my passions lie and where I want to go with them. This is not only a product of the dynamic work and experiences I’ve had but also the amazing mentors that have helped guide me through it. 

Something notable that I have genuinely enjoyed with this fellowship is how multi-dimensional the work is. Few aspects of the work get siloed into one area but rather get expanded and evolve into other areas of research and planning. 

During the past eight months, I’ve had some field experiences that have nourished my passions and others that have pushed me out of my comfort zone. For the latter, doing invasive common carp (Cyprinus carpio) removal at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was a tiring but perspective-shifting experience. Up until the point of doing the invasive carp removal (late October), I thought of “habitat restoration” as a term that mostly meant pulling weeds and planting native species. However, removing common carp from the Donner und Blitzen River (also referred to as the Blitzen River) by hand via electroshocking gave me an entirely different definition for the term. 

To give some background, common carp are an introduced fish species that negatively impact water quality via bottom-feeding, which disturbs sediment at the bottom of waterways, and in turn, impacts native fish, wildlife, and plants that depend on the Refuge’s aquatic resources. Like many invasive species, they have no natural predators in areas where they are introduced, so their populations grow exponentially. 

To reduce carp population numbers and manage their ecological impact, a couple of methods are used, the most common of which is a chemical-based reduction method that involves using rotenone, a chemical that poisons the fish in stream/river systems where it’s introduced. However, a species of freshwater mussel, called the western ridged mussel (Gonidea angulata), resides in the Blitzen River and is currently undergoing a 12-month petition finding to determine if listing is warranted to protect it under the Endangered Species Act. Because of this, refuge staff decided to use electroshocking, which utilizes an electrical generator that emits a non-lethal electrical current through the water, which stuns fish that touch metal rods emitting that current. 

Once the fish were stunned, we had about a 30-second window to grab them out of the water, either by hand, net, or gaff, and toss them to shore. This was a challenging task considering the vast majority of carp we removed weighed between 10-16 pounds. Although the river was only about ~15-25 feet wide and ~2-3 feet deep in most parts, there were a surprising number of carp. In a half-mile stretch of river, we removed over 2,000 carp in a single day! I can’t say it was the most fun I’ve had doing fieldwork, but at the end of the day, it was a genuine lesson on what the term “habitat restoration” truly entails and the tireless hours that are put in by refuge staff to complete it.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to reach out if you have questions about my work! 

(Image description: Image 1- Blitzen River meandering through Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Image 2- River otter poking its head above the water on a rainy day at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge).

Hi everyone, my name is Benjamin (Ben) Newman. I am currently working at the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge Complex and at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as an advanced fellow with the Civilian Climate Corp (CCC) of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership with the Hispanic Access Foundation. 

To give you all an idea of my work's structure as a CCC fellow, one of the main frameworks fellows are using to conduct our research is called Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD). This framework provides a way to respond to ecological transformation, especially to new, unexperienced conditions. Ultimately, through the RAD climate change vulnerability analyses each of the fellows will be conducting, we will be able to develop recommendations and inform decision-making regarding how to adapt to climate change on each of our respective refuges. 

For Willapa National Wildlife Refuge Complex, one of the most daunting challenges climate change is causing is sea-level rise. Many species that call the refuge complex home are potentially in jeopardy if current sea level rise patterns continue in the Pacific Northwest. The big picture question that I will be trying to answer during my fellowship is: How can we resist, accept, and direct the effects of climate change at Willapa in order to continue to meet refuge objectives and maintain the ecological integrity of the ecosystems?

For Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, my goal is to contribute to updating the refuge's water budget based on predictive climate change models. Being in a drier climate in eastern Oregon, Malheur is affected by drought and slowly decreasing levels of precipitation. Due to this, figuring out how to allocate Malheur's limited water resources is a top priority for the refuge.

As fellows, we are at phase one of the RAD framework assessment process. For me, this has mostly involved doing literature reviews and collecting climatic data and climate change data that is relevant to the immediate area in and around Willapa National Wildlife Refuge Complex, as well as data from studies that look at regional climate change projections. In my case, this has consisted of finding updated data sets for Willapa Bay that provide mean sea level rise projections, average annual temperature projections, and average annual precipitation projections, among others. 

I have also had the chance to go out in the field a couple of times and shadow the refuge wildlife biologist with deer trapping and relocation, which has been a nice way of learning about different aspects of the work at Willapa hands-on.

One of the best aspects of the position thus far has been the support I have received from mentors at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I have worked closely with biologists and managers within the National Wildlife Refuge System, the Ecological Services Branch, Science Applications, and the Regional Office in my Region (Region 1). I have also had the chance to talk to other scientists across multiple disciplines in state government, the federal government, and academia who are also doing climate change research.   

Coming up with solutions to the daunting problems climate change is causing is intimidating and, at times, discouraging. Solutions require time, dedication, research, and most of all, creativity, which many times extends beyond what we learn in school and from reading papers. Coming up with solutions to the challenges climate change poses is something that I am already starting to face head-on, and I look forward to creatively approaching them more through this amazing opportunity.  

Agency: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Program: Civilian Climate Corps Program (CCC)

Location: Willapa and Malhuer NWRs