Seattle City (spot)Light: Troy Jaecks, Senior Environmental Analyst

The Basics

Division: Boundary Licensing

How long have you been at City Light? Since May 2018

Tell us about your role. I coordinate and conduct fisheries projects and studies in and around Boundary Reservoir to meet our licensing requirements for Boundary Dam operations. This involves supporting and conserving native salmonid species by studying existing populations and habitat improvement projects. I also study nonnative fish populations and their effect on our native fishes, which sometimes leads to removing nonnative fish in some areas.

I also serve as an onsite resource to facilitate and support the variety of other work that our licensing group does out here. This includes monitoring water temperature, surveying and removing invasive aquatic and plant species, improving terrestrial habitats, engaging in public outreach, and assisting with biological/permitting aspects of construction projects.

Some of this includes work with Seattle City Light staff and contractors exclusively, but there is also a large amount of collaboration with other agencies, including the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Kalispel Tribe, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Beyond the project coordination and facilitation, I coordinate the upkeep of our facilities and equipment, manage procurement, and analyze and present the data gathered throughout our work.

Background

Hometown: Wausau, Wis.

Alma mater: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Bachelor of Science, zoology/journalism, 1999; University of Washington-Seattle, Master of Science, fisheries and aquatic sciences, 2010

Discipline/Trade of study: Fish biology since 1998, but in this field you will wear many hats in the first decade to keep the bills paid and then continue to do so to address the variety of equipment and tasks required of the field.

Tell us about your family/pets: I have a wife, Meredith, and son, Ross, 7. My parents, Bruce and Ruby, and sister, Brenda, are all in the Wisconsin/Minnesota area. We have three dogs: Harvey the Havanese; Lulu the standard poodle; and Norman, our new goldendoodle, who moonlights as a quarter horse.

Just for fun

What was your first job and what did you do?

My first paying job was sorting wood slats at a factory in Wisconsin that made Venetian blinds but my first career-track job out of college was as a reporter at a daily newspaper in Michigan. During college summers, I did fish research and held several writing jobs throughout school, but when I graduated in December, there was precious little employment for entry-level fish biology that time of year.

Newspaper reporting was an extremely tough job with long and odd hours, low pay, and high pressure and I definitely questioned my first shot at a career. After a challenging six months, they fired me at 9 a.m. on a Thursday. By 11 a.m., I was on a trout stream with my dog and honestly relieved. I soon returned to working with fish and never looked back. While rewarding and in tune with my interests, fish biology has been far from easy. I've worked for eight agencies in five states in the last 26 years Early on, I worked seasonally and had at least two jobs to make ends meet, with everything I owned fitting in my truck and boat as I moved around looking for the next opportunity One year I had five W-2's in four states!

What do you like most about your role? I enjoy being directly involved in facilitating effective change and improving an altered ecosystem to benefit native species. I get to do that with sufficient resources and a mandated purpose and at a resolution that yields results. I find it more interesting scientifically to figure out what is wrong and how to improve something than just assessing "how many" like I often did in Alaska during the 14 years before I came to City Light.

I also greatly appreciate the rural and beautiful setting of northeast Washington where I live and work. I have an excellent group of team members and collaborative agencies to share and gain knowledge. Additionally, our dam license requires us to address a schedule of topics over several decades, ensuring that our focus will always evolve, requiring new thoughts, research, and innovation, which is an environment that I tend to thrive in.

What is your favorite travel memory/experience? My wife and I fell in love with the southeastern coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. By our third trip there, we brought along our six-month old son Ross. We were limited in how far and long we could travel around with our little bundle of joy, but we ended up meeting several neighbors to our accommodations. This led to some great times and adventures with local folks that definitely wasn't your typical tourist experience, like harvesting and preparing a sheep and pig for a barbecue all the while with a sweeping view of the ocean. Unfortunately, the volcano eruption in 2018 wiped out the most of the area we knew, so those memories will have to suffice.

What's your favorite season, and why? I really enjoy fall for many reasons. Many of my positions have entailed a large amount of on-water fieldwork that obviously is best done in temperate seasons, and spring and summer can be very busy requiring a balancing act of work, home, and family. By fall, the end of this busyness is in sight. The colors are changing, temperatures are cooling, hunting seasons begin, but there is still enough daylight to get something done. Some of my most relaxing moments are after the first legitimate snowfall when I know that things are ready for winter, pressure on my schedule is lighter, and I get to narrow my focus a bit instead of being so many places at once. After about two months of that though, I'm ready for spring.

Are you an early bird or a night owl? Definitely an early bird. I'm usually up before the sun to either get something done at home or get a jump on work stuff. That's harder in the fall and winter, but in the heat of summer, those early hours are absolutely delicious with cooler temps and a sunrise bonus. During my early years in fisheries, my second job was as a bartender. Those late nights were hard to manage and after that grand experience in human behavior, I've always said nothing good happens after 10 p.m. and at midnight, I turn into a pumpkin.

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