In The News
A Giant Restoration Effort
January 2020 | By Deborah Weisberg
Lake sturgeon nearly disappeared from the Great Lakes 100 years ago due to overfishing and pollution. If restoration efforts are successful, this prehistoric fish could roam the waters of Lake Erie again. For species that delay reproduction, such as the lake sturgeon which doesn’t reproduce until at least 10 to 20 years of age, it would naturally take decades to see an increase in population growth assuming the causes for the decline in lake sturgeon have been abated,” says Dr. John Sweka, Northeast Fishery Center.
Nearly 6,000 sturgeons were stocked in the Maumee River, a Lake Erie tributary, over the past 2 years, in the hope to jump-start a naturally reproducing population of sturgeons.
Lake Sturgeon Release at the Toledo Zoo
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission Angler and Boating Magazine
A year of clearing the way for communities and wildlife
By Lauri-Munroe-Hultman
Rick Malasky knows definitive statements are risky. “Never say never,” said the Newmarket, New Hampshire, public works director. “But I don’t think Bay Road will flood again in my lifetime.”
That’s saying something, considering the coastal roadway required major repairs after flooding in 2006 and has been washed out three times since.
The Town of Newmarket is just one beneficiary of funding and expertise from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to improve fish passage and public safety in the Northeast.
From October 2018 to September 2019, we worked with partners to complete 58 projects that removed barriers or restrictions on waterways, reconnecting more than 1,500 upstream miles of rivers and streams and nearly 260 acres of wetlands.
Flexing Mussels, Part 3: A morning with the winged mapleleaf moms
December 2019
Many mussel species almost should not exist. Their lives are so precariously dependent on such specific conditions that their continued ability to not only survive but reproduce, generation after generation, is remarkable.
Even minor disruptions to their homes can cause the whole thing to fall apart. Pollution can poison them. They might lose access to a fish species they can trick into carrying mussel babies for a first stage of life, quickly ending any chance of reproduction. Subtle changes in water chemistry, like the ratio of nutrients or ammonia or any number of other components, can weaken the creatures, especially by killing young mussels. Increased sediment can smother them. Climate change can disrupt critical ecosystem connections.
The threats are abundant, but somehow these species have not just survived over the ages, but become successful specialists. It’s why the St. Croix with its 41 species is special, being able to still support such diverse needs.
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A Fish Infused Fundraiser for Veterans
December 2019
What could be more satisfying than reeling in fish and winning prizes while supporting a noble cause? The Bellevue/Issaquah Chapter of Trout Unlimited provided just such an opportunity over Veterans Day Weekend with their Perch-A-Thon fishing derby on Lake Sammamish (WA). Similar to a Run-A-Thon fundraiser, participants recruited sponsors to donate money per fish caught. These anglers then had a four-hour window to catch as many non-native yellow perch as possible, in turn raising funds for “Project Healing Waters”, a non-profit that provides therapy and rehabilitation opportunities for disabled military personnel and veterans through fly-fishing.
The 33 fundraisers, ages five and up, hauled in over 500 yellow perch, which netted over $3,000 for Project Healing Waters! They also contributed to science by allowing U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) staff to collect stomach samples from their catch. With 150 yellow perch sampled, these stomach contents will shed additional light on the role of these non-native perch on the Lake Sammamish ecosystem.
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Oregon Zoo's Pacific Lamprey Exhibit Showcases the Power of Collaboration Between the Service, Tribes, and Conservation Partners
By Sean Connolly and Johnna Roy | November 2019
Portland, Oregon
When Oregon’s first Pacific Lamprey zoo exhibit officially debuted on World Rivers Day September 29, 2019, the unique fish wasn’t the only thing on display.
So was the power of collective action, the criticality of showcasing how tribal cultural connections intertwine with our region's wildlife conservation efforts, and the synergy of shared values held by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), area Native American Tribes, and the Oregon Zoo.
The “Meet Your Ancient Neighbor” exhibit was collaboratively planned and designed over the past two years by the Zoo, the Service’s Columbia-Pacific Region Fish and Aquatic Conservation Program, and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) and many Pacific Northwest tribes. This fruitful partnership is paying conservation dividends to all partners, with great promise to grow into the future.
Sense of Wonder Recognition
November 2019
Congratulations to Leah Schrodt, Interpretive Lead with the Oregon Zoo Partnership, recipient of the 2019 National Sense of Wonder Award. Leah is based out of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Office in Portland, spending most of her time at the Oregon Zoo. Leah won the prestigious national Service award on Nov. 14, 2019 at a ceremony in Denver, CO.
A congratulations also to each regional nominee:
- Angela Palacios, New Mexico Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, Albuquerque
- Raena Parsons, Genoa National Fish Hatchery, Wisconsin
- Akimi King, Klamath Falls Fish and Wildlife Office, Oregon
- Patricia Midgett, Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina
- Brianna Amingwa, John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, Pennsylvania
- Leah Eskelin, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
- Katie Theule, Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, Wyoming
The Sense of Wonder Recognition Program recognizes a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee who has designed, implemented, or shown visionary leadership in an interpretive or environmental education program that fosters a sense of wonder and enhances public stewardship of our wildlife heritage.
The WOW Factor: We are Washington Outdoor Women!
November 8, 2019
Blogger’s note: Molly Good is a biologist for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in our USFWS Washington Fish and Wildlife Office in Lacey, Washington. An avid angler and passionate conservationist, Molly was inspired to share her love of the outdoors with Washington Outdoor Women (WOW), a Washington Wildlife Federation program empowering women through nature. She teamed up with fellow Service biologist Jamie Hanson, and together they shared the ‘WOW’ factor with this group of women. Read on to learn more about their day - you might even be ‘WOW’-ed into volunteering too!
Eager to build my confidence exploring a new area and learn more technical outdoor skills, I stumbled upon Washington Outdoor Women or WOW, a program of the Washington Wildlife Federation, during my first few months of living in Washington. Founded by Ronni McGlenn in 1998, WOW helps women learn traditional outdoor skills and practices that empower them to develop a deeper connection with nature and the outdoors, and also instills in them a strong conservation ethic. Through 30 different courses (e.g., Archery, Backpacking, Big Game Hunting, Dutch Oven Cooking, Fly Fishing, Map and Compass, Outdoor Photography, Survival Skills, Wild Edibles, Wilderness First Aid, and more), WOW volunteer instructors share their own knowledge, experiences, and passion for natural resources and conservation with interested and attentive students.
Regional team earns Department of Energy award for Great River Road Interpretive Center
November 2019
We at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believe it is important to be a leader in energy efficiency. The Great River Road Interpretive Center at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery in Genoa, Wisconsin is a recent example of our dedication to showcasing quality public facilities that utilize energy efficient technology.
On June 1, 2018 the Great River Road Interpretive Center opened its doors to visitors for the first time. The interpretive center garnered media attention for its exhibits highlighting significant regional histories including the pearl button industry and the Battle of Bad Axe, but local newspapers and television stations were not the only ones to take notice of the new facility.
Burnt Mills Dam Removal, Lamington River, NJ
October 2019
At the end of October, the Service completed a project in collaboration with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to remove the Burnt Mills dam on the Lamington River in Somerset County, NJ. The project area supports an active population of rare mussels, including the brook floater which had been considered for listing at the time. The mussels were in danger of being smothered because the dam was unstable and at risk of an uncontrolled blow-out. The dam removal also reopened fish passage for American shad and river herring. In addition to the dam removal, in-stream work will improve fish habitat. Vernal pools were restored in the floodplain as well as a bank lowering to reconnect the floodplain to the river. Service fish passage engineers designed the project and provided construction oversight.
They're growing what? Service hatcheries expand their mission
October 2019
In Virginia and South Carolina hatcheries, biologists keep a close eye on shad and striped bass while taking time to focus on something that will never wear scales: mussels.
And down in Florida, hatchery scientists charged with making sure rivers and streams are stocked with catfish and bass are singing the praises of a tiny bird they’re raising outside their labs.
Over in Oklahoma and Louisiana? Fishery biologists have become experts in the art of raising — and the correct way of handling — alligator snapping turtles.
Mussels, birds, turtles: these creatures, and more, are living at national fish hatcheries across the nation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) which operates the hatcheries, welcomes their presence. After all, preserving species is what the Service does.
Can tens of thousands of mussels help save the polluted Anacostia River?
October 2019
The volunteers paddled their canoes down the Anacostia River on a recent rainy day, the stench of trash lingering in the air as mud-caked bottles floated on the surface of the murky waters.
Centuries of development around the nation’s capital rendered most of this river too polluted for fishing or swimming. Heavy rains send water rushing from streets and sewers into the Anacostia, dragging debris, bacteria and sediment into the river.
Tucked inside the canoes was the latest hope for turning this river crystal clear: Hundreds of two-inch mussels, piled up in baskets and nestled in gobs of thick mud.
Back after more than a century
October 2019
In 1905, the same year Albert Einstein introduced E=mc2 to the world, a newly formed U.S. Reclamation Service (now Bureau of Reclamation) unveiled its first large-scale water infrastructure project in Nevada. Commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt, the Derby Dam was constructed to divert water for irrigation from the Truckee River and Pyramid Lake.
With the dam in place, water flowed towards Fallon, Nevada. The desert turned shades of green and communities expanded, but the shift in water management also took its toll on one of Nevada’s most prized native sportfish, the Lahontan cutthroat trout.
The trout once roamed the waterways of Nevada, growing as large as 60 pounds and serving as an important predatory fish in northern Nevada. But with changes in water use, populations of the mammoth fish began declining. Operation of the dam reduced water levels in the Truckee River, straining habitat conditions, while the structure itself cut the trout off from spawning grounds on the other side of the dam. By the mid-1960s, the fish had been completely eliminated from Pyramid Lake.
Service, Partners to Provide More Than $18 Million for Fish Habitat Conservation Projects in 34 States
October 2019
Through the National Fish Habitat Partnership program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners are providing more than $18 million to support 83 fish habitat conservation projects in 34 states. The Service is providing $4 million this year, with nongovernmental organizations, state resource agencies, and other partners contributing an additional $14 million.
Service biologists and partners will work on funded projects in priority areas to restore stream banks, remove man-made barriers to fish passage, reduce erosion from farm and ranchlands, and conduct studies to identify conservation needs for fish and their habitats. Anticipated benefits include more robust fish populations, better fishing and healthier waterways. For example, projects this year include a dam removal in Indiana to benefit smallmouth bass, the addition of large wood material to a stream in Maine to benefit wild brook trout, a dam removal in California to benefit endangered salmon, and restoration of degraded estuary habitat to benefit native fish in Hawaii.
View the full list of projects
More information about the National Fish Habitat Partnership
5,000 Lahontan cuthroat throat to be placed in Lake Tahoe for first time; Public invited
October 2019
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - For the first time ever, the Lahontan National Fish Hatchery will release 5,000 large Pilot Peak Lahontan cutthroat trout into their home waters of Lake Tahoe.
Over three days, the 12"-14" sized trout will be placed in the water, and the public is invited to two of those historic, interpretive stocking events during the Fall Fish Festival at Taylor Creek.
On both Saturday, October 5 and Sunday, October 6 at noon, the public can watch the stocking. The event will start at the Taylor Creek Visitor's Center with an interpretive talk, followed by a short walk to the stocking site.
For more information on the Lahontan cutthroat trout and efforts to bring its population back, visit https://www.fws.gov/lahontannfhc/
Up to Six Ways to Say ‘Fish On!’ for Entiat National Fish Hatchery Summer Chinook
Sean Connolly, Columbia Pacific Northwest FAC Program and Julia Pinnix, Leavenworth Fisheries Complex, Washington
Record numbers of Entiat National Fish Hatchery, WA, summer Chinook salmon returned again in, creating another fish bonanza for Central Washington anglers and tribes.
Similar to 2018, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s harvest limit for hatchery Chinook was six fish per day. But this season the State also increased the geographic area where they could be caught.
With on-hatchery salmon fishing also officially opening this summer, the public had even more opportunities to catch a salmon known colloquially as the ‘June Hog.’
Entiat NFH salmon made up 14 percent of the region’s summer Chinook run, notable considering the hatchery releases 400,000 smolts annually and was staffed by two people in 2016 when fish were released.
The hatchery staff’s hard work translated into plenty of Chinook for all. In addition to thousands of fish caught in commercial, tribal, and recreational fisheries, the hatchery also surplussed nearly 1,900 adult fish to area tribes for subsistence and ceremonial use.
Young Environmental Leaders Program (YELP) Learn How to Assess Culverts
Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office
Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office (FWCO) staff train future fish passage engineers and aquatic biologists.
Students in the Buffalo-Niagara Waterkeeper’s Young Environmental Leaders Program (YELP) recently learned how to assess fish passage at culverts with varying degrees of passage, and how to develop solutions for mitigating restrictions to fish passage. In addition to this hands-on training, students learned about the mission of and work conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Learn more about the Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office