Mike Hildebrand - BSc, RPBio

Michael has 30 years of experience in aquatic sciences. During his career, Michael has worked on a variety of stream assessment, fish use/presence, water quality, and environmental monitoring projects.

Michael has project management and research experience with many freshwater habitats and species throughout Western Canada and the US. Mike as conducted studies involving fish habitat use, spawning studies (white sturgeon, rainbow trout, and mountain whitefish), hydroelectric project impact assessments, stream surveys, habitat assessments, fish health genetics, population estimates, telemetry, invertebrates, water quality, egg incubation, and larval emergence/dispersal. Mike led the first 5 years (2002-2006) of study of hatchery released juvenile white sturgeon into the Columbia River (Revelstoke Dam in BC to Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State). This program assessed the distribution, abundance, survival, growth, condition, habitat use, and movement of these fish. He also led a 3-year project that monitored the transboundary white sturgeon population in the Columbia River using sonic and radio telemetry. These studies required collaboration among multiple agencies, and the management and analysis of extensive amounts of data.

Highlights of Mike's project experience include the discovery of a white sturgeon spawning area near the Columbia and Kootenay river confluence, as well as determining that white sturgeon eggs successfully reach the larval stage below Revelstoke Dam (which indicated that larval predation, rather than hatch success is likely more limiting on the Middle Columbia River population). Mike worked to build First Nations capacity and train members of the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) to conduct juvenile white sturgeon research in the Middle Columbia River from 2010 to 2014, after which the ONA conducted the work independently. Mike has presented research findings at international conferences such as the 4th World Fisheries Congress in Vancouver (2004) and the 4th annual Sturgeon and Paddlefish Conference in Nanaimo (2011). 

Michael has 11 years of environmental monitoring experience. Examples of recent relevant projects he has worked on include: Dakota Creek Highway Bridge Scour Protection Project (2021), Teck CBM ponds decommissioning (2021-2022) and Mannix pad development (2021) projects, and the RDEK Windermere Creek emergency dredge (2020). As well, Michael has been involved in both environmental monitoring and providing construction guidance for habitat offsetting projects for Teck Coal Fish and BC Hydro (2020-present). 

Areas of Expertise

• Environmental Assessment – pre- and post-project assessments in small (e.g., habitat structures in a creek, mine impacts) and large streams (e.g., hydroelectric facilities)
• Freshwater fish – including population assessments and estimates, habitat assessments and use, spawning studies, telemetry, ecology, and egg incubation 
• Fish health – comparative tissue and DNA studies 
• Experience with water quality, invertebrate, and periphyton sampling 
• Federal and provincial fisheries permitting 
• Experimental design and implementation, including project management and following Health and Safety protocols 
• Data analysis and reporting 
• Fish sampling and salvaging techniques