U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Winter 2008 Eddies Reflections on Conservation Departments Headwaters 3 American Fishes 10 Watermarks 4 Meanders 30 Eddies Pioneers 8 Vol. 1, No. 4 Headwaters Publisher Features Gary Frazer, Assistant Director U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service No Trout Left A Whole Different Partnerships get it done for Fisheries Conservation Fisheries and Habitat Conservation Behind–12 Animal–22 By Gary Frazer Mike Stempel Ben Ikenson Editor management agencies. Similarly, activities in uplands Craig Springer far removed from any pool-riffle-run complex influence stream fish habitats, so partnerships with landowners, Contributing writers A Scout’s Mission to Pharmaceuticals regulators, and construction agencies accomplish long- Lee Allen Marilyn O’Leary term conservation. That notion is articulated in the story Angela Carrillo Scott Robinson Save the Mojave Tui for Fish–24 Dave Erdahl Ashley Spratt Craig Springer “Southeast Aquatic Resources Partnership” by Scott Chub–14 Robinson and Marilyn O’Leary. They discuss coordinated Doug Grassian E. Peter Steenstra Bob Mazzuca Ben Ikenson Mark Steingraeber fisheries conservation over a 14-state area. Joyce Johnson Mike Stempel Abigail Lynch Judy Toppins Sport Fish Restoration United Front Against “Many hands make light work,” wrote English scribe Madeleine Lyttle Jenny Walker Program–16 Invasives–26 John Heywood in 1546. Light work comes from good Mark Madison Stephanie West Joyce Johnson Ashley Spratt Bob Mazzuca Mary Jane Williamson partnerships. During my time in Missouri, we created Howard Frank Mosher what I considered a genuinely good partnership with

USFWS the Missouri Department of Conservation, the Natural Editorial Advisors The Southeast S.H.A.R.E. Partnership Resources Conservation Service, local Soil and Water Darren Benjamin, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The greatest conservation successes weren’t the Richard Christian, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Aquatic Resource in Downeast Maine–28 Conservation Districts, and landowners. We shared a Stuart Leon, Ph.D., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partnership–20 E. Peter Steenstra result of singular Herculean heavy-lifting, but rather commitment to restoring high-quality Ozark streams and Ryck Lydecker, Boat Owners Association of the United States Scott Robinson and of partnerships – federal and state fish and wildlife healthy populations of fish found only in the Ozarks, like Hal Schramm, Ph.D., U.S. Geological Survey Marilyn O’Leary agencies, Indian tribes, anglers, conservation groups, the federally listed Niangua darter. We demonstrated a Michael Smith, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (retired) the business community – all working in a common willingness to accommodate each other’s interests and we Denise Wagner, Wonders of Wildlife Museum cause of conservation. History is laden with examples. achieved what we each could call success. Assistant Regional Directors – Fisheries Dan Diggs, Pacific Region The essential nature of fisheries conservation is one The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognizes that John Engbring, California and Nevada Region of partnership. Partnerships are relationships among partnerships are essential to fisheries conservation, and Jaime Geiger, Ph.D., Northeast Region parties having shared rights and responsibilities. we have purposefully institutionalized partnering in Linda Kelsey, Southeast Region Fisheries conservation inherently involves shared the agency. Witness our support for the National Fish Mike Oetker, Southwest Region LaVerne Smith, Alaska Region rights and responsibilities, and you will read about that Habitat Action Plan, the National Fish Passage Program Mike Stempel, Mountain-Prairie Region throughout this winter issue of Eddies. (see Eddies, summer 2008), and our Partners for Fish Mike Weimer, Great Lakes–Big Rivers Region and Wildlife and Coastal programs. Read in this issue A great deal of modern fisheries conservation is funded about the remarkable work of our Aquatic Animal Drug Contact by the landmark partnership among the boating and Approval Partnership in “Pharmaceuticals for Fish.” The For subscription information visit our web site, industry, the state fish and game agencies, and www.fws.gov/eddies, email [email protected], back cover shows the breadth of partnerships in using call 505 248-6867, or write to: the federal government, that produced the Sport Fish new drugs for fish. Craig Springer Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. Anglers and USFWS Fisheries RM 9100D RBFF the money they spend on their sport of choice drive Heywood’s proverb may be centuries behind us, but it is 500 Gold Ave. SW Fishing continues to be a favorite pastime. Thirteen the cycle of success that is the Sport Fish Restoration still spot-on. We are most effective when our conservation Albuquerque, NM 87103 percent of the U.S. population, age 16 and older program. Joyce Johnson writes about this inheritance spends 17 percent of their time fishing. See page 16. mission is delivered by people with both passion for fish Design left to anglers in these pages. and their habitats, and an ability to parlay that passion by Blue Heron Communications partnering with others. Mike Stempel deliberates in his story “No Trout On the Cover U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Winter 2008 The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Left Behind” about a cutthroat trout he cares about. Our mission statement says it clearly, “. . . working with still life of E d d i e s Reflections on Fisheries Conservation Stempel ponders how a recent landscape-scale others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife and ‘The Captain’ salmon is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, fly with brass scale partnership, the Western Native Trout Initiative, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the and thermometer. wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit means hope for native coldwater denizens from American people.” Excise taxes on tackle of the American people. Alaska to New Mexico, especially ‘his’ Colorado River fund conservation. cutthroat trout. CONSERVING Photo by Keith Douglas Fish populations often reach beyond the boundaries Gary Frazer is the Assistant Director for Fisheries and Habitat of any individual agency’s purview, so effective Conservation in Washington, DC. management requires partnerships among U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

2 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation RunningWatermarks Head Text Running Head Text

Connecting trout with habitat American Sportfishing Association turns 75 Partners for conservation landowner, Trout Unlimited, Vermont In 2008, the American Sportfishing retail stores, state fish and wildlife The Chaseburg Rod and Gun Club Department of Environmental Association (ASA) celebrated 75 agencies, conservation organizations, held its annual community event Conservation, and the Vermont Fish years of serving the sportfishing federal land and water management in September, inviting kids and and Wildlife Department to remove industry. The trade association agencies, angler advocacy groups and families to Genoa National Fish the obsolescent dam near Northfield. was created in 1933 to oversee the media. Hatchery, WI, to come out and With the dam gone now, brook trout industry. Since then the association learn to shoot clay pigeons, load and brown trout have another two has evolved from Through advocacy, ASA and shoot a muzzle loader, throw and a half miles of connected habitat. representing the and its foundations – an axe at a target, and get involved The 1930’s-era dam, situated at interests of just tackle FishAmerica and Future in hunting and fishing. Over 30 the top of an impressive series of manufacturers to – safeguard the kids and 20 adults participated in bedrock cascades, was never used for championing the entire economic and conservation educational sessions provided by the a commercial venture. But the new sportfishing community. values of sportfishing, Wisconsin Department of Natural habitat will apparently be used: trout keep the nation’s fisheries Resources, and the Rod and Gun leapt into the cascades, maneuvering As the nation’s and waterways healthy Club. Partnering up for events like through the construction site the and introduce new anglers this allows everyone to reach a wide day after the project was completed trade association, ASA to one of America’s most crowd with varying interests, and in September. The National Fish supports the interests popular outdoor activities.

Madeleine Lyttle/USFWS Madeleine introduce to them fish management Passage Program and the Partners of businesses, agencies practices, hunting and fishing ethics, Brook trout and brown trout swim over this Cox Brook cascade, now that a ASA also represents the dam is gone. for Fish and Wildlife Program paid and organizations and and the conservation work of the the cost of removal. The Vermont is the resource for nation’s 40 million anglers National Fish Hatchery System. F Vermont’s Dog River has long the tributary Cox Brook. The Fish and Wildlife Department will protecting the sportfishing industry. who generate more than $45 billion in Jenny Walker been recognized as an outstanding U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s annually monitor the .F retail sales with a $25 billion impact trout stream. And now the fishing Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Madeleine Lyttle ASA’s members include sportfishing on the nation’s economy creating stands to get better, following Resources Office and New England and boating manufacturers, employment for 1 million people. F the removal of a small dam on Field Office cooperated with the independent and chain outdoor Mary Jane Williamson Don’t flush your meds BASS turns 40 FEATURED FACILITY You might have a cache of For 40 years, BASS has been the BASS has been the angler’s best unwanted medications. But don’t voice of conservation and a source friend, ally and guardian for 40 years. Maine Fisheries Complex flush them. Science shows that of education and tournament venues the therapeutants can show up in for anglers everywhere. To mark the BASS continues to move forward Where: East Orland and Ellsworth, Maine water you drink. They can also occasion of BASS’ 40th anniversary and evolve its tournament formats. When: Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery 1889, feminize fish that swim in it – that and to salute BASS members and In 2009, the first woman will compete Green Lake National Fish Hatchery 1972, is, turn the boys into girls. their passion for the sport, BASS in the Bassmaster Classic as the Maine Fishery Resources Office 1987 Thanks to a partnership with hosted a calendar full of special 2008 Toyota Women’s Then: the LaCrosse Fish and Wildlife events in 2008 while Bassmaster Tour By the 1860’s, the Atlantic salmon had virtually Conservation Office and continuing to celebrate Angler of the Year will disappeared throughout its range. Logging damaged Franciscan-Skemp Healthcare, BASS’ accomplishments qualify for the premier fish habitat; dams blocked passage to spawning and forward-reaching people in WI, MN, and IA are tournament. habitat, unregulated commercial fishermen took Steenstra/USFWS Peter E. doing the smart thing. They impact on the sport. too many. The two National Fish Hatcheries of the Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery, East Orland, Maine. unload their unneeded meds “It truly is remarkable present-day Maine Fisheries Complex were built to at the LaCrosse County (WI) BASS has been at the to celebrate 40 years as raise Atlantic salmon. Atlantic salmon smolts and parr for the Penobscot, Household Hazardous Materials forefront of conservation the worldwide leader in Narraguagus and Merrimack rivers. station. Nearly seven tons of since its inception in 1968. the industry,” said Tom Now: medicines have been incinerated From its “” concept Ricks, vice president and general Craig Brook raises six Atlantic salmon stocks each Maine Fishery Resources Office biologists restore fish since collections started in and the Clean Water Act, which manager of BASS. “We are proud of one specific to Maine rivers – the Dennys, Machias, habitat and solve fish passage problems for Atlantic 2007. To learn more about what guaranteed quality bass habitat for our rich history and look forward to East Machias, Pleasant, Narraguagus and Sheepscot. salmon, American eel and brook trout. With their breadth you can do where you live, go generations, to advocacy efforts to celebrating another 40 more years They also capture returning Penobscot River Atlantic of expertise in science and technology, they provide to smarxtdisposal.net. F Mark enhance fishing infrastructure and at the forefront of the sport.” F Doug salmon, spawn, and then release their two million fry assistance to others throughout Steingraeber maintain access to public waters, Grassian into the Penobscot. Green Lake raises over one million Maine. F E. Peter Steenstra

4 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation Running Head Text Running Head Text

Cataloging salmon waters New online community Sanctuary for the Rio Grande silvery minnow They live two lives. Pacific salmon connects boaters, anglers begin life in freshwater, spend most While the temperatures continue of their lifetime in saltwater, and to drop, the action is heating up return to freshwater to spawn. In in a new online community that’s Alaska, Pacific salmon freshwater connecting boaters and anglers habitat is afforded protection under like never before! Fishington – state law if the habitat is listed in the The Fishing & Boating Capital Anadromous Waters Catalog (AWC). of the Internet – was introduced About 16,000 rivers and lakes are in November 2008 by the currently protected. But scientific Recreational Boating & Fishing Carrillo/USFWSAngela surveys indicate that this number Foundation. Specifically tailored Partnerships for the endangered silvery minnow help edge the fish toward recovery. represents less than 50 percent of for boating and fishing enthusiasts, habitats actually used by the five Fishington allows member to share In 2009, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife in a river prone to dry up. The Pacific salmon species. tips and advice, upload photos Service’s New Mexico Fish and Sanctuary joins the Dexter National and videos, join groups and swap Wildlife Conservation Office (FWCO) Fish Hatchery and Technology In 2008, biologists from the U.S. Fish stories with boaters and anglers will operate the new Rio Grande Center in southern NM, in rearing and Wildlife Service’s Anchorage from all over the country. Anyone Silvery Minnow Sanctuary in the fish. The Dexter facility released Fish and Wildlife Field Office who is 18 years or older can join. Albuquerque, NM. The FWCO, the 500,000 minnows into the Rio Grande surveyed 31 different streams in the Create your profile and start Bureau of Reclamation, the Middle at Big Bend National Park in Texas in Matanuska-Susitna Basin, resulting connecting at Fishington.com. F Rio Grande Conservancy District and December where it had been absent in 19 nominations to the AWC. Four Stephanie West City of Albuquerque built the outdoor for 50 years. This fish of the Rio of those nominations were from facility. Its 1,300 ft of flowing waters Grande once swam from northern streams previously unmapped. More mimic the natural flows of the Rio New Mexico to its mouth. Aside from nominations are expected when Grande, and will hold the endangered the Big Bend stocking, the fish is biologists resume field work in 2009. Rio Grande silvery minnow to protect confined to waters near Albuquerque, Extending the AWC benefits fish, against losses in the wild population New Mexico. F Angela Carrillo people, and fishing – especially in the

Abigail Lynch/USFWS Abigail Mat-Su Basin – where the human USFWS biologist Luke Gauthier tosses a trap intended to catch salmon smolts as population is among the fastest part of an Anadromous Waters Catalog survey. growing in the U.S. F Abigail Lynch POSTCARDS Nashua National Fish Hatchery Connecting kids with catfish The Nashua National Fish Hatchery For more than 10 years, Welaka “The long-term benefits of this type was established in 1898. Waldo Hubbard National Fish Hatchery has of exposure to nature are tremendous moved from the Clackamas National Fish partnered with the Florida Fish and for Florida’s children,” says Welaka Hatchery, OR, that year to take over as Wildlife Conservation Commission to manager Allan Brown. “Here more first Superintendent of the new hatchery in provide quality fishing experiences than 85 percent of the population Nashua, New Hampshire. His son, Harry, got to youth in urban areas. The stocked lives in urban areas, and the majority his start at the hatchery and later worked on ponds in the state’s Community of children in the state are now from rail cars transporting fish across the country. Fish Management Program provide minority groups.” The 1898 U.S. Fish Commission report year-round fishing opportunities, and described the site near the Nashua River as receive about 2,000 hours of fishing The cooperative efforts begin in possessing “in greater degree than any others per acre each year. They also support the spring, when the state provides examined in the State the requisites for a many outreach events. Welaka NFH with fingerling channel catfish. Welaka provides the facilities fish hatchery. . . The property is well suited In 2007, more than 13,200 children and labor to grow these fish to a for a favorable arrangement of buildings and participated in youth fishing activities catchable size. When they are ready ponds.” This favorable arrangement came to pass by 1905 when this postcard was created. at these sites. The program has for harvest, partners work together F received national recognition for for transport of the fish to these Mark Madison providing “close-to-home” fishing wonder-filled urban ponds.F Judy Wattendorf/FFWCC Bob opportunities. Toppins Youth across Florida enjoy catching big catfish close to home.

6 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation Pioneers By Lee Allen Jack Hemphill

If you listen to those who have worked The “unique invention” mentioned support of Arizona’s highly regarded and 65 field offices in 34 states. management of a species rather with or near Jack Hemphill, he may was a Hemphill creation that had a Senator Carl Hayden, Jack helped Fisheries professionals in the FWCOs than just dumping them where it not walk on water – but he spent his fisheries crew drilling thousands of form the Alchesay National Fish do what Hemphill did while back was convenient. If you apply this to entire working life ensuring those holes in 2,700 feet of plastic hose that Hatchery,” says Thoesen, who in Arizona, touched upon in Sports millions of fish of different species, waters were clean and filled with fish. was then anchored across a wide bay worked at the nearby Williams Creek Illustrated. It’s on-the-ground and you can see the compound effect.” and connected to an air compressor National Fish Hatchery. “Although in-the-water work they do, assessing “Starting with his World War II days on shore. When temperatures of 25 it was long before the Endangered fish populations, determining what After a time in the national doing construction work as a U.S. below zero brought ice-out conditions Species Act went into effect, we knew to do if a population is depleted and headquarters, Hemphill eventually Navy Sea Bee to a lengthy career and the lake’s oxygen content dropped we had a different species of trout then getting it done. They work with moved up to become the Regional with both the Arizona Game and to a deadly 2.1 parts per million, the in these mountaintop headwaters. salmon in the West, rare desert fishes Director of the Great Lakes- Fish Department and the U.S. Fish crew cranked up the compressor, There was no funding for propagation, in the Southwest, behemoth alligator Big Rivers Region, based in and Wildlife Service, everything he’s pushing air through the hose and but Jack and I would go up to gar in the South, tiny darters in the Minneapolis, in 1973. Retirement done has been connected with fish,” opening a hole in the ice that allowed Diamond Creek and trap them and Midwest, and Atlantic salmon in the took him to Panama City, FL, says friend and fellow U.S. Fish and the lake – and its finned inhabitants – observe them because we knew they Northeast. Hemphill had the career where he presently makes a home Wildlife Service project partner, to breathe again. were different.” Indeed they were experience of a state game and fish with his wife, Norma. Robert Thoesen. “His efforts have – Oncorhynchus apache – initially agency biologist and knew where the had a great impact on fisheries over a Much of Hemphill’s creativity found listed under the Endangered Species U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could If he had the chance to re-do his long period of time over the country.” its way into the pages of scientific Act as ‘endangered’ (subsequently step up for conservation. career, Hemphill, approaching his

USFWS journals and ichthyologic history downlisted to ‘threatened’), the 85th birthday, is slow to answer the Jack Hemphill posed for this photo Immediately following graduation such as his early experiments with Apache trout, one of two trout native People and partnerships are the core question, but when he does it’s with while serving as the Regional from Oregon State University with toxaphene. Before its dangers were to the state and found nowhere else in strength of the FWCOs; they are a firm conviction: “I might consider Director for the Great Lakes-Big a degree in fishery management, the ultimately appreciated, the fish the world, it is now Arizona’s official unique in their ability to work across it if I could correct the mistakes I Rivers region, headquartered in early days saw Jack E. Hemphill toxicant became the second most- state fish. state lines and Indian lands. The made, or overcome the inability to Minneapolis circa 1973. involved in a lot of boots-on-the- used next to rotenone, as a way of work is generally non-regulatory make some things happen.” F ground activity. One of his projects controlling freshwater fish with “When it came to consideration of and done in partnership with willing ended up in the January 31, 1955, chemicals. endangered species and trying to people and issue of Sports Illustrated magazine make sense out of a nationwide mess, agencies for the where it was reported that “men of As a result of his experiments, it took some creative thought to benefit of fish. ingenuity tackled the issue of winter Hemphill began to publish results in a ensure forward motion,” Hemphill fish-kills at an ice-locked lake near variety of publications starting in the says. “Fortunately, I had a mind of “Jack got all that the timberline of Arizona’s Apache early 1950’s like the Bureau of Sport my own and realized early that you started,” says National Forest.” Hemphill’s habitat Fisheries and Wildlife abstracts, have to play your cards efficiently and Thoesen. “In management innovation in preventing and Transactions of the American lay down a lot of basic foundation to the early days, winter-kill saved money, saved fish, Fisheries Society. His “Development make any progress.” we stocked fish and put more trout in the creel. of Sport Fishery Resources on Indian without a lot of Lands in the Southwest” described Hemphill came to work for the science involved. Hemphill, who later served as Chief early-day efforts at opening up Indian U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in We put them of Fisheries for that state’s Game waters previously unavailable to the 1955. He efficiently applied his field where there were and Fish Department, took on the public for sport fishing. “Programs experience in a foray into the national fishermen. Jack challenge of saving high-country trout are now being formulated in headquarters in Washington, DC, in recognized that from their annual demise. “It took cooperation with the U.S. Fish and the late 1950s where he worked for by managing years, research by five biologists, Wildlife Service to develop these a time. these efforts, the work of 150 men, and a unique fisheries and overcome problems we could make a invention before the lakes’ trout Perhaps Hemphill’s greatest Elliot/USFWS Robert encountered in that development on more economical In the tradition of Jack Hemphill, biologists (l-r) Stewart production was saved,” according Indian lands,” reported the American contribution to the fisheries world was use of the Cogswell, Chuck Bronte, Dale Hanson, and John Netto, with to Sports Illustrated magazine. On Fisheries Society publication. made then, when he created what’s hatchery product. the Green Bay Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office collect the page in SI, Hemphill sports a presently called the Fish and Wildlife He worked data from spawning lake trout netted in Lake Michigan near cowboy hat, a heavy coat, busting ice Chief among the listed successes Conservation Offices. The network with everybody Algoma, WI. Hanson holds an envelope with fish scales used in the high-country water at the stern was Hemphill’s Fort Apache Indian of FWCOs unites several hundred involved to to determine age and growth rates of the trout. of a boat. Reservation program. “With the professionals in seven regional offices develop total

8 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation American Fishes Lahontan By Craig Springer Cutthroat Trout that today readily kill other fish Talk of fish this large is largely an Pyramid Lake fish. It carries an species. endeavor in history. What took the ancient lexis of life in the alkaline lake slow grind of time to create was and the Truckee River that feeds it. With the receding waters, two forms undone by the cursive strokes of of the trout arose: one accustomed a fountain pen in 1905. This very Lahontan cutthroat trout are the only to life entirely in streams, from tiny first water development project by fish kept at the hatchery. U.S. Fish headwaters to larger rivers that the Bureau of Reclamation dropped and Wildlife Service fish biologists banded the margins of the ancient Pyramid and Walker lakes to irrigate carefully manage them. By design, Lake Lahontan basin. The other those friable fields. All cutthroat families are kept separate, so are the form was a lake-dweller. trout, Lahontan included, must spawn family founders, and the young are in flowing water and Pyramid Lake frequently graded and separated to Present-day Pyramid and Walker cutthroats could no longer swim into keep bigger fish from smaller fish. lakes, the sumps of the ancient Lake the Truckee River to reproduce. The need to do so speaks to that Lahontan basin, held the lake- inborn, innate sense for piscivory dweller. Water only naturally leaves By simple attrition from the inability of the lake-form fish. Even at the these lakes to slake the sun. With to spawn, Pyramid Lake was devoid earliest ages they tend to want to eat evaporation rates high, mineral of the leviathan cutthroat trout by fish flesh. To keep the wild in the fish, content in the water is extremely high 1939. The fish that carried in its fertilized eggs from trout captured – and Lahontan cutthroat trout not genes the stamp of life in harsh lake in Morrison Creek are brought to only tolerate it, they evolved to thrive waters and the ability for tremendous the hatchery, and infused into the in it. growth was extinct. broodstock.

These lake-form fish had other Or so it was thought. Fast forward Pyramid Lake Lahontan cutthroat

Michael Graybrook Michael remarkable adaptations to life in to the 1970s; the Lahontan cutthroat trout from the hatchery are The Lahontan cutthroat trout is one of 13 described cutthroat subspecies in the American West. The largest known specimen flat water. The number of filaments trout came to reside on the list of making their way back to native weighed 62 pounds. inside their throat called gill rakers species threatened with extinction, waters. There, they will contribute are exceedingly high for any trout and it came to reside outside its significantly to the recreational French Marine Corp officer, Louis gleam calls attention to the lines and flow of ice, and a fortuitous find in the American West, indicating native range. This subspecies has fishery managed by the Paiute Armand de Lahontan, never laid that zigzag on the side of the fish, from a true travel story. a habit of feeding on microscopic been stocked well outside its native Indian Tribe. Over 28,000 Lahontan eyes on his namesake cutthroat like a stretched-out Z. These little animals in lakes. Another adaptation range, including New Zealand and cutthroat trout fry hatched in and trout. Nor did he visit the place in segments of flesh stand out on this The Lahontan cutthroat trout evolved speaks to diet; this lake-form fish alkaline lakes in the coulee region of imprinted on Truckee River water Nevada stamped with his name. muscular fish as it writhes in the in the ancient Lake Lahontan where has a digestive track for preying Washington. Trout from Pyramid at the Marble Bluff Fish Passage The Frenchman voyaged no further hands of Jay Bigelow to escape his at its maximum size covered about on fish – cui-ui sucker, tui chub, and Lake traveled overland into a small, Facility, operated by the U.S. Fish than the upper Mississippi from his unnatural grip. Bigelow, manager of 8,600 square miles of Nevada, and cannibalizing its own. fishless stream, Morrison Creek, on and Wildlife Service’s Nevada Michigan outpost. But he wandered the Lahontan National Fish Hatchery parts of California and Oregon. It’s Utah’s Pilot Peak and that’s proved Fishery Resources Office near the widely when he wrote a travelogue in Gardnerville, Nevada, holds a male one of 13 described subspecies of These fish-eating lake-dwellers grew priceless. When, and who moved river’s mouth. These young trout published in Europe in 1703. Travel about three years old and 16 inches cutthroat trout in the American West. to phenomenal size. Fremont was the the trout, no one knows. A recent were stocked in headwater streams writer, de Lahontan, claimed he found long. It’s part of a broodstock at the first writer of English to document genetics study by the University of of the Truckee in 2007 where they a link to the Orient via the Longue hatchery on the banks of the Carson Fossils of this fish swim in stone in the fish in 1844. Pyramid Lake Paiute Nevada-Reno reveals that the trout are expected to grow and return River. Makers of maps believed it. River. the lake basin bottom. As glaciers Indians gave his party fish up to four residing on this Utah mountainside to Pyramid Lake much as their Explorer John C. Fremont sought retreated north in the last ice age, the feet long. Naturalist Henry Henshaw are the original lake-dwelling form of ancestors did up to a century ago. the last incarnate of it when he wrote It’s through its skin, past the Zs, and basin dried to a few isolated lakes, collected a trout on the Wheeler Lahontan cutthroat trout. about a gift of enormous trout that deep into its genetic makeup where leaving playas and friable Great survey in 1876, and U.S. Fish It’s no fiction at all that a decade today are named for a fiction. the excitement lies in conserving this Basin dirt. With the long press of Commission scientist, Theodore Gill, And they have since come to reside from now 20-pound trout may travel cutthroat trout. Bigelow clutches time in waters that became more gave it a name for science in 1878. elsewhere: Lahontan National Fish through downtown Reno, up the The light from the midday sun strikes an outward articulation of a million alkaline, the Lahontan cutthroat The largest known specimen tipped Hatchery. The fish that Bigelow Truckee, past an angler or two, back the black-spotted bronze flanks of a wobbly trips around the sun, the ebb trout developed into a fish able to the scale at 62 pounds in 1916. wrangled from a tank is a Pilot Peak to ancestral spawning gravels in Lahontan cutthroat trout. The wet withstand environmental extremes fish, or more accurately stated – a headwater streams. F

10 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By Mike Stempel No Trout Left Behind The landscape-scale Western Native Trout Initiative puts trout conservation where it’s needed most

It’s an arduous hike to get into Catching a Colorado River cutthroat desert trout – the Gila and Apache need to remove barriers to re-connect the headwaters of the North Fork is like holding a fragment of a missing trouts of New Mexico and Arizona – trout habitats, while at the same time Frying Pan River, and the payoff dream. and the bull trout of Northwest, and elsewhere, ensure that barriers to is tremendous. Colorado River the most beautiful of all, the golden non-native trout colonization remain cutthroat trout swim these waters, About 150 pure populations of trout of California. just that. and I’ve gone there with some Colorado River cutthroat trout frequency over the years, just over exist today – fragmented from their But help is on the way in a landscape- We’re making strides. But the the mountain from my Denver home. original and near-contiguous natural scale partnership, the Western western landscape has taken 200 range. A range map shows they Native Trout Initiative, which blurs years of steady degradation. We It’s a tiny creek, where wearing lived in a large upside-down U, from the lines of political boundaries of must be dedicated to a very long- waders is over-dressing. Willow northwest New Mexico, through states and federal and tribal lands term commitment to staunch the whips in places arch over the water; western Colorado and Wyoming, and targets conservation resources losses to native trout and turn the they make shade, cooling the creek, southward through central Utah, where they are needed for the decline the other way. and they drop bugs into the water. essentially marking tributary waters benefit of native trout. In the past, Trout like that. Stealth, a three- to the Colorado proper. Through trout conservation itself has been As climate changes and people weight rod and a bow cast is the order that immense area, the Frying Pan, fragmented, done piecemeal. The need more water, western native of the day. An Elk Hair Caddis on and about 150 others like it are small Western Native Trout Initiative trout will be the “canaries” showing a #18 hook looks more like a white- fragments of what once was a well- sharpens the focus of native trout us that mountain ecosystems are winged moth that might fall from a connected network of pure Colorado conservation with multiple partners hurting. That will hurt economies, willow on a breeze. At least that’s River cutthroat trout streams veining planning and working together on too. Economists estimate that trout my reasoning pitting wits with a the higher slopes of the Colorado common needs. The Wyoming Game anglers in the Rocky Mountains cutthroat trout, and pulling one in River basin. The Colorado River and Fish Department’s chief of its generate $12 billion spent on travel, from a seam of water on the edge of cutthroat trout lives in about 16 Fish Division, Mike Stone, chairs the lodging, tackle and supplies. I don’t an undercut. percent of its original range today. Western Native Trout Initiative. He think twice about spending the money leads an engaged and enthusiastic for a trip to the Frying Pan. The This little brassy-green trout is The troubles of this fish I catch team of similarly placed people in the payoff is catching a brassy-green stippled black, mostly on the tail and close to home aren’t an isolated tale. western-state fish and game agencies, trout, and free physical and mental back. Their bellies are a bruised Western native trout through the as well as biologists from the U.S. rejuvenation. orange, at least when they are 12-state West have similar stories Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. not spawning. It’s then that their of peril. Their habitats have been Forest Service, and the Bureau of For more information on the undersides are crimson like freshly altered against their favor. Their Land Management. Western Native Trout Initiative see: spilled blood, alarming at first to look waters were developed for irrigation, www.westernnativetrout.org. F at. It’s alarming to me that these fish flood control, and hydropower. Non- The Western Native Trout Initiative I like to catch are swimming relics. native brown, brook and rainbow is only a few years old, but it’s trout stocked on top of them in an already paying off for native trout age much different than ours have and the people who fish for them. Mike Stempel is an ardent angler, mountain now displaced the native fishes. A multistate grant from the biker and fiddle player. He’s also the Assistant Regional Director – Fisheries, for Native trouts couldn’t compete for Western Association of Fish and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s food and space with the introduced Wildlife Agencies and the National Mountain-Prairie Region, based in trouts. They hybridized into mongrel Fish Habitat Plan funded habitat Lakewood, CO. fish. The exotic whirling disease restoration projects from Montana to found its way into cutthroat waters. New Mexico and Alaska to California. Throughout the West native trouts Closer to home for me, and the retreated to isolated and fragmented Colorado River cutthroat trout, headwater streams, and live in there’s much to do with our partner, Chris Kennedy/USFWS Chris meager remains of their natural the Colorado Division of Wildlife, like A pair of Colorado River cutthroat trout swim flowing waters over distribution. Nine cutthroat trouts assess the genetics relationships with spawning habitat. through the Rockies and Sierras, closely related greenback and Rio Kennedy/USFWS Chris and Pacific Northwest are greatly Grande cutthroat trouts, the other Colorado Division of Wildlife biologists (l-r) Bill Atkinson, Jon Ewert, and Adam reduced in number. Same for the two trout native to Colorado. We also Hansen collect Colorado River cutthroat trout broodstock from Lake Nanita in the Rocky Mountain National Park.

12 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation and opportunities taken to help grand scheme of things. I would By Bob Mazzuca others learn about natural resource counter using Kevin’s words: “There conservation and environmental are always people out there studying A Scout’s Mission to Save the improvement. them, and it’s important to have fish native to the area, not just fish from As one of four conservation projects other places.” The U.S. Fish and Mojave Tui Chub required to earn the medal, Kevin Wildlife Service’s California-Nevada identified the need to help protect an Fish Health Center conducts tests On one recent trip with a group of ArrowCorps5 project with the U.S. Scout with Troop 985 in Whittier, endangered fish species, the Mojave on disease, and the Ventura Fish and friends in the Florida Keys, I had the Forest Service this past summer California, who saw his personal tui chub, a minnow typically that Wildlife Office partners with others thrill of catching bone fish – a great saw 5,000 members of the Order of commitment turn into a wonderful grows no larger than eight inches for chub habitat conservation. game fish. We also caught barracuda. the Arrow, Scouting’s national honor conservation project at Camp Cady long. He quickly organized an Eagle The memories stir deeper thoughts society, working more than 250,000 Wildlife Area. He is a great fan of Scout project to help create a new Kevin and his conservation of another fish story that I would man-hours of service. Their efforts the outdoors, has fresh air and clean refuge for this small, but significant efforts make all of us in Scouting like to share. It demonstrates the resulted in more than $5 million water in his blood; he fishes, hikes, minnow. very proud. Field & Stream connections kids make to nature, worth of improvements, conservation, and hunts. Kevin’s long-time goal is to magazine named Kevin a “Hero of and connection of fishing and and construction work at five national work for the California Department The problem for the chub was one of Conservation.” The world needs conservation, and important role forests. of Fish and Game. habitat. Once abundant in the Mojave Eagle Scouts today more than ever conservation plays in Scouting. River, the species almost disappeared before, and Kevin is a great example

We also encourage our Scouts to Kevin is on a short-term quest to when the Mojave changed course of why. The Mojave tui chub may USFWS When I think about Scouting’s lead individual projects to show our earn the Hornaday Silver Medal, and went underground. Only a few not be a big fish, but the efforts The Mojave tui chub lives in only a few mission as we approach our 100th commitment to the outdoors and a national Scouting conservation freshwater ponds formed by the to preserve it are a big reason to waters, among them the habitat that Anniversary in 2010, conserving leaving things just a bit better for award named for the late William Mojave at the Camp Cady Wildlife encourage all conservation efforts, Kevin Anderson saved from ruin. our natural resources easily makes future generations to enjoy. I was T. Hornaday. The medal recognizes Area kept the chub alive, and one no matter the size. the list of our top priorities. Scouts heartened recently by a conversation outstanding efforts in planning, of those emptied after a leak. Kevin play a huge role in conservation. Our I had with Kevin Anderson, an Eagle leadership, involvement of others, identified the need to restore the I learn a lot from listening to Scouts empty pond to expand Camp Cady’s like Kevin, and I think we all can. “Scouting’s capacity. Conservation and the things that we Outdoor Code is can do are first and foremost very Under Kevin’s direction, 25 Scouts important to us as a human species to leave it better and parents spent a July weekend to be good stewards – we all know cleaning debris and dead trees that in our heads, but rarely do we than you around the pond so it could be later collectively do something about it. filled with a clay sealant and hold Whenever Scouting can do a project found it.” water. It was a big job, and a hot one like ArrowCorps5 with such high to boot. Temperatures at the work visibility, you raise the awareness site climbed to 108 degrees. “It was with all of those around you to the really hot out there, and we couldn’t importance of these kinds of things. work all day, so we didn’t have much time,” Kevin told me. We were “green” before green was a color. Scouts have always had a On another weekend, Kevin and passion for the out-of-doors and another team of volunteers returned the essence of Scouting’s Outdoor to Camp Cady to plant 27 natural Code is to “leave it better than you cover trees around the pond to found it.” At the end of the day, provide a natural barrier to prevent it’s going to be organizations like erosion and wind from filling the pond Scouting that will help create a with dirt and sand. new generation of conservationists, and that’s exciting. And thanks to Kevin’s project at Camp Cady now the leadership of Eagle Scouts like gives Mojave tui chub another pond Kevin Anderson, we can be assured to provide for its survival, not to that America’s outdoor treasures mention habitat for other wildlife will endure for future generations. F – quail, small game, and many non- game birds and animals.

Somebody would argue that this little Robert “Bob” Mazzuca is Chief Scout Tony Spagnoli Tony Mojave tui chub in these little ponds Executive, Boy Scouts of America, Field & Stream named him a “hero of conservation.” Eagle Scout Kevin Anderson stands near the Mojave tui chub habitat doesn’t make a big difference in the in Irving, TX. that he saved.

14 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation by 1941, the federal government imposed a 10-percent excise tax on By Joyce Johnson rods, reels, creels, and artificial lures. However, instead of being used to benefit recreational fisheries, these funds were put into the General Fund of the U.S. Treasury, a practice that continued after World War II.

Michigan Congressman John Dingell, Sr., sought to change that practice, and introduced his first version of the Sport Fish Restoration bill in 1947. Although it failed, it galvanized anglers around the idea of dedicated funding for better fisheries. Dingell two years later reintroduced his bill while Senator Edwin Johnson of Colorado introduced an identical Senate bill. Despite these popular bills passing quickly through both chambers, President Harry Truman vetoed it because of concerns related to commercial fisheries. Dingell and Johnson introduced a revised bill and Truman signed the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act into law on August 1950.

The war-time excise tax already collected on fishing equipment was now earmarked to go to state

RBFF fish and game agencies for sport fish management, and the new law It’s a family affair. Excise taxes on and boats fund fisheries conservation. safeguarded that fishing license fees would be for the exclusive purpose of state fish and game agency The Sport Fish Restoration Program administration. Fast-forward to 1984. There is An Inheritance for the American Angler yet another major twist in the partnership after Senator Malcolm Celebrated waters around the their habitats for the future of fishing reap the benefits of more abundant, Wallop from Wyoming and then- country are bound together in across the country. higher-quality fisheries and fishing Congressman John Breaux from conservation law like a blood knot opportunities. Louisana amend the Sport Fish binds . Whether it’s the A dynamic duo of two excise taxes Restoration Act. pugnacious pull of a smallmouth bass passed by Congress more than 50 The Sport Fish Restoration from Dale Hollow Lake in Tennessee, years ago fostered the partnership. Program is a cycle of success; it The Wallop-Breaux Amendment a heavy-shouldered rainbow trout Hunters and the shooting arms is the largest and most successful expanded the excise tax to include from Montana’s Madison River industry work together under fisheries conservation program in the all items of fishing tackle, as well as peeling a fly reel to the backing, or the Pitman-Robertson Wildlife world. How it came to be is a bit of a capturing taxes paid on motorboat the dead-weight drag of a 15-pound Restoration Act, passed in 1937, circuitous journey. and small engines fuels, and import largemouth bass from Texas’s Lake to benefit wildlife and hunting. duties on fishing tackle and boats. Fork, a remarkable conservation And anglers, they work in concert The story begins in 1939, when And it has paid big dividends for partnership ensures the well-being of with fishing tackle and boating Congressman Frank H. Buck of fisheries conservation. When the these fisheries. Partnerships between manufacturers under the Dingell- California introduced legislation Wallop-Breaux Amendment took anglers and fishing and boating Johnson Sport Fish Restoration imposing a 10-percent excise tax effect, monies brought in via the equipment manufacturers, and state Act, passed in 1950. Both Acts on certain equipment related to excises taxes went from $38 million recreational fishing. He modeled the fish and game agencies and the U.S. embody the “user pay-user benefit” to $122 million – over a three-fold RBFF Fish and Wildlife Service guarantee concept. Anglers pay excise taxes on bill on the Wildlife Restoration Act, increase. Time on the water creates the ties the scientific management of fish and equipment and anglers can expect to passed two years earlier. Eventually that bind.

16 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; state fish and game agencies; the fishing tackle and boating industries; and anglers and boaters into a partnership that has achieved far more in nearly 60 years than what any could do for fisheries conservation individually – create an inheritance for the future of America’s fisheries.

An angler maneuvering with the low click and hum of a motor over muskie habitat in an Indiana lake has inherited what Dingell and Johnson had in mind. Muskie anglers are the epitome of optimism and hope. A stick plug cast into the cold murk is more than an act of hope; it is an axiom. It is, irreducibly, the first act toward better fisheries in the cycle of success that is the Sport Fish Restoration Program. F

Joyce Johnson is the Chief of Policy in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program,

RBFF based in Arlington, VA. Good parenting. Fishing connects children to the workings of nature like few experiences can.

In 2008, nearly $400 million in Sport The state agencies must match how to use the funds, though the Fish Restoration funds, and $133 funds at a 1 to 3 ratio. Sport Fish funds must be used on sport fish million matched by state fish and Restoration funds are distributed by species. That’s not to say that non- game agencies, went towards sport formula, based 40 percent on each game fishes don’t benefit; funds fish-related projects. Of this $533 state’s water area and 60 percent used to improve sport fish habitat million, states agencies spent at least on its number of licensed anglers. benefits the wider fisheries resources. 15 percent on boating access and up Generally speaking, each fishing Competent scientists manage to 15 percent for teaching aquatic license sold nets an additional $10 fisheries. And it is those scientists at ecology and management, aquatic in Sport Fish Restoration revenue, the state level that make the on-the- safety, conservation ethics, and underscoring the fact that anglers do ground decisions – a hallmark of the fishing skills. fund fisheries conservation. Sport Fish Restoration Program’s resounding success. In this partnership, the U.S. Fish and Fish and game agencies use the Wildlife Service using less than 1.3 funds to hire fisheries biologists and The Sport Fish Restoration Program RBFF percent of funds for administration other technical experts. Fisheries is credited with the recovery of A big bass for a little boy will resonate in memory for years to come. The Sport Fish cost, manages the Sport Fish biologists at both the state and many economically important sport Restoration Program ensures a conservation inheritance for anglers young and old. Restoration money that goes to federal level discuss common needs, fish species, and has helped develop the state fish and game agencies. but the state has the final word on some world-class fisheries. It unites

18 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By Scott Robinson and Marilyn O’Leary in conflict with their neighbors. The fish habitat restoration projects cooperative efforts of the Network identified and facilitated by SARP, The Southeast Aquatic are quickly leading to more effective including projects ranging from programs to address instream flow stream bank restoration in Kentucky conservation issues. and Virginia to sea grass plantings Resources Partnership and marsh restoration in the Gulf In addition to collaborative policy of Mexico. SARP has also become Working Together for Regional Aquatic and science conservation efforts, a partner in NOAA’s Community- Conservation SARP’s local and state partners based Habitat Restoration program, work to implement on-the-ground or which provides funding for local The Southeast U.S. harbors a vast in-the-water projects that protect, community-based habitat restoration array of aquatic habitats unparalleled restore, and enhance aquatic projects for marine and anadramous The Southeast Aquatic Resources in the nation. It is a place of both habitats. SARP was among the species that help meet the goals Partnership includes exceptional natural beauty and first partnerships recognized as a of the Southeast Aquatic Habitat undisputed scientific importance; Fish Habitat Partnership under Plan. SARP is unique among fish its natural assets enrich our the auspices of the National Fish habitat partnerships because of Gulf States Marine Fisheries communities, supply livelihoods for Habitat Action Plan (see Eddies, its focus on all regional aquatic Commission our citizens, and elevate our quality of summer 2008). The intent of SARP resources from the mountains to Atlantic States Marine Fisheries life – and the need for comprehensive and the National Fish Habitat the sea. Marine and freshwater conservation has never been greater. Action Plan is to focus resources agencies and organizations work Commission where they can be most effective together to identify and implement Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Some of the country’s greatest in comprehensive conservation of effective conservation actions while Council aquatic assets boast a southern landscape-scale aquatic habitats. recognizing the importance of accent, from the Florida Everglades Through its habitat assessment and working and communicating across South Atlantic Fishery Management to the Cumberland River, the Outer collaborative planning efforts, SARP traditional boundaries. Council Banks to the lower Mississippi River, will identify and facilitate the most U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service the world-renowned largemouth effective methods to conserve aquatic SARP’s unique approach is leading bass fisheries of Texas and Florida habitats throughout the Southeast. to new and more refined methods NOAA Fisheries and smallmouth bass fisheries in Combining the resources of multiple of accomplishing its mission: “With U.S. Geologic Survey Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama, partners and programs often allows partners, protect, conserve, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the redfish, sea trout, and shrimp SARP to identify appropriate funding restore aquatic resources and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Gulf of Mexico and the South DNR Robinson/Georgia Scott from multiple sources and implement habitats throughout the Southeast Atlantic. Across the southeastern Estuaries and wetlands in the Southeast provide habitat for fish, birds, mammals – priority actions in a timely manner. for the continuing benefit, use and Southern Company landscape, more than 1,800 species and people. enjoyment of the American people.”F B.A.S.S., Inc of fishes, freshwater mussels, snails, One area where SARP has focused turtles and crayfish, live in 70 major county populations grew by 58 estuaries, and coastal marine efforts is the Altamaha River Bass Pro Shops river basins. About 16 percent of percent, the largest increase during habitats. watershed in Georgia. Since Triton Boats the nation’s coastal wetlands sit on that period of any coastal region in Scott Robinson is SARP’s Coordinator, completing a Conservation Action The Nature Conservancy the South Atlantic coast. Nearly the continental U.S. Demographers That blueprint is resulting in Plan for the Altamaha River basin based at the Georgia Department of Natural half of all the nation’s wetlands are predict more growth to come, and cooperative efforts like the Southern in 2005, SARP has facilitated Resources in Social Circle, GA. Marilyn World Wildlife Fund in Louisiana alone, and Alabama has with it will come more conservation Instream Flow Network. Water aquatic habitat restoration projects O’Leary is SARP’s Project Manager, based in EPA Gulf of Mexico Program more native freshwater fishes than challenges. quantity and use has become a Baton Rouge, LA. throughout the watershed. The National Park Service any other state – 325 species – and huge issue across the region as projects include reservoir shoreline another 100 more marine species. So how can we maintain the natural we are faced with unprecedented restoration and enhancement in Southeast Watershed Forum beauty, biological diversity and droughts, climate change, and lakes Oconee and Sinclair in the Fish and wildlife agencies from But the bounty is not endless. A quality of life that have drawn so population growth. The Network upper end of the watershed, gravel Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, rapidly expanding human population many people to the Southeast? takes a regional approach to bar restoration to enhance spawning and land converted from farms, The Southeast Aquatic Resources instream flow conservation issues, habitat for the robust redhorse Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, fields and woods to concrete and Partnership (SARP). Over the past expanding on work by the national and other fish species in the main Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, suburbia have altered aquatic three years, the unique partnership Instream Flow Council to provide stem of the Oconee River (the South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and habitats throughout the region. In worked with state and federal natural information, resources, and tools to largest tributary to the Altamaha), the U.S., 34 percent of imperiled fish resource agencies, local organizations instream flow teams in each state. and oyster reef restoration in the Virginia and other valuable partners species and 90 percent of imperiled and community leaders from around This effort has resulted in greater Altamaha estuary. who implement on-the-ground projects mussel species live in the Southeast. the 14-state region to develop communication and collaboration DNR Robinson/Georgia Scott for aquatic habitat conservation. In recent years, human populations habitat conservation strategies. among state and federal agencies, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service A heron fishes in the shallows of a grew dramatically, especially on The resulting Southeast Aquatic conservation organizations, and other is an active founding member of wetland typical of the Southeast U.S. coastal areas, increasing along the Habitat Plan represents a blueprint stakeholders, on a conservation issue SARP and, through the National Gulf Coast by 45 percent between for the cooperative conservation of that has traditionally been handled Fish Habitat Action Plan, has 1980 and 2003. Atlantic coastal streams, rivers, lakes and reservoirs, by individual states acting alone or invested more than $1.2 million in

20 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By Ben Ikenson At Tishomingo, “…hatchlings are reared indoors on fish and A Whole Different Animal commercial turtle pellets, but moved to outdoor ponds for six months to a A Fish Hatchery Takes on North America’s year prior to being released,” says Largest Freshwater Turtle Fillmore. “At this point the average turtle will probably spend three years There is a reason there are no stuffed turtle faced the same issues that so future broodstock to replenish the at the hatchery before release.” animal likenesses of the alligator many of our fish did with the advent river system.” snapping turtle, with its wrinkled of dams and channelization. Once But, as the expression goes, slow and flesh spilling from spike-armored abundant throughout most of the Dr. Day Ligon, who has devoted steady wins the race; and success shell and its thorny head, pocked with major waterways that drain into the nearly a decade in higher makes the wait worthwhile. In 2002, warts, thrusting into a talon-shaped Gulf of Mexico, turtle populations education and research to gain a the first turtles were hatched at maw. Even its foraging technique, have been considerably diminished. better scientific understanding Tishomingo. Many have since been entirely unique to this turtle, seems In Oklahoma, the turtle’s population of the alligator snapping turtle, released in different waterways in menacingly alien: from the river was reduced to only a few isolated was recruited to assist. Then a the state, though a few remain at bottom, the beast lays in wait leaving spots in the eastern part of the state. graduate student at Oklahoma State the hatchery as part of a long-term the work to its “lingual lure,” a University, Ligon helped hatchery growth study. Also, annual production worm-like appendage that protrudes Such were the circumstances in staff develop husbandry methods of hatchlings has increased steadily from its tongue. When it succeeds in 2000 when Sequoyah National to produce turtles in captivity, and since that first year, and more than baiting a curious fish, snap goes the Wildlife Refuge delivered 16 wild- designed protocols for reintroducing 200 hatchlings were added to the turtle. caught alligator snapping turtles to juveniles to rivers from which the hatchery’s stock in 2008. Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery. species has been extirpated. No, no one would pretend to imagine “The combination of fast growth rates a cuddly counterpart to the reptile. “It’s a very unique situation for “It took a lot of planning and and ever-increasing production has, For a while, however, the largest us,” says Brian Fillmore, a fisheries coordination between facilities at at times, stretched capacity at the freshwater turtle in North America biologist at Tishomingo. “Obviously, the hatchery and Oklahoma State hatchery to its limit,” says Fillmore.” had become a household item: a as a fish hatchery, we are more University 150 miles away,” Ligon But we have always found ways to featured ingredient in canned soup. accustomed to, well, fish.” recalls. “Fortunately, the entire accommodate new arrivals. Of course, hatchery staff has shown unwavering reintroduction of turtles to the wild After the Endangered Species Indeed, the hatchery has garnered support for and dedication to the has been the most productive and Act put sea turtles off limits to a glowing reputation for its work success of this long-term project.” satisfying approach.” commercial trappers in 1973, the stocking local waters with sport fish alligator snapping turtle, which and reintroducing imperiled fish like Of course, there was more to it than In 2006, a turtle population was can grow to more than 200 pounds, alligator gar and paddlefish. Over the sheer determination. “There was a reestablished at Tishomingo National became the preferred substitute. last decade or so, the hatchery has huge learning curve,” says Fillmore, Wildlife Refuge near the Red River, This, along with wide-scale habitat returned paddlefish to rivers that “from understanding optimal captive and is now providing valuable data for have not seen them in more than 50 rearing conditions to simply handling Springer/USFWS Craig alteration of rivers and streams, biologists. Another Oklahoma State Turtle scientist, Dr. Day Ligon, admires a subject of his research, a young alligator posed a serious threat to alligator years. adult turtles, considering they do University student, Dan Moore, along snapping turtle. snapping turtle populations in the have the ability to remove fingers.” with a group of eager volunteers, wild. Almost entirely aquatic, the But the alligator snapping turtle is a has been using a combination of collaboration with the hatchery, now birds, and invertebrates. They can “whole different animal,” so to speak. Hatchery staff was presented radio telemetry and mark-recapture through Missouri State University, alter floral communities by selectively with countless unusual challenges: techniques to measure post-release Ligon is trying to determine eating aquatic plant species. In addition to conservation for learning how to locate and identify movement patterns, habitat whether or not captive-rearing They consume carrion, thereby conservation’s sake, Fillmore alligator snapping turtle nests preferences, and growth rates. These affects foraging efficiency. contributing to nutrient cycling. So, reveals an important incentive for and excavate eggs; treating turtle data will prove crucial for assessing their influence is broad, but probably the hatchery to take on the turtle. diseases; and learning how to the success of reintroduction of As for the effects of the turtle’s small for any single variable until “Alligator snapping turtles are apex maintain ideal turtle egg incubation the turtle to other watersheds voracious foraging on its own you start adding up the subsequent predators,” he says. “They remove conditions. throughout the region. Last June, natural surroundings, Ligon offers effects on other species.” larger species of nongame and game 90 turtles, three- and four-year-olds, a professorial take: “It could be fish, which are older and possibly not No doubt, the biggest difference with were released into the Caney River argued, but not substantiated For Ligon and so many others, as productive as younger fish. Once raising turtles as opposed to fish is above Hulah Lake, where a turtle with data, that alligator snapping the work at Tishomingo National these larger, older fish are removed, simply that the process takes a lot population once lived. turtles have a broader range of Fish Hatchery is starting to add that biomass can be replaced by longer. Turtles take some 15 to 20 subtle impacts on a community up in assembling the pieces of this Brian Fillmore/ USFWS Fillmore/ Brian thousands of smaller younger fish years after hatching just to reach Ligon is currently working to than many top predators because intriguing ecological puzzle. F Mouth agape, an alligator snapping which feed larger game fish and other sexual maturity and often outlive quantify age-specific differences in of their plurality of roles. They eat turtle at Tishomingo National Fish wildlife making a healthier system. human beings. Hatchery postures in defense. alligator snapping turtle foraging and therefore affect the population Some of these smaller fish become strategies. Continuing his long structure of other turtles, fishes,

22 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By Craig Springer Pharmaceuticals for Fish The Aquatic Animal Drug Approval Partnership moves medicine from the theoretical to the practical

The parallel is too curious to be Today, modern fish culture and overlooked. James Henshall, M.D., medicine again merge at the had his home just a short walk away Bozeman station where Henshall from his work in a Victorian two- once lived and worked. The U.S. Fish story that still stands. There on the and Wildlife Service’s Aquatic Animal grounds at a national fish hatchery Drug Approval Partnership (AADAP) in Bozeman, Montana, Dr. Henshall is based there. This national program hit his stride in the late 1800s – not is designed to generate, compile, practicing medicine – but directing and manage much of the complex

Craig Springer/USFWS Craig fish culture operations as the information needed by the U.S. Food The medical doctor turned fish superintendent of a fledgling federal and Drug Administration (FDA), biologist, James Henshall, lived in hatchery. for one purpose – to get new aquatic this house near AADAP’s quarters animal drugs on the market and in in Bozeman, MT. The abode now Henshall, profiled by historian use. No matter if the drug is to be houses the Montana Fish and Wildlife Todd Larson in the fall 2008 issue of used for treating parasitic infection Conservation Office. Eddies, is probably best known as in largemouth bass, gill disease in author of the classic Book of the Black walleye, or bacterial infection in Bass. Therein Henshall posited salmon and trout – fish you might about the “eminently American fish” find on the end of your line or under and its behavioral traits: “the arrowy plastic at the grocery – AADAP rush” of the “gamest fish that swims.” plays a major role in generating and He waxed poetic about smallmouth channeling that information to the bass, and argued that the spotted FDA.

bass did not exist as a distinct species. USFWS Henshall gave up a career as a It’s an arduous process to get a new AADAP director, Dr. Dave Erdahl, spawns a lake trout using a luteinizing hormone studied through the drug approval CB N/A medical doctor for distinguished work aquatic animal drug100% approved, and process. in conservation and fish culture. it can take years of research and 253mm X 152mm

millions of dollars.2.0 KG (4.4 LB) / 500 KG In some respects, and fish culturists results in healthy drug approved in over 20 years. investigations and consolidate data getting new drugs approved for fish fish and a healthy environment.” More recently, the FDA approved generated from nearly 250 entities NDC 0061-1355-01 2.0 kg (4.4 lb) and other aquatic animals is more Aquaflor® for use in all freshwater- comprised of state and federal difficult than it is for people. Reason Recent examples of new drugs are reared salmonid species. In 2007, agencies, Native American tribes, and being, people eat fish and shellfish. worthy of note: The FDA approved PEROX-AID® was approved to private companies – all set on seeing New drugs must effectively target formalin for controlling external treat freshwater finfish and their new aquatic animal drugs approved. specific diseases and disease-causing parasites in all species of fish. eggs. This year, Terramycin® 200 pathogens. They must also be The new animal drug Chorulon® was approved to control bacterial The parallel continues. Henshall made Type A Medicated Article manufactured at the highest quality enhances fish propagation; it induces coldwater disease and columnaris, a mark in fisheries conservation,

Do Not Feed Undiluted 42230 For Use in Catfish and Salmonid Feeds Only and be safe for11/8/07 the target species, the spawning and plays an important role an often-fatal bacterial infection in and certainly influenced the pursuit 28395221 28395213 environment, and for people – and in endangered species conservation. freshwater-reared salmonids. of what is today America’s favorite Active Drug Ingredient: Florfenicol 500 g per kg (227.27 g per lb)

all such claims AQUAFLORmust FRONT LABEL be supported by A number of new skeletal marking game fish. AADAP’s work resounds Description: Each kg of Aquaflor® (florfenicol) contains 500 g (1.1 lb) solid scientific data. products are now available. With Inherent in its name, AADAP is a in fisheries managed for public of florfenicol in a palatable base. these products fishery biologists partnership, and works closely with good or private gain. The science is “With any new animal drug that’s can quickly, safely, and with low the Association of Fish and Wildlife manifest in the live-well, staving off NADA #141-246, Approved by FDA. been approved by the FDA, you know cost, mark fishen masse so that Agencies’ Drug Approval Working extinctions, and even on your dinner it’s met the gold standard,” said Dr. they can more effectively assess fish Group to prioritize work and meet plate. Dave Erdahl, PACKAGINGAADAP’s COMPONENT director. APPROVAL populations in the wild. In 2005, the the needs of fishery managers across SUBMISSION # Copyright © 2005, 2007, Schering-Plough Animal Health Corporation, Summit, NJ 07901, USA. Made in Ireland. All rights reserved. 28395221 11/07 “Getting useful drugs2 approved and FDA approved Aquaflor® for catfish the country. AADAP’s scientists To learn more, visit: www.fws.gov/ EXAMINE BLACK & WHITE COPY AND ACCOMPANYING COLOR BREAK. Intervet/Health Animal Schering-Plough into the hands of fisheryAPPROVED NOT APPROVEDmanagersDATE – the first new oral antibacterial help coordinate real-life field fisheries/aadap. F DESIGNER Drug research marshaled by AADAP biologists got the anti-bacterial Aquaflor COPY EDITOR TRADEMARKS approved for catfish, and trout and salmon species. PATENTS PANTONE COLORS PACKAGING SPECIFICATIONS BLACK MARKETING REGULATORY PMS 201 ART DUE DATE: INV. LOCATION: 24 Eddies PMS 298 Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation SQA: APPROVAL VERIFIED: DATE: By Ashley Spratt

This year’s effort spanned a distance any further expansion north,” Sass species, the Shedd Aquarium offers its United Front Against of nearly 100 miles of the Mississippi said. The Illinois Natural History media relations expertise to generate watershed in Illinois from Alsip Survey, record-keeper of Illinois’ public interest in the Carp Corral and downstream to Peru, and included biological resources, is just one of Goby Roundup. “We work here and Invasives portions of the Calumet-Sag Channel, the many partners dedicated to this play here. It’s our own backyard, so the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, annual invasive species initiative. it’s important that we use our voice united waterways of the Mississippi the Des Plaines River and the Illinois at Shedd to communicate ailments River watershed. River. “I think the partnerships are critical. affecting the Great Lakes,” said It’s an opportunity for communication Elizabeth Latenser, Shedd Aquarium Mark Steingraeber, fishery biologist “In some places of the Mississippi and helps form a network communications director and Carp with the LaCrosse Fish and Wildlife watershed, species like Asian carp perspective. We are able to develop Corral volunteer. Conservation Office (FWCO) says and round goby represent the largest more questions, formulate needs, and invasive species like Asian carp amount of living matter,” said Pam find out what information we don’t “We work with many different and round goby are two of the most Thiel, LaCrosse FWCO supervisor. have. Our participation helps our agencies, representative of NGOs, threatening fish species because they Asian carp have been found in a few research program by understanding academia and other fields,” said Thiel. compete with native fish for food isolated areas of the Great Lakes, what managers need as far as the “We all have different missions but and spawning habitat. The threat but not yet in abundance in Lake science,” Sass said. with this project we are able to work of blackhead, silver and bigeye carp Michigan. In 2004, the U.S. Army together on a common problem.” The – collectively called “Asian carp” – Corps of Engineers built a permanent Fishery biologists with the U.S. Army Carp Corral and Goby Roundup allows surfaced in U.S. waters back in the electric fish barrier in the Chicago Corps of Engineers, and Illinois conservation partners to monitor 1970s, when they were introduced Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent Department of Natural Resources, and evaluate the impacts of invasive into the industry. Asian carp from spreading into the annually electrofish the Dresden species like Asian carp and round Exploited for their appetites, catfish Great Lakes. The Chicago Sanitary Island Pool on the Illinois River in goby on native fishery resources, farmers used Asian carp to rid ponds and Ship Canal is the solitary water Grundy County to monitor Asian commercial and recreational fishing, of unwanted algae and plankton. link between Lake Michigan and the carp movements. By implanting water quality, and ecosystem health, Asian carp escaped into the wild in Mississippi River watershed. ultrasonic transmitters into the fish and take preventative measures the Mississippi River in the flood of and releasing them, they can retrieve to ensure the Great Lakes and 1993, and have steadily swum north. According to Greg Sass, Field Station data on movement and behavior, Mississippi watershed ecosystems The round goby appeared in the Director and large river ecologist for and evaluate the effectiveness of the continue to sustain and support native Great Lakes in the 1990s, carried in the Illinois Natural History Survey, electrical barrier. fishery resources.F ballast water in trans-oceanic ships. Asian carp have been caught less The goby’s rapid reproduction rates than 50 miles from Lake Michigan. Randy Berry, wildlife biologist with and aggressive feeding behavior the U.S. Army’s Joliet Training Ashley Spratt is a public affairs specialist facilitated their spread in the Great Each year, the Illinois Natural Center, and Dave Wedan from for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Lakes and Mississippi watershed, History Survey places nets around LaCrosse FWCO work the downtown Minneapolis, MN. threatening the survival of native fish, the dispersal area to see if Asian carp Joliet stretch of the sanitation canal like smallmouth bass. are advancing their range. “We know that pours into the Des Plaines in our longer-term monitoring, we are River. For 10 years, the U.S. Army For 13 years, the La Crosse FWCO continually collecting them farther and LaCrosse FWCO team have has led a multi-agency close- south in the Illinois River. But, up run traps and gill nets and shocked Partners in the 2008 Carp Corral watch on Asian carp infiltration in until this summer, we haven’t seen sections of the stream in the the Illinois Waterway and round downtown area as part of the Carp and Goby Roundup include the

Chris Young/The State Journal-RegisterState Young/The Chris goby in the Great Lakes and Corral and Goby Roundup. “This past Forest Preserve District of Cook year we shocked up walleye, northern The sound of boat motors stimulates Asian carp to leap out of the water, a hazard Mississippi watersheds. Every year, County Fisheries Program; U.S. a coalition of volunteers and career pike and other sport fish,” Berry said. to human health. They create a hazard to the health of fisheries since they compete Geological Survey – Upper Midwest with native fishes for food and space. conservationists convene in the heart “A few years ago it was nothing more of the upper Midwest to survey the than a bunch of carps! Now we are Environmental Sciences Center; Spanning more than 90,000 square they also bring together the agencies abundance of round goby as well seeing a lot more diversity.” Hanson Material Service; Discovery miles and reaching depths of more and organizations dedicated to as the upstream distribution and than 1,300 feet, the Great Lakes are protecting their fisheries from abundance of Asian carp. The annual Shedd Aquarium in Chicago sits at World; Metropolitan Water an ocean within a continent. Their invasive species. “Carp Corral and Goby Roundup” the gateway to the Great Lakes, Reclamation District of Greater between the Illinois Waterway and waters flow uninterrupted across has become a joint venture between Chicago; Brookside Associates; and the international border between Fish biologists agree that invasive more than 12 federal, state, private Lake Michigan. As part of its “Listen Canada’s Ontario Province and eight species are one of the biggest threats and corporate enterprises. to Your Lakes” campaign which the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety U.S. states. Just as these waters to the long-term health of the Great USFWS educates the public on pollution, Office in Chicago. geographically connect two countries, Lakes fisheries, and the artificially A round goby rests on a bed of another lake levels, habitat loss and invasive invasive species, zebra mussels.

26 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation By E. Peter Steenstra

out of the narrow culverts. The Corporate Wetlands Restoration salmon and countless other species problem is confounded by a beaver Partnership fund engineering of in the Downeast waters. Indeed, the S.H.A.R.E. Partnership population burgeoning with hardwood culvert replacements for S.H.A.R.E. partnership has given new life for re-growth after logging. All these Landowners contribute, too. The the survival of endangered Atlantic things create obstacles to migration Maine Fishery Resources Office salmon populations of Downeast in Downeast Maine for endangered Atlantic salmon as provides the fisheries expertise for Maine. Restoring habitat for endangered sea-run well as for countless other species. all assessments, project planning, Atlantic salmon and construction area mitigation. For more information on S.H.A.R.E., To overcome these obstacles, in 1994, Koenig’s expertise glues all the see: www.salmonhabitat.org. F a coalition of private companies, project parts, agencies, and The name “Downeast” is derived organizations, individuals, and state landowners together. from the prevailing winds of New and federal agencies established England during the summer months, Project Salmon Habitat and River The state of Maine and the Maine E. Peter Steenstra is the Outdoor Recreation Planner at the Maine Fisheries Program and the shipping trade that used Enhancement (S.H.A.R.E.) “to Fishery Resources Office assess Complex in East Orland, ME. them. The sailors coined the phrase conserve and enhance Atlantic newly restored areas as potential “Headin’ Downeast,” and the name salmon habitat and populations in stocking sites for Atlantic salmon stuck to the geography east of the Downeast Maine.” In its 14 years of produced by Craig Brook and Green Penobscot River. existence, S.H.A.R.E. has become Lake National Fish Hatcheries. They a prime partner in U.S. Fish and monitor these newly reconnected Downeast Maine harbors the last Wildlife Service Atlantic salmon habitats for natural colonization. remaining populations of wild sea- population recovery efforts in Maine. S.H.A.R.E. and the Maine Fishery run Atlantic salmon in the United Executive Director Steve Koenig Resources Office removed four States. In December 2000, eight works closely with Scott Craig of the dilapidated log drive dams this year, Atlantic salmon river populations U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Maine restoring the ecological processes were listed as endangered under the Fishery Resources Office. Together that had been absent for over 80 Endangered Species Act. Five of the they identify Atlantic salmon habitat years. eight protected river populations problem sites and seek remedies. occur Downeast — the Dennys, Just in the past three years Koenig S.H.A.R.E.’s 36 arched culverts are Machias, East Machias, Pleasant and Craig and S.H.A.R.E. staff have exemplary work in partnerships and and Narraguagus. All are historic surveyed 500 logging road crossings, have proven to be an unqualified Atlantic salmon rivers, all conducted over a hundred fisheries success – with 25 miles of spawning have a long heritage with the “King assessments, and installed 36 new and nursery habitat reopened and Steenstra/USFWS Peter E. of Sportfish,” and all are off limits Steenstra/USFWS Peter E. arched culverts that let fish pass reclaimed by endangered Atlantic New culvert construction underway. for sea-run Atlantic salmon fishing. A female Atlantic salmon set for spawning at Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery. upstream. The Maine Department of Marine Resources ceased sea-run Atlantic rivers for the past three centuries. network of dirt roads – three miles of Arched culverts are excellent for salmon fishing throughout the state, Salmon in the five Downeast rivers road for every square mile of area – migratory fish passage. They are with the exception of a 30-day catch- declined but the fisheries persisted to move logs to the mills. These roads adequately engineered to pass heavy and-release season on the Penobscot into the 1980’s and early 90’s, crisscross the five rivers and their rain and snowmelt. Culvert bottoms River. although far fewer numbers. Atlantic tributaries over hundreds of culvert are completely open, installed at the salmon fly fishing on the Downeast road crossings. Improperly placed natural stream grade, and filled with Fisheries scientists believe sea-run rivers is storied in annual fishing road crossings produced severe natural habitat, providing habitat Atlantic salmon, along with 11 other trips by baseball legend Ted Williams erosion and sedimentation. Loose connectivity throughout their length. fish species, once made spawning and “The Crooner” Bing Crosby. rocks important to fish for food and In addition to a reopened passage for runs from the North Atlantic to Perhaps the most notable event was spawning became imbedded. Long- endangered Atlantic salmon, arched their home rivers of New England the “Presidential Salmon” tradition, abandoned log drive dams slow water culverts allow turtles, crayfish, frogs, by the hundreds of thousands. when each year the first salmon flow and sediments settling there salamanders, and invertebrates easy By the mid-twentieth century, caught in Maine was presented to the bury spawning habitat. Perched passage up and downstream. however, spawning run numbers President of the United States at the culverts installed too high above had dramatically declined due to White House. The tradition began in stream level deny upstream fish True to its partnership form, commercial , pollution, 1912 with President Taft, and ended passage, hindering migrations. Some the USDA’s Natural Resources and habitat loss particularly from with President George Bush in 1992. culverts are too small to move high Conservation Service’s Wildlife logging. Dams hindered migration. volumes of water with heavy rain, Habitat Improvement Program, the McKerly/USFWS Joseph The numbers of returning salmon Extensive logging operations in and present a barrier to migration U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Fish Fish habitat fills this arched culvert throughout its length, allowing have dwindled in all New England Downeast Maine have produced a Passage Program, and the Maine Atlantic salmon, brook trout, turtles and aquatic bugs to pass under the because of high-velocity water jetting road without hinderance.

28 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation Meanders

Jake thought about this proposition. entire night sky. Most of all, I love its and that of course, is just what we Then he said, “Well, schoolteacher. brook trout. In 1992, my 20-year-old proceeded to do. F How much would you want for pay?” son, Jake, and I stood by a nameless Labrador river we’d walked over a Now it was my turn to think. nameless mountain to reach. I was Finally, I said that I’d never worked upstream from Jake a hundred yards Howard Frank Mosher is the author of 10 in the woods before, and suggested or so, and we were both catching books, including Disappearances and Where that Jake try me out for a few days, brookies from three to five pounds, as the Rivers Flow North, which have been made then pay me what I was worth to into motion pictures. His Civil War-era novel, fast as we could land them. Walking to Gatlinburg, is due out in 2009. He him. still lives in Vermont. “What have you got on there?” I “That wouldn’t be much,” he said, called out to Jake over the rapids. “A and it wasn’t. But for the rest of whale?” that fall and on into the winter, I worked with Jake, up in the “No, a two-pound brook trout,” he mountains near the Canadian called back. border, skidding the logs he cut out to a clearing with his ancient “That’s no brook trout. That fish lumbering horse. you’re fighting is huge.”

After work and on Sundays, we “Oh, that,” Jake said. “That’s the fished the brooks and rivers of the twenty-pound lake trout that has my border country. When the lakes two-pound brook trout in its mouth froze, we went ice fishing. Over and won’t let go.” lunch in the woods, and on our fishing expeditions, Jake told me Thinking how much my son’s logger- “I’m from What’s in a Name stories of his wild, Prohibition-era whiskeyrunner-fisherman namesake By Howard Frank Mosher days, running Canadian booze, would have enjoyed being here to

Bern Brittain/Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Tourism of Department Labrador and BernBrittain/Newfoundland Vermont, too. making moonshine, outwitting game see this, I began to laugh. Jake, in Author Howard Frank Mosher is at home on Labrador’s wild waters, where he had “a father’s and a fisherman’s epiphany” wardens. He was the best fisherman the meantime, handed me his fly rod, Go home while trout fishing with his son, Jake. I’d ever known, with a sixth sense walked into the river, wrapped his you still can.” “Name children some names and see One afternoon a week or so after we’d beaver bogs was just starting to pick of where trout lay and how to entice arms about that monstrous laker and what you do.” Maple – Robert Frost arrived, I stopped at the intersection up again. them to strike, and a sixth sense, picked it up out of the rushing water, of Hollywood and Vine, where a man too, for telling a good story. During with the brook trout still in its jaws. It was the summer of 1969, and I had in a gorilla suit was busily directing the course of that fall and winter, just made a monumentally foolish traffic. A guy in a phone company the Vermont woods became my At that moment, I had a father’s, and mistake. Imagining that there were truck pulled up beside me. He must graduate school, Jake Blodgett my a fisherman’s, epiphany. I realized, shortcuts to learning how to write and have noticed my green license plate literary mentor. standing in the last wilderness of publish fiction, I accepted a creative because he rolled down his window “What have you done for work eastern North America, one hundred writing fellowship at the University and called out, in a deadly serious before?” Jake Blodgett asked me One day in a snowstorm he asked miles from the nearest settlement, of California at Irvine and lit out with voice, “I’m from Vermont, too. Go on the morning after my somewhat me if I’d ever write about his life. I that like his namesake, my son was my wife, from our home in Vermont, home while you still can.” less than triumphant return to New told him yes. attuned and connected to big woods for the Pacific coast. Along the way, England. and wild rivers, and the wild animals we fished. We fished in the Upper So, missing the mountains, the farms Jake nodded. “Well, schoolteacher,” and fish that lived in them, in a way I Peninsula of Hemingway’s Michigan, and the woods I’d begun to write Standing on the falling-in door stoop he said, “then you better get on with could only marvel at. That, too, would in Norman Maclean’s Montana, up in about, and, not least of all, the fishing, of the tall, white-haired logger and it.” have delighted my old bootlegger the mountains of Alberta. We fished that’s exactly what we did. Three former whiskey runner, feeling his friend, and so would Jake’s reply in Washington and Oregon, and then days later, we were back in northern pale-blue stare cut through me like a when I asked him what he was going we hit southern California, where Vermont. I had no writing degree, chain saw, I admitted that all I’d ever to do with his unusual two-for-one there were no trout, just automobiles no job, no prospects. There were two done was to teach school, but hearing I love Labrador. I love its big, wild catch. and palm trees. small consolations. We’d gotten home that he needed a helper, I was hoping lakes, its unexplored whitewater just in time for the fall brown trout to get some “real-life” experience. rivers, its northern lights flaring up “Put them back where they belong run, and the brook trout fishing in the pink and silver and blue across the and fish some more,” Jake said,

30 Eddies Winter 2008 Vol. 1, No. 4 Reflections on Fisheries Conservation U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service http://www.fws.gov/eddies

Winter 2008

CONSERVING USFWS National Investigational New Animal Drug Program Partners U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service State, Tribal, other Federal, and Private Aquaculture Partners Participating in USFWS INAD Program–2006 New Animal Drugs

Investigational New Animal Drug (INAD) exemptions allow for the legal use of specific unapproved drugs by fisheries managers. The U.S. Food and Facilities Key Drug Administration grants INAD State (176) Guam exemptions only after determination that Tribal (9) no potential use-related safety concerns other Fed. (14) AK exist. INADs are an essential tool used Private (48) by fisheries biologists across the U.S. to Total (247) help meet fishery management objectives. HI V.I. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) National INAD Program (NIP) allows other federal, state, tribal and private aquaculture facilities throughout the U.S. to use certain drugs under USFWS-held INAD exemptions. To date, over 500 aquaculture facilities have participated in the NIP. Typical annual participation includes nearly 250 facilities in over 40 states. Not only has the NIP provided numerous fisheries management programs needed access to a number of specific drugs, it has also generated a wealth of important drug efficacy and safety data necessary to support several new aquaculture drug approvals. F Dave Erdahl

For more information visit: www.fws.gov/fisheries/aadap/home.htm.

STANDARD PRESORT Eddies POSTAGE AND FEES Reflections on Fisheries Conservation PAID U.S. DEPARTMENT U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service– Fisheries OF THE INTERIOR MS ARLSQ 720 PERMIT G-77 4401 North Fairfax Drive Arlington, VA 22203