Will Simpson

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Grayscale U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service logo
Fish Biologist - Program Lead for Natural Population Assessment
Address

1211 SE Cardinal Court Suite 100
Vancouver, WA 98683
United States

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About Will Simpson

Will supervises the Natural Population Assessment program. The program’s goal is to recover ESA-listed populations and prevent future listings by collaboratively anticipating and addressing knowledge gaps that are essential to assessing the status and trends of USFWS trust species, and to investigate scientifically-defensible ways for managers to mitigate any negative effects of anthropogenic change to native species and their habitats. Currently Will monitors ways that warming temperatures may affect lamprey, and the survival and movement of fish (lamprey and steelhead) that are diverted or screened at irrigation canals. He also represents USFWS on the PIT Tag Steering Committee, providing guidance on tag detection and data management for internal and external partners in the Columbia River basin.

Program: Natural Population Assessment

Current Projects: 

1. Supervising the Natural Population Assessment program

2. Participating in the Columbia River basin’s Pit Tag Steering Committee as a representative of the USFWS

3. Providing expertise on PIT tag detection and data management for internal and external partner

4. Providing expertise on PIT tag detection and data management for internal and external partner

Past Projects:

1. The effectiveness of using tools (i.e., electricity) to control invasive or nuisance species and recover fish habitat, and how such tools may affect the survival and behavior of native fish.

2. Examining how hatchery salmonid supplementation influences naturally-reared fish.

3. Monitoring the movement and route of passage of outmigrating juvenile salmonids at large hydropower facilities.

Publications:

Simpson, WG. 2018. The entrainment and screening of returning and postspawning adult salmonids at irrigation canals of the Umatilla River, Oregon. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 9(1):285-295; e1944-687X

Simpson, WG, DP Peterson, K Steinke. 2016.  Effect of waveform and voltage gradient on the survival of electroshocked steelhead embryos and larvae. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 36: 1149-1155. 

Simpson, WG, KG Ostrand. 2012.  Effects of entrainment and bypass at screened irrigation canals on juvenile steelhead. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 141: 599-609. 

Simpson, WG, BM Kennedy, KG Ostrand. 2009. Seasonal foraging and piscivory by sympatric wild and hatchery-reared steelhead from an integrated hatchery program. Environmental Biology of Fishes 86: 473-482. 

Background: Will previously worked for the USGS Columbia River Research Laboratory. Prior to joining the CRFWCO, he worked at Abernathy Fish Technology Center (USFWS). Will earned his M.S. at Portland State University.

At CRFWCO Since: 2017

Areas of expertise
Fish passage and screening
Fish movement and survival
PIT tag technology
Invasive species management

From The Library

Monitoring the Entrainment of Juvenile Pacific Lamprey at Irrigation Canals of the Umatilla River

Outmigrating juvenile Pacific Lamprey are inadvertently diverted from rivers and streams into irrigation diversions common to the arid interior of the Columbia River basin (entrainment), where fish can be trapped and killed. Lamprey may be particularly susceptible to entrainment and harm because...

An evaluation of batch marking techniques for larval lampreys

Pacific Lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus is an ecologically important anadromous species native to the Pacific Northwest region and a species of concern in the Columbia River basin (Close et al., 2002, Wang and Schaller 2015). Pacific Lamprey have declined in distribution due to anthropogenic...

Estimating the Abundance of Adfluvial Bull Trout Spawning in Cougar Creek

In response to a general decline in abundance across their native range, Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus) were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1999. Gaining a better understanding of the reproductive component of a population is important for Bull Trout recovery and...

Monitoring the Entrainment of Juvenile Pacific Lamprey at Irrigation Canals of the Umatilla River

Outmigrating juvenile Pacific Lamprey are inadvertently diverted from rivers and streams into irrigation diversions common to the arid interior of the Columbia River basin (entrainment), where fish can be trapped and killed.  Lamprey may be particularly susceptible to entrainment and harm...

An evaluation of potential climate change impacts on the larval metamorphosis of Pacific Lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus)

Larval Pacific Lamprey must undergo metamorphosis to reproduce. Physiological and environmental factors appear to impact when this metamorphosis occurs. In other lamprey species, larvae that reach a certain threshold for energy storage appear to initiate metamorphosis when exposed to cold winter...