The following Oregon State University faculty and staff have expertise related to the removal of dams on the Klamath River. Their specific expertise, and contact information, is listed below. For help with other OSU faculty experts, contact Sean Nealon, 541-737-0787, [email protected].

Desiree Tullos, 541-737-2038, [email protected]

Tullos is a professor of water resources engineering in the Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering. Her work focuses on the sustainable management of rivers. Her prior work in the Klamath Basin has emphasized sediment dynamics of dam removal and nutrient dynamics of wetland restoration. She is currently the lead principal investigator for a large project funded by Oregon Sea Grant examining connections between water quality, the aquatic food web, management action, equitable decisions and people of the Klamath River. She has expertise in:

  • Dam removals
  • Reservoir operations
  • Habitat restoration
  • Water quality and harmful algal blooms
  • Flood management

Jerri Bartholomew, 541-224-2743, [email protected]

Bartholomew studies the impacts of disease in salmonids, particularly those affecting wild populations. Her research for the past 20 years has focused on myxozoan diseases of salmon in the Klamath River and what can be done to manage disease risk. She is director of the John L. Fryer Aquatic Animal Health laboratory and a professor in microbiology. She can discuss:

  • Interactions between fish pathogens and their hosts
  • Ecology of fish pathogens and how disease risk may be affected by climate change or construction/removal of barriers
  • Management options for disease in natural ecosystems
  • Using art as a means to understand and communicate Klamath River research

Hannah Gosnell, 541-737-1222, [email protected] 

Gosnell is a professor of geography in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University who studies the human dimensions of natural resource management, climate change and biodiversity conservation from a social-ecological systems perspective. Most of her projects take place on rural, agricultural, working landscapes involving both public and private lands in the U.S. West, and they all deal with various aspects of environmental governance – the processes of decision-making involved in the control and management of the environment and natural resources. She has been conducting research in the Klamath Basin on and off since 2006. She can comment on the following topics:  

  • Emergence and evolution of collaborative conservation leading up to the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement which authorized the pending dam removals
  • Water resource allocation and management in the Upper Klamath Basin, including treatment of Indian water rights
  • Challenges faced by irrigators (ranchers and farmers) in the Upper Klamath Basin
  • Endangered Species Act implementation in the Upper and Lower Basins
  • Role of private landowners in endangered fish habitat restoration 
  • Human dimensions of dam removal generally

Bryan Tilt, 541-737-3896, [email protected]

Tilt is a professor of anthropology at Oregon State University. He researches the social and cultural dimensions of natural resources, with a focus on water. He has conducted research on water infrastructure form a historical and cross-cultural perspective, with a focus on China and the Western US.  Areas of expertise include:

  • The role of social and cultural values in shaping natural resource policies, including dam removal
  • How dams and other water infrastructure projects affect communities, including federally recognized tribes
  • How communities adapt to environmental change
  • Integration of social and ecological sciences to support community resilience

Julie Alexander, 541-737-1849, [email protected]

Alexander, an associate professor (senior research) in the Department of Microbiology, is a freshwater invertebrate ecologist. Her research focuses on the role of invertebrate hosts in myxozoan disease dynamics. She can discuss:

  • Salmon disease in the Klamath River
  • Whirling disease
  • Aquatic habitat restoration risk assessment

Sascha Hallett, 541-737-4721, [email protected]

Hallett, an associate professor (senior research) in the Department of Microbiology, studies fish parasites and the diseases they cause. She develops pathogen monitoring approaches to mitigate and manage disease in wild and hatchery salmonid fishes. She conducts field and laboratory studies to understand infection dynamics to inform fisheries management and conservation. She has worked on the Klamath River for two decades and developed the water sampling protocol that is used to determine the density of waterborne parasite stages of Ceratonova shasta, a myxozoan parasite that kills salmon and is contributing to their decline in the basin. She can discuss:

  • Fish disease dynamics in the Klamath River
  • The parasite Ceratonova shasta
  • Detection methods and monitoring programs for fish parasites
  • Impact of a managed flow event on fish disease
  • How fish pathogens can be managed to reduce disease
  • Predicted changes to fish disease following dam removal and reconnection of the upper and lower Klamath basins

Aaron Wolf, 541-737-2722, [email protected]

Wolf is a professor of geography in Oregon State’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. He is an internationally known expert in water resources and conflict management. Wolf, a trained mediator/facilitator, has consulted for governments and led mediations for water conflicts around the world. Wolf can address:

  • Klamath basin water issues within the context of water conflicts and conflict resolution.

Guillermo Giannico, 541-737-2479, [email protected]

Giannico is a Extension fisheries specialist focusing on salmonid ecology and watershed management. As a fish biologist he is part of team working on an Oregon Sea Grant funded project titled: Looking beyond the dams: Inclusive decision processes and interdisciplinary science for a resilient Klamath. He has expertise in:

  • Freshwater fish ecology
  • Watershed processes