Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
January 2013 Activity Highlights
Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
La Crosse, Wisconsin
Topics covered in the January activity report.
Acoustical Recorders to Assess Wetland Reserve Program
- Mark Roth (UMESC) gave the invited presentation, “Using acoustic recorders and other sensors to assess biological and hydrologic conditions at Wetland Reserve Program sites in the Des Moines Lobe,” at the Iowa Association of County Conservation Board Employees meeting in Waterloo, IA, January 23. This research was supported through interagency agreements between the USGS and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in support of the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (IAG 67-3A75-8-12 and IAG 67-3A75-9-88) and by funds from the USGS’s Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative.
Aquatic Ecosystem Health
- Jim Luoma, Jon Amberg, and Terry Hubert (USGS) participated in USGS Supervisory Challenge to be held in Sacramento, CA, January 28-February 2. This training course is necessary for individual training development and to meet mandatory supervisor requirements.
- Robert Gaugush and Nathan Jensen completed Hydroacoustic training January 28-31 from Biosonics in order to use the new sound pressure equipment for aquatic invasive species physical control research.
- Todd Severson and Kerry Weber completed Introduction to Fish Health taught by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fish Disease Lab in Onalaska, Wisconsin January 28-30.
Aquatic Invasive Species
- UMESC’s Aquatic Ecosystem Health branch hosted a visit from Chuck Krueger, Science Director for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) on January 15. Discussions centered around UMESC projects that support to the GLFC Sea Lamprey Control program, general operations, and budget issues.
- Terry Hubert and Mike Boogaard (UMESC) attended the Great Lakes Fishery Commission’s Lampricide Control Task Force Meeting, in Cheboygan, Michigan February 5-7.
Geospatial Sciences and Technology
Aerial Photo Interpretation
- Jennifer Dieck (UMESC) was invited to be the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Friends of the Trempealeau Refuge on January 24. Dieck’s presentation, “Moments in Time: Documenting Our Natural Resources Using Aerial Photography,” discussed how the UMESC has provided vegetation mapping and aerial photo interpretation expertise to the federal government across a variety of landscapes since 1989, as well as the processing and serving high-resolution LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) elevation data for the UMRS floodplain.
Upper Mississippi River Tier 2 LiDAR
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
- UMESC’s Wildlife Toxicology Team recently updated their GLRI webpages to include their 2011 data.The web pages now include 2010 and 2011 summaries for major chemical classes of contaminants (total PCBs, dioxins and furans, perfluoronated compounds, and several trace elements) and data for new sites at which sampling began in 2011.
Fish and Mussel Ecology
Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society
- Teresa Newton (UMESC) received notification she is the President Elect of the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society (FMCS, http://molluskconservation.org/). Newton’s term will begin March 10, 2013; she will serve two years as President with an additional two years as Past-President. The FMCS is an international organization dedicated to the conservation and advocacy of freshwater mollusks, North America's most imperiled group of animals. Current membership is approximately 600. The Society’s purposes include:
- Advocate conservation of freshwater molluscan resources.
- Serve as a conduit for information about freshwater mollusks.
- Promote science-based management of freshwater mollusks.
- Promote and facilitate education and awareness about freshwater mollusks and their function in freshwater ecosystems.
- Assist with the facilitation of the National Strategy for the Conservation of Native Freshwater Mussels and a similar strategy under development for freshwater gastropods.
St. Croix National Scenic Riverway Fisheries Management
- Steve Zigler (UMESC) has been invited to participate in an interagency meeting to guide and coordinate fisheries management activities in the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, St. Croix Falls, WI, January 10. The meeting is being held to develop a common understanding of research and management needs for fisheries issues on the St. Croix and Namekagon Rivers. Zigler has worked on the St. Croix River for a number of years, focusing on fish predation of zebra mussels.
News Media
- Barry Johnson (UMESC) was interviewed by Marie Zhuikov (Wisconsin Sea Grant) for the inaugural story in Sea Grant's series, "Where are they now?" January 4. The series provides updates on where former Wisconsin Sea Grant students are now, what they are doing, and how their Sea Grant experience helped in their career. Johnson was supported by Sea Grant funding from 1983-1990 while a Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work involved both bioeconomic modeling of commercial quotas for yellow perch in Green Bay, and development and application of a generalized bioenergetics model of fish growth and consumption. The story was published by Sea Grant February 2013.
- Teresa Newton (UMESC) was interview by Hal Hodson (New Scientist magazine) regarding a project she is working on with the University of Iowa to use native mussels to monitor water quality in the Mississippi River. Newton and her colleagues at the Iowa Institute for Hydraulic Research have developed sensors that attach to the shells of native mussels and record the natural opening and closing of their valves. Once the natural pattern is understood, the sensors can be used to detect an “unnatural” state (i.e., a plume of contaminants or sediments). If this “unnatural” state is detected, adjacent samplers take a water sample that is analyzed for a suite of possible contaminants. If successful, this project will enable us to wirelessly monitor mussels in their natural environment and servers 50 miles away will capture the data and other relevant water quality data. This will allow us to produce a more accurate picture of water quality conditions in a large river ecosystem.
- An article featuring Kevin Kenow’s (UMESC) research on the migration patterns of common loons was recently published in the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer (http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/janfeb13/loons.html). The online article contains a summary of Kenow’s research activities, and a 2010 video interview with Kenow that contains footage on how the loons are fitted with satellite tracking units and geolocater tags.
Outreach
- Kevin Kenow (UMESC) will give an invited presentation, “Migration patterns and wintering distribution of common loons breeding in Minnesota,” at the Minnesota DNR Nongame Wildlife Program staff meeting in Rogers, MN, January 16. Kenow also plans to discuss how the MN DNR staff can help support his field efforts this summer.
Upper Mississippi River – Water Level Management Task Force
- Kevin Kenow (UMESC) participated in a meeting of the interagency Water Level Management Task Force (WLMTF) in Lake City, MN, January 23. Discussion centered on advanced surveys and planning for a possible drawdown of Mississippi River navigation Pool 3 (Hager City, WI to Hastings, MN) during the summer of 2014. The primary objective of the drawdown, as established by the WLMTF, is to improve conditions for the growth of aquatic vegetation with special emphasis on perennial emergent species.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- The report, “Distribution and abundance of migrating and wintering waterbirds on Lake Michigan” by Kevin Kenow, Steve Houdek, Timothy Fox, Larry Robinson (UMESC), and Brian Lubinski (USFWS), was submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 3 Division of Migratory Birds, January 8. Information on Great Lakes waterbird concentrations during migration and winter is of interest to resource managers as they deal with several priority conservation issues, including impact assessment of near-shore and off-shore wind turbine placement and characterization of sea duck wintering distribution and population status. A series of surveys were conducted during the winter and spring 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 to determine spatial and temporal patterns in the distribution and abundance of waterbirds on Lake Michigan. These surveys were supported under agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 3 Migratory Bird Conservation program (Agreement No. 30181AN041, Mod 1; 15 July 2011).
Acronyms
DNR – Department of Natural Resources
FWS – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
FMCS – Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society
GLFC – Great Lakes Fishery Commission
GLRI – Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
LiDAR – Light Detection and Ranging
LTRMP – Long Term Resource Monitoring Program
PCBs – Polychlorinated Biphenyls
UMESC – Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
UMRR-EMP – Upper Mississippi River Restoration-Environmental Management Program UMRS – Upper Mississippi River System
USDA – U.S. Department of Agriculture
USGS – U.S. Geological Survey
WLMTF – Water Level Management Task Force
URL: http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/outreach/highlights/2013_jan_umesc_highlights.html
Page Contact Information: Contacting the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Page Last Modified:
March 20, 2013
