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With a life-long love of animals, Joanna Hatt ’06 majored in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. When it came time to choose a concentration in her major, Joanna chose Wildlife over Fisheries and realized her passion for birds through research and seasonal experiences. Yet, that didn’t keep her from pivoting to a career in fisheries further down the road. She is now a full-time fish biologist with the state of New Mexico.

Growing up on the coast of Maine in Wiscasset, Joanna learned about careers working with wildlife in a high school biology class. She participated in Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki, a four-month, immersive college preparatory experience studying ecology, where she met a University of Vermont (����̽̽) alumna who encouraged Joanna to tour ����̽̽.

“I fell in love with Burlington and met professors in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources who inspired me about the wildlife program and potential careers,” said Joanna.

Birds, Fish, Birds

As a student, Joanna worked with Rubenstein School Professor Allan Strong and PhD student Scott Schwenk on a study at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. They examined interactions among birds, their prey—leaf-eating caterpillars—and trees. This experience led to a two-year seasonal position after Joanna graduated, and she continued to study black-throated blue warblers at Hubbard Brook with researchers from Wellesley College.

During a search for employment to supplement her seasonal bird work, her former faculty advisor Professor Ellen Marsden offered her a job as a research technician at the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory on Lake Champlain. Although Joanna had some experience with fish from Ellen’s courses, she was still hesitant to get her feet wet.

Ellen saw potential in Joanna and encouraged her. “I’m going to turn you on to fish and make you a fish biologist,” Ellen told her. And, for two years, Joanna conducted lake and lab research with Ellen to assess populations of lake whitefish and lake trout juveniles.

But the birds kept calling. Joanna rebounded to seasonal positions banding migrating birds on the Gulf Coast, managing a tern colony on Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts, and studying island scrub jays on Santa Cruz Island off the California coast.

Her continued passion for birds took her to the University of Georgia for graduate work, once again studying black-throated blue warblers, this time in the southern Appalachians of North Carolina. She received her Master’s degree in 2013 and for three years, managed a lab and coordinated research for her faculty advisor.

In 2016, Joanna migrated to New Mexico with her husband Mason Cline ’10. Mason did his Master’s degree research in the Rubenstein School with Allan Strong and found a position as the bird program manager with the . Joanna began hunting for jobs.

“I didn’t want to close the door on any opportunities to work with birds, but because of my fish experience, I also decided to throw my hat in the ring for a job in fisheries,” said Joanna. “I am drawn to meaningful conservation work on species—birds, mammals, or fish—that don’t get as much attention.”

Fish Restoration

In 2017, Joanna landed her current job as a native fish biologist with New Mexico Game and Fish. On a team of six biologists, she monitors, manages, and recovers non-game fish species in the Rio Grande, Pecos, and Canadian River basins. Her team focuses on conserving species that are state or federally listed as threatened or endangered or are species of greatest conservation need—those that warrant extra consideration as identified in New Mexico’s State Wildlife Action Plan. She works with at least eight native fish species.

Joanna’s team is currently restoring the Rio Grande sucker and Rio Grande chub to a canyon creek in Bandelier National Monument, where a major fire 11 years ago destroyed habitat and caused fish die-offs. A decade later, vegetation and the aquatic invertebrate community had recovered enough along Frijoles Creek for Joanna and her crew to conduct wild transfers of fish from another river to the creek to rebuild populations.

Both species, often found together, have been petitioned for federal listing by environmental groups. Joanna and her co-workers are part of a larger conservation team with professionals from other states, federal agencies, including Monument staff, and private enterprises that work together on efforts to benefit both species.

“Management of populations becomes more complicated once a species is on the brink of extinction, so we try to prevent that from happening through pro-active conservation measures,” said Joanna.

Joanna and the team developed strategies to manage the species for the next ten years. They will restore the fish to historical habitats and replicate important populations across the landscape.

“Consideration of historic fires is part of the equation now,” said Joanna. “We have to think outside the box and put fish in more secure places and in more places across the landscape, so we can retain important populations.”

During the recent wild transfer of chub and suckers, Joanna and her crew used electro-fishing equipment in the source river to capture the one- to eight-inch fish, which they placed in water-filled transport tanks. They drove the fish 25 miles to Frijoles Creek, where they hiked two miles to the release site while carrying the fish on their backs in water-filled buckets fitted with oxygen bubblers.

So far, the wild transfer has been a success, and Joanna and her team will plan for another wild transfer next spring.

“I’m privileged as a state biologist to have the responsibility of ensuring that public resources like these fish species remain on the landscape,” said Joanna. “I really like the work my team is doing. It’s tangible and rewarding, and it directly affects conservation. I have a talented group of co-workers that care about these resources, and it’s great motivation to work in fisheries.”