Members Meeting: BLM Fish BIologist Colin Brady

Join us this at the January members meeting to hear from Colin Brady about Fisheries managed by the BLM's Grand Junction and Silt field offices. Are you interested in the status of native fish on the Roan Plateau, or fishing on BLM land? Now's the time to bring your questions!!

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About Colin Brady:
I graduated from Utah State University in 2015 with a BS in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. While pursuing my bachelors degree, I began working as a technician for the BLM’s National Aquatic Monitoring Center collecting aquatic habitat data during the summers and sorting freshwater invertebrates during the school year. Working for USU’s NAMC allowed me to see a diversity of public lands in almost every western state, eventually drawing me to Alaska.

In 2015 my wife and I moved to Fairbanks, Alaska where I worked for the BLM Alaska State Office as a biological science technician. Much of my work in Alaska was focused on the BLM’s lotic Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring strategy and how it can be used to assess placer mine reclamation and the rehabilitation of fisheries habitat. In 2019 I moved to Grand Junction to reconnect with the desert southwest and the Colorado Plateau. I continued working for BLM Alaska remotely until I joined the BLM Colorado River Valley Field Office in 2021 as the hydrologist and riparian coordinator on the resources staff. In July of 2023, I became the fish biologist for the BLM’s Upper Colorado River District (UCRD) which includes the Grand Junction and Colorado River Valley Field Offices.

The fisheries program falls under the BLM’s Aquatic Resources Program which works to conserve and restore riparian, fisheries, and water resources. The Aquatic Resources Program is multidisciplinary with core functions including: Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring, Conservation, Restoration, Sustainability, Environmental Compliance, and Collaboration. The UCRD fisheries and riparian program works under those core functions to benefit both fish and amphibian species. The UCRD has a diversity of fish and amphibian species including T&E desert fishes, fish and amphibians on the BLM sensitive species list, as well as conservation populations of Colorado River cutthroat trout.

In my free time I enjoy a variety of outdoor interests but largely focus on trail running. I also enjoy spending time with my wife and three cats and slow mornings reading adventure novels and literature on western US history.