On February 4-6, 2009 I attended the Missouri Natural Resources Conference at the Tan-Tar-A resort at the Lake of the Ozarks in south central Missouri. As a University of Missouri-Columbia student studying Parks, Recreation and Tourism as well as GIS technology this is the big conference of the year where I can go to meet with natural resource professionals from the state of Missouri. As a Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP) participant, this conference gave me the opportunity to present the research I had been assisting the Columbia National Fish and wildlife Conservation Office with during the summer of 2008. The research was conducted on stream crossings in the Big River watershed southwest of St. Louis, MO. It consisted of using GIS to locate stream crossings that were barriers to fish passage within that watershed. Once these barriers were located, field crews would go and measure each crossing so that calculations could be performed to determine whether or not the crossing was a barrier. Further analysis was then done to identify fish passage barriers that are also serving as sediment catches, holding contaminated sediments from upstream sources.

The majority of my time at the meeting was spent as a regular student, visiting informational booths and talking with professionals about ongoing research, projected studies, where to go fishing, and whether or not the groundhog had lied about the six more weeks of winter (the weather was a warm, breezy 70 degrees in early February!). But on the last day of the convention I switched gears from student to BioScience Aide as I prepared for my presentation of the work the Fish Conservation crew at Columbia NFWCO had worked so diligently to complete. After some very interesting and informative presentations on alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula) and shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) it was my turn to take the stand. I explained the reasons for our research, and the threatened and endangered species that were benefiting from our studies such as the federally endangered pink mucket (Lampsilis abrupta) and the state listed crystal darter (Cyrstallaria asperella). I also explained how the implementation of the small span bridges we recommended as opposed to the commonly used pipe and box culverts saved the road crews money in the long run because of the span’s ability to withstand floods. The conference was a great experience for me as a student, because there are few places where a larger number of natural resources professionals from a wide array of federal, state, and local agencies with a broad knowledge base can be found. As an employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I was able to communicate to the public and cooperating agencies the work we have been doing to benefit fish and people , and more importantly the progress we have made.