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Taylor Johaneman Floating for Science: Fieldwork on the Snake River (WY) and Ninemile Creek (MT)

My name is Taylor Johaneman - I am a fluvial geomorphologist and a third-year Ph.D. student in Geography. My dissertation work investigates the ecogeomorphic controls (e.g., sediment size, vegetation type, erosional and depositional patterns) on floodplain organic carbon (OC) storage and how human intervention in rivers, specifically artificial levee construction and river restoration, may alter OC storage. My study sites include two rivers, the Snake River near Jackson, WY and Ninemile Creek near Missoula, MT; data from leveed and unleveed sections of the Snake River are being used to investigate ecogeomorphic controls and impacts of artificial levees, while data from Ninemile Creek are being used to investigate the effects of river restoration.

One of the best parts of my work is going out to the field and collecting data. Not only is it a great excuse to camp and float in beautiful places throughout the summer, but being in the field helps visualize and clarify processes discussed in the literature or displayed in aerial imagery. More importantly, fieldwork allows you to observe the finer-scale spatial complexities that cannot be conveyed in aerial imagery.

I spent the last two summers floating the Snake River, collecting hundreds of soil samples and tree cores, measuring large wood and wood jams in the floodplain, and observing the substantial ecological and geomorphic variation that occurs throughout the floodplain. This past summer, I also spent a week on Ninemile Creek to collect samples. The data are still being processed in the lab, so I鈥檝e included a few photos of my fieldwork.

Floating on the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park between sample collection sites.

Floating on the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park between sample collection sites.

 

Picture 2: One of nearly 400 soil cores collected on the Snake River between Summer 2023 and Summer 2024. We would collect cores down to a 1 meter depth or depth of refusal, if refusal was less than 1 meter in depth. The depth of refusal is where coarse alluvium begins; this core was the last sample collected at this site, as indicated by the pebble sticking out of the core.

Picture 2: One of nearly 400 soil cores collected on the Snake River between Summer 2023 and Summer 2024. We would collect cores down to a 1 meter depth or depth of refusal, if refusal was less than 1 meter in depth. The depth of refusal is where coarse alluvium begins; this core was the last sample collected at this site, as indicated by the pebble sticking out of the core.

 

A recently restored section of Ninemile Creek

Picture 3: A recently restored section of Ninemile Creek.

 

Not pictured: Getting bluff charged by a grizzly bear with my advisor, Dr. Katherine Lininger.