S2S partners with Team RWB for 2026 Great Basin EcoRecon Expedition!
The Team Gathered at the Campsite!
Teamwork. Service. Science. Stewardship.
This year’s Soldiers2Scientists EcoRecon Expedition to GreatBasin National Park in Nevada was made even more meaningful by the incredible team we brought into the field through our partnership with Team Red, White & Blue (@TeamRWB).
They worked alongside National Park Service trail crews, fisheries biologists, and researchers, taking on some of the most physically demanding work of the expedition. From trail maintenance to fisheries monitoring, eDNA analysis, water-quality testing, high-altitude tree surveys, and electrofishing, Team RWB embraced every challenge the Great Basin threw at them.
The team Electrofishing a creek At Great Basin NP!
Their support helped provide the additional field capacity needed for something particularly significant: Williams Creek was electrofished for the first time in 26 years! Reaching the site required some of the toughest bushwhacking of the expedition—at times covering roughly a mile every four hours.
Team RWB embraced the terrain, the long days, the heat, the rocks, the uncertainty, and most importantly, the mission. That’s what makes our partnership with Team RWB so special. Their members embraced the service component, and they are accustomed to resilience, challenging environments, and working as a team toward something larger than themselves. Through EcoRecon, they have the opportunity to continue that spirit of service in a completely different arena—contributing their time and energy to science, conservation, and our public lands.
The team conducting Macroinvertebrate Surveys to help study the local fish population’s food chain!
For S2S, it was an honor to share some truly unique and exclusive experiences with this group: getting off trail, exploring remote parts of Great Basin National Park, working directly alongside park scientists and trail crews, learning about the cultural history of the landscape, and encountering wildlife and places that most visitors never get to experience.
But perhaps the greatest part was watching this group discover just how much they could contribute. We are incredibly grateful to our friends at Team RWB for showing up, embracing the challenge, and putting service before self.
Thank you, Team RWB!
S2S Team Member Bethanie working in the lab with Jonathan Reynolds, Fisheries Biologist at Great Basin NP!
Over the next few weeks, S2S will continue to post more highlights from the expedition and exciting news about an upcoming research expedition in Colorado with the S2S Cohort! It has been an incredibly eventful Spring and Summer Field Season! Thanks for all of your support and stay tuned to the newsfeed to catch the final highlights!
