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In This Issue
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Cyclone Corner: ISU Student
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Committee Chairpersons
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PROGRAM CONTINUING EDUCATION
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George Scholten Ryan Hupfeld / Seth Fopma
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STUDENT AFFAIRS STUDENT SUBUNIT
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Michael Weber Michael Musal
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Technical Committee Chairs
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NORTH CENTRAL DIVISION REPRESENTATIVE
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WALLEYE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE STATE REP.
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RIVERS AND STREAMS COMMITTEE STATE REP.
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ESOCID TECHNICAL COMMITTEE STATE REP.
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ICTALURID TECHNICAL COMMITTEE STATE REP.
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CENTRARCHID TECHNICAL COMMITTEE STATE REP.
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FISH CULTURE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE STATE REP.
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RESERVOIR TECHNICAL COMMITTEE STATE REP.
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Wow, all I can say is THANK YOU to you all for a wonderful Chapter meeting (and year)!
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I hope you all came away from it with something good.
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Our student-oriented events were well-attended and had a lot of positive feedback, and I’d like to continue building on the Student-Professional Mentoring Luncheon next year. I have some ideas on how to improve (e.g., more time, early verification and arrival of mentors), but I would love to hear from you anything you’d like to see next time. We won’t repeat the same panel discussion every year, but if there is an alternate topic you think would be beneficial, feel free to suggest it.
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I was very proud to oversee the first round of new awards, giving formal recognition to our hard-working members and partners in the Chapter. Please consider nominating someone next year for any of them, and congratulations to the 2023 awardees! Remember, all of our awards are open for nominations, including the Award of Professional Merit for giving kudos.
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I thank all of our members for their service in the Chapter, including all of our outgoing Chairs and officers. Your time is extremely valuable, and the Chapter is better for your participation. Note that we are always looking for volunteers, so don’t shy away if you want some experience. Just let us know!
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I’m excited to see what the next year will bring for our chapter. We are close to finalizing the necessary paperwork to establish a non-affiliated Student Subunit to encompass the numerous students in smaller or remote academic programs, an effort led by Josh Goff and Tommy Johnson. Their biggest focus will be planning events to give their members more experience and exposure to fisheries work. They will be looking for opportunities to share with their members, so please submit your student- and volunteer-friendly opportunities for your office! Even if it’s a general timeline or idea, at least they’ll know to contact you for further coordination.
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Last but not least, last year we decided to update our logo through an art contest. There are very few rules, as the design is open to your imagination, has unlimited submissions, and can even come from non-Chapter members, so if you don’t think you’re an artist but know someone who is, please invite them to submit something by July 31, 2023. We suggest incorporating elements or colors from our parent Division and Society if you choose, or incorporating the species our Chapter has selected to represent Iowa: the Iowa Darter. Submissions are open on our website. We would like to have a new logo identified in time for Chapter shirts to be made for the 2024 meeting. Good luck!
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Chapter Logo Contest - Open for Submissions!
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Many units of AFS have recently updated their logos, including both the North Central Division (NCD) (top right) and national AFS (bottom right). The purpose of updating is to stay relevant to current and potential members and reflect priorities of the membership. Logos includes purposeful use of color and shape to symbolize the different values and aspects of the Society. For example, the NCD logo encompasses elements for both the U.S. and Canada, as well as highlighting major species of management interest.
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Please consider incorporating the following concepts into a new logo design for the Iowa Chapter:
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Iowa Darter (the newly-minted state fish)
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Color scheme and elements from the AFS parent logo
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Elements important to Iowa’s fisheries research, management, and education
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There is a prize for the winner! Non-members are welcome to submit, and there's no limit to the number of submissions per person! Submissions are open until July 31, 2023!
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2023 Iowa AFS Annual Meeting Awards
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The Iowa Chapter hosts an annual meeting in February or March each year. The meeting includes a formal business meeting during which awards are presented, discussions are held, and motions are voted on by the membership. This year's meeting was held on March 1-2, 2023, at the Quality Inn and Suites in Ames, Iowa, as a joint event with the Iowa Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Read the 2023 Technical Committee Reports here.
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12 members of the Iowa Chapter received awards during the 2023 Chapter business meeting.
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Lewis Bruce (accepted by proxy John Lorenzen)
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"Evaluating Relative Contribution of Walleye Raised in a Recirculating Aquaculture System"
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"Fine-scale Movement and Behavior of Walleye near a Reservoir Intake Tower"
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Dr. Summerfelt has been a leader in AFS since helping charter and serve as the first President of the Oklahoma Chapter. He joined the Iowa Chapter in 1976 and served as its President in 2000. He was inducted into the AFS Fish Culture Hall of Fame in 2001, and received the Sportfish Restoration Award from the AFS Fisheries Administration Section.
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Braden is graduating from Iowa State University this May and is looking toward graduate school. He hopes to eventually lead a team as a district fisheries biologist. Braden will receive $500 from the chapter and free registration at next year’s meeting to support his continued professional development.
Congrats, Braden!
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Tommy is our DNR Graduate Intern out of Chariton, working as a tech on our team and doing a Master’s project through University of Florida. Tommy hopes to enter the private side of fisheries when he finishes, and is looking forward to graduating this December. Congratulations, Tommy!
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Mike is the Northeast Iowa Management and Culture Supervisor. He has been a team leader since 1997, serving as a mentor to dozens of biologists, technicians, and natural resource aides. As a leader, he does an excellent job of assessing team strengths and weaknesses and providing opportunities for growth and professional development.
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Todd Schenk (City of Ankeny Parks and Recreation Department)
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Todd and his team maintain more public fishing areas than any other city in the state, and they have been essential partners in the DNR’s Community Fishing Program. Thanks to their strong partnership and communication, Iowa DNR has been able to develop better fisheries and vegetation management strategies.
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Seth has been a Tech 2 at Iowa DNR’s Long Term Resource Monitoring Station in Bellevue for two years now. He prioritizes mentorship of others and will hopefully host a Master’s student through DNR’s internship program soon. Congrats, Seth, and keep up the good work!
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Darcy Cashatt (Newsletter)
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Andy Jansen (Walleye), Rebecca Krogman (Reservoir, NCD), Michael Weber (Centrarchid)
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Kyle Bales (Secretary/Treasurer, not pictured)
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Tyler Stubbs (Past-President)
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2023 IA AFS Meeting Minutes
Seth Fopma
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NCD Report to the Iowa Chapter
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Submitted by Rebecca M. Krogman
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The NCD leadership and chapter leaders met on October 24, 2022, to discuss nominations, officer updates, and upcoming meetings.
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- President’s Vision (AFS) – to connect chapter members to the Society, and to demonstrate relevancy of AFS to potential members
- Chapter contacts
- Dakota: Paul Bailey
- Illinois: No update, was Joe Parkos
- Indiana: Andy Bueltmann
- Iowa: Rebecca Krogman
- Kansas: Brett Miller
- Michigan: Jen Johnson (President-elect)
- Mid-Canada: No update
- Minnesota: No update, was Andy Hafs
- Missouri: Jake Westoff
- Nebraska: No update, was Zac Brashears
- Ontario: No update
- Ohio: No update, was Jeremy Pritt
- Wisconsin: Sharon Rayford
- Society updates
- Membership dues $115 increased to match inflation, with a smaller increase for students and early career professionals
- Publications retreat will occur in 2023 to ensure each journal is fulfilling its purpose
The NCD leadership and chapter leaders met again on January 8, 2023, to review Chapter meeting dates, Division-level awards, and Mark Fincel’s service on the AFS Nominating Committee.
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- All Chapters planned to host their own business meetings between late January and late March. NCD leadership plans to have an Executive Committee member attend all possible Chapter meetings. Iowa Chapter is hosting Brian Nerbonne, current NCD President.
- Joan Duffy Travel Awards are matched up to $200 for any chapter with a winner.
- Chapters must facilitate the award listing and select their own winner.
- We awarded the Joan Duffy Travel Award for the first time in a while in 2023!
- Requested that Chapters sponsor the 2023 AFS Society meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan August 20-24 (minimum $500)
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The NCD just held an election for its next President, between Nick Kramer (Kansas DWFP) and Dan Isermann (UW Stevens Point). Results have not yet been announced (election closed February 3).
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The 2023 NCD Business Meeting is scheduled for February 13, 2023, 10:30am – 12pm at the Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference in Overland Park, Kansas.
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2022/23 TREASURER’S REPORT
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Submitted by Seth Fopma, Iowa DNR
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Audited by Ben Dodd, Iowa DNR
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The chapter started report period (2/4/2022) with a balance of $12,877.33 ($3,100.38 in the warm water account $9,776.95 available for AFS). Disbursements since the last financial report equaled $5,133.21 and receipts equaled $3,561.88.
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The 2022 Midwest AFS meeting included a split auction, raffle and t-shirt sales with the Iowa Chapter of the Wildlife Society in addition to the traditional raffle split with the Iowa State Student Subunit. The 2022 meeting generated $2,888.85 for the fisheries side. The raffle proceeds equaled $1,240.62 and the split with ISU has not occurred to date. The annual business meeting had $1,1082.04 in expenses.
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As for the other accounts that funnel through our account. The warm water account had no changes this year and ended with a balance of $3,100.38.
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Other noteworthy expenditures included $1,150 in scholarships including Midwest awards (WTC, Duffy, Fenske Awards) and the annual student scholarship. The Chapter also paid out two Fish Grants (Bob Harris and Walker-Siepker) at a value of $1,000 each. The Chapter maintains its membership to the Iowa Conservation alliance with membership fees of $250 annually.
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All account activity resulted in a balance of $12,106.00 on 2/6/2023. The Warm Water Account has $3,100.38; Mike Mason Memorial Fund has $0.00, resulting in an AFS available balance of $9,005.62.
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From Days Gone By
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Vance Polton, Lake Darling Fisheries Management Tech II, IA DNR
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The photo above marks the arrival of the “Hawkeye II” fish car to Cedar Rapids, Iowa from the American Car and Foundry Company of Saint Louis, 110 years ago. To meet her were (from left to right): W.E. Albert (Deputy Game Warden for the Lansing Area), George Lincoln (retired Fish and Game Warden living in the Cedar Rapids area), Elmer Hinshaw (State Fish and Game Warden), and Charles Howard (Game Keeper at the State Game Farm).
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She would soon leave Cedar Rapids with W.E. Albert and head up to Lansing where she would spend most of her career (1913-1931) picking up and delivering fish from the Lansing or Sabula Fish Stations to the rest of the State, mostly fish rescue fish from the Mississippi River. Or, in her later years, picking up fish from the Spirit Lake Hatchery to be stocked into State waters. Between 1919 and 1921, Hawkeye II made between 24 and 30 stocking trips annually across the State. Along with her counterparts from the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, the Fish Cars, she made the stocking of fish into Iowa waters possible in the early 1900’s. But by the late 1920’s, trucks capable of hauling fish were becoming more common and the fish cars’ days were numbered. In 1931, Hawkeye II was taken out of service and pulled off on a railroad siding at Lansing. In May of 1933 she made her last trip to the Spirit Lake Hatchery, where she was retired and converted into a dormitory for the drivers of the hatchery trucks that replaced her. In 1944, Hawkeye II was donated to a scrap metal drive for World War II.
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Assessment of Cold Water Fisheries Resources in Northeast Iowa
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Submitted by Greg Gelwicks, Fisheries Research Biologist, N.E. Regional Office
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Wild trout have played an increasingly important role in trout management in Iowa over the last 20 years. Recent increases in self-sustaining trout populations have expanded and diversified opportunities for Iowa anglers to pursue trout. One of the major factors in this increase is the use of fingerlings derived from wild and local parents to establish wild trout populations in other streams. Fisheries managers have had great success in establishing self-sustaining populations of non-native Brown Trout by stocking fingerlings of French Creek origin. This has diminished the need for hatchery production and stocking of this popular species, and provided new recreational fishing opportunities for Iowa trout anglers. Self-sustaining populations of Brown Trout have expanded so rapidly in Iowa that their full extent is currently unknown. Wild populations of native Brook Trout have also been successfully restored to several northeast Iowa streams by stocking fingerling Brook Trout of South Pine Creek origin.
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Fisheries managers are working to protect existing wild populations of Brook Trout, and expand efforts to restore self-sustaining populations of this native species in other streams with suitable conditions. There are many small headwater streams and spring branches in northeast Iowa that have not been sampled recently, if ever. It is possible that some of these streams support wild Brook Trout populations that are in need of protection. There may also be streams that have the conditions necessary for successful wild Brook Trout restoration that are currently unknown to fisheries managers. The South Pine Creek Brook Trout population provides a limited resource for propagation of fish for stocking, so it is important that restoration stockings are done on streams where there is the greatest probability that Brook Trout populations will be successfully established. The recent expansion of wild Brown Trout populations in northeast Iowa has also raised concerns for fisheries managers, due to potential negative impacts of the species on Brook Trout restoration efforts. Therefore, it is important to know the distribution of wild Brown Trout for both the management of Brown Trout populations and the planning of wild Brook Trout restoration work.
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Figure 1. Tributary stream of Upper Iowa River as seen a) in winter satellite imagery, and b) during late summer fish and habitat sampling.
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The goal of this project is to assess the status and distribution of Brook Trout and Brown Trout in northeast Iowa, and identify cold water streams where wild Brook Trout restoration has a high probability of success. Our general approach is to identify cold water streams using high resolution winter satellite images taken during very cold periods to identify stream reaches that do not freeze over, and therefore are likely to have suitable cold water spring flow (Figure 1a). We then select sites from these likely cold water reaches where we can sample fish and habitat conditions (Figure 1b). To date, we have sampled 40 sites in 10 sub-watersheds of the Upper Iowa River. Brown Trout were sampled at 24 of these sites. Brook Trout were sampled at three sites, and a Brook Trout X Brown Trout hybrid was sampled at one site where Brown Trout were collected. Twenty-four Brook Trout of various sizes were sampled at one of these sites, indicating a self-sustaining population (Figure 2). Fin clips from all sampled Brook Trout were collected for genetic testing to determine if they originated from the South Pine Creek population. If so, they can potential be used as a source of eggs for restoration stockings.
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Several sites identified from winter satellite imagery were either completely dry, or had very limited spring flow that was not sufficient to support fish during late summer and fall. Conditions at 20 of these sites were documented with georeferenced photographs of dry reaches, beginning and end points of reaches with water, barriers to fish movement, and spring sources. This information will be used to help further refine site selection using remote imagery.
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Information provided by this project will help guide wild trout management in Iowa. Discovery of additional self-sustaining wild Brook Trout populations could provide additional sources for wild Brook Trout fingerling production, and add to our understanding of the conditions necessary for sustaining wild populations. This understanding would improve our ability to protect these rare and valuable resources, and guide watershed, riparian, and instream habitat improvement efforts aimed at recreating these conditions in other streams. Additional information on the temperature, flow, and habitat conditions in NE Iowa’s cold water streams will aid in identifying streams that would be the best candidates for restoration stockings. This will lead to more efficient use of limited wild Brook Trout fingerling production. A better understanding of wild Brown Trout distribution in Iowa will aid in wild Brook Trout restoration planning. It will also help identify streams that should be targeted for management actions such as angler access development, watershed land use improvement, and/or instream and riparian habitat improvement to increase opportunities for Iowa anglers to pursue wild Brown Trout. Further increases in self-sustaining Brook and Brown Trout populations would also allow redirection of limited hatchery capacity toward increasing catchable Rainbow Trout production. This could result in expanded trout fishing opportunities in NE Iowa trout streams and community trout fisheries.
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Figure 2. Length frequency distribution of Brook Trout sampled in a tributary of the Upper Iowa River, IA during 2022 fish sampling.
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Upper Iowa University Fundraiser
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Submitted by Dr. Rich Walker
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Do you enjoy exploring NATURE? Do you like FISH? Please consider supporting the students at Upper Iowa University?
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Help us catch this very RARE event that only happens every 17 years!
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Upper Iowa University’s Conservation Management students and the Science and Environment Club are conducting research to evaluate the availability, use, and benefits of the Periodical Cicadas to fishes in the Driftless Region.
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We need your help to purchase the sampling nets for this project.
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Get your Periodical Cicada stickers! No level of support is too small! 100% of proceeds go to students.
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“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” – Rachel Carson
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Iowa State University Student Subunit
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President: Michael Musal
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The Iowa State AFS chapter has been very busy recently. Members of the chapter participated in waste line basket cleanup around Story County, providing a vital service. During one of the chapter’s bi-weekly meetings, we hosted Gregory Sass of the Wisconsin DNR, who gave tips about career and graduate school opportunities. Some members were able to take part in a valuable networking opportunity at the statewide convention in March. The subunit also took a field trip down to Rathbun fish hatchery, where we took a tour and learned about the fish propagation process.
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Fisheries Project Grant
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Do YOU have a project that needs funding? The Iowa Chapter AFS is offering to delegate up to $1,000 for one worthwhile fisheries-related project each year. Click the button to the right to access the online form.
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