Crews from the Columbia National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office (NFWCO), Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGCP), Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), and the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) met in Columbia, Mo., for annual protocol and field training.  The HAMP team meets once a year to standardize procedures and calibrate crews on the sampling protocol for this large-scale project.  The annual event is intended to ensure crews are conducting field work comparably throughout the basin. These coordination meetings are an excellent tool to bring new members up to speed quickly, promote new ideas and ensure the methodologies and protocols are followed. 

The conference facilitated discussion on the concerns and issues from the past season and plans for improving operations for the next season.  Presentations were provided on field data collection and completion of field data sheets by Schyler Sampson from NGPC.  Staff from the MDC Chillicothe office, who had been contracted to enter and maintain an electronic database for HAMP, provided feedback on datasheet errors and the group discussed steps to prevent and correct them. 

HAMP team members also went out on the Missouri River to a HAMP sampling site to discuss and deomnstrate sampling with the required gears.  Staff from NGPC were impressed by how different the river looked in mid-Missouri from what they were accustomed to in Nebraska, how large the main-channel sandbars are, and the abundance of young blue catfish that were collected during training. 

The location of the field training day is moved each year to allow participants to see the range of habitat differences in the Missouri River along its length.  Annual training meetings like this are critical towards cooperative recovery efforts for endangered pallid sturgeon that range most of the vast Missouri River basin covering 10 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces.  Working with multiple partners representing thousands of miles demonstrates the Service’s Partnership and Accountability goal to develop collaborative conservation strategies for aquatic resources.

Andrew B. Starostka and Clayton J. Ridenour