Jorge Buening STEP enrollee at the Genoa hatchery

Jorge Buening, Genoa (WI) National Fish Hatchery's Student Temporary Employment Program Enrollee (STEP) and natural resource major at the University of Wisconsin Steven's Point (UWSP) recently won a prestigious award for a research project completed at the Genoa station.  The hatchery works with professors at the University to sponsor projects of interest for natural resource majors to complete their off campus research intern projects.  These projects also attempt to answer an applied research need to assist in the operation and productivity of the Genoa station, usually to either further Endangered Mussel Recovery or enhance lake sturgeon restoration efforts, two current high priority projects.  Jorge recently completed a study to examine various fry starter diets on the survival of lake sturgeon reared for restoration efforts throughout the Midwest. His report and resulting poster submission earned him high honors at a recent Undergraduate Research Symposium at UWSP.  This year, in a continuation of Jorge's past study, a research project will examine the familial effects of rearing lake sturgeon on prepared diets as opposed to natural feeds.  This extensive study will involve 2 of our STEP enrollees in the summer of 2009, and we are hoping to determine whether feeding artificial diets is applicable in long term restoration efforts to conserve lake sturgeon populations.