Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program:
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Staff Member

John Sterling McLaren

PhD

Biography

Jack McLaren is a PhD researcher in Phaedra Budy's Fish Ecology Laboratory at Utah State University. He studies how nutrients affect aquatic vegetation and the maintenance of trout habitat in the Henry's Fork of the Snake River.. Jack's research efforts focus on fish habitat, fishery production, and the creation and maintenance of salmonid habitat. This expands to process-based creation and maintenance of fish habitat, regime shifts and feedback processes in stream ecosystems, and planning for future human impacts on stream ecosystems including scenario planning, management, and applied research.. Jack's teaching interests include the interface of policy and fisheries, in particular the role of recreational fishing and non-profits in fish conservation and policy. Aquatic ecology, limnology, and stream ecology. He is currently teaching Fish Diversity & Conservation.

Research Publications Publication Date
McLaren, J. S., R. W. Van Kirk, A. J. Mabaka, S. Brothers, and P. E. Budy. 2023. Drawdown, habitat, and kokanee Oncorhynchus nerka populations in a western U.S. reservoir. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. DOI: 10.1002/nafm.10879. USGS FSP IP- 136834. | Abstract January 2023
**McLaren, J. S., P. E. Budy, S. Brothers, R. W. Van Kirk. 2023. The scale-dependent role of submerged macrophytes on trout habitat. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 80:1533–1546. doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2022-0182. USGS FSP IP-139190. | Abstract July 2023
Project Completion Date
Assessing the impact of nutrient enrichment in the Henry’s Fork Headwaters. May 2023
Presentations Presentation Date
McLaren, J.S.; Van Kirk, R.; Brothers, S; Budy, P., Muradian, M. 2021. Just add water: how water supply to one reservoir controls water quality and fish habitat throughout the Henry’s Fork basin in Idaho. North American Lakes Management Society Annual Meeting, Oklahoma City, OK, 15-18 November 2021 November 2021
McLaren, J.S.; S. Brothers; and P. Budy. 2019. Reservoirs as magnifiers of climate change: effect of climate-driven water management on Kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) habitat and migrations in Idaho’s Island Park Reservoir. Spring Runoff Conference, Logan, Utah, March 26. Poster presentation. March 2019
McLaren, J.S., R. Van Kirk, S. Brothers, P. Budy. 2022. Reservoir Drawdown vs. Kokanee in the Henrys Fork. Idaho Chapter of the American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting, Fort Hall, Idaho, March 1-4. Oral Presentation. March 2022
McLaren, J.S., R. Van Kirk, S. Brothers, P. Budy. 2022. A Living Substrate: the scale-dependent role of submerged macrophytes on trout habitat. Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Grand Rapids, Michigan, May 14-20. Oral Presentation. May 2022
McLaren, J., P. Budy, S. Brothers, and R. Van Kirk. 2021. Fish like plants (but maybe not) and other stories from the Henry's Fork. Western Division AFS Annual Meeting, May 2021. Utah, virtual. May 12, 2021 May 2021
McLaren, J. S., P. E. Budy, S. Brothers, R. W. Van Kirk. 2022. The role of fish habitat in modulating the disconnect between fisheries and fishing. Wild Trout Symposium XIII, West Yellowstone, Montana, September 27-30. Oral Presentation. September 2022
McLaren, J. S., P. E. Budy, S. Brothers, R. W. Van Kirk. 2022. An Osprey’s view: aerial imagery reveals how submerged macrophytes create trout habitat. American Fisheries Society, Spokane, Washington, August 21-25. Oral Presentation. August 2022
McLaren, J. P. Budy, S. Brothers, and R. Van Kirk. Physical structure or nutrient enrichment? Novel insights on food web controls from a macrophyte-dominated river system. Spring Runoff Conference, March 2020, Logan, UT. March 2020
McLaren, J. P. Budy, S. Brothers, and R. Van Kirk. Physical structure or nutrient enrichment? Novel insights on food web controls from a macrophyte-dominated river system. Ecological Society of America, August 2020, Salt Lake City, UT. August 2020
McLaren, J. P. Budy, S. Brothers, and R. Van Kirk. Macrophytes and nutrients in a stream system: Utilizing and evaluating the Qual2K model in the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River. Society for Freshwater Science, Salt Lake City, Utah, May. Oral Presentation. May 2019
McLaren, J. P. Budy, S. Brothers, and R. Van Kirk. Fish like plants (but maybe not) and other stories from the Henry's Fork. Henry's Fork Watershed Council, December 2020, Ashton, ID. Dec. 8, 2020 December 2020
McLaren J.S., Mabaka A.J., Van Kirk R., Brothers S., Budy P. 2021. Beyond the 100<sup>th</sup> Meridian: a case study of the complex mechanisms by which drought-induced drawdown affect salmonid habitat and populations in a western U.S. irrigation storage reservoir. American Fisheries Society annual meeting, Baltimore, MD. Symposium: Back to the Future of Reservoir Science and Management: What have we learned in 50 years? November 6-10, 2021. November 2021
Technical Publications Publication Date
McLaren, J., Budy, P., Van Kirk, R., Mabaka, A.J. 2021. Drought and drawdown create a house of horrors: shrinking habitat potentially impacts fish populations in a river-reservoir system in Idaho. NALMS LakeLine Magazine 41(3). https://www.nalms.org/lakeline-magazine/ October 2021
McLaren, J., Brothers, S., Budy, P., Van Kirk, R. 2020. Improving Fish Habitat in the Henry’s Fork of the Snake in Idaho: A Growing Problem. WDAFS Tributary 44(4). https://wdafs.org/newsletter/past-editions/">https://wdafs.org/newsletter/past-editions | Download December 2020
McLaren, J. 2022. The Upper Henry’s Fork Project: uncovering the diamond in plain sight. Henry's Fork Foundation Blog. https://www.henrysfork.org/post/the-upper-henry-s-fork-project-uncovering-the-diamond-in-plain-sight" | Download February 2022
McLaren, J. 2022. The Upper Henry’s Fork Project: bottlenecks limiting fish populations. Henry's Fork Foundation Blog. https://www.henrysfork.org/post/the-upper-henry-s-fork-project-bottlenecks-limiting-fish-populations | Download March 2022