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Students are able to touch the mussels
and fish during the presentation.
Photo taken by D. Wenger
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What is your fish’s name? Fred
On May 6th and 7th, Jenny Walker and Darla Wenger joined forces with the staff at the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge to connect over 1,000 middle school children with nature and to provide them an opportunity to gain knowledge about the Mississippi River, fish, wildlife, birds, and other interesting topics. The event was coordinated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the US Army Corps of Engineers and included presenters from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Geological Survey, Leave No Trace, and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Participating students rotated through learning stations located throughout the refuge every 35 minutes, with a total of 14 stations. Jenny and Darla presented a learning station that covered the life cycle of a freshwater mussel, threats against mussel populations, and Genoa's mussel propagation program. Jenny and Darla set up an aquarium holding different species of freshwater mussels and fish hosts for the freshwater mussels; such as lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) and channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus).
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| In addition to the aquarium, Genoa National Fish Hatchery staff shared their fish on a stick collection to aid with fish identification. Jenny and Darla shared this information with over 100 children during the 2 day event. The children that visited Genoa's learning station came from the Winona Middle School, the La Crescent Montessori Academy, Bluffview Montessori
School from Winona, MN, St. Patrick's School from Onalaska, WI, Black River Falls Elementary School, and the Galesville-Ettrick-Trempealeau (GET) Elementary School. One student wanted to know if we named the fish that we raise at the hatchery. His idea was to name the lake sturgeon Fred. Jenny and Darla received many other ideas for fish names from the students attending this event. The children had great questions and were excited to be outside and not indoors on a beautiful sunny day. Outdoor presentations were interrupted both days by the beauty of the Mississippi Valley, the deep rattling of sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis), and bowfin (Amia calva) splashing in the isolated backwaters of the Mississippi and Trempealeau River. The USFWS has recently adopted as one of its priorities to ensure that all of America's children have enjoyable and meaningful experiences in the out-of-doors and to develop strong life-long connections with the natural world, this two day educational outreach program was a perfect way to accomplish this goal for the Service.
- Darla Wenger & Jenny Walker |
Students learn fish identification
during the River Education Days
at Trempealeau NWR.
Photo taken by D. Wenger.
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A veteran ties on a new hook
during the fishing day held
at the Tomah VA hospital.
Photo taken by D. Wenger
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Genoa National Fish Hatchery thanks the local Heroes at Tomah Veterans Hospital |
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On May 21st, staff from the Genoa National Fish Hatchery assisted the annual fishing event held at the Tomah Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC). Weeks prior to this event, staff stocked the Tomah VAMC fishing pond with 880 rainbow trout. In addition to providing the fish to catch, staff and volunteers from Genoa provided a fish fry for the veterans that were participating in this year's event.
The American Legion - Genoa Post donated 100 pounds of flat head catfish that were served after a successful morning of fishing. Over 100 veterans from the VAMC, along with 118 helpers from the Tomah 7th grade, tried to catch the biggest fish using worms, corn, and minnows for bait. Over 176 rainbow trout were caught by the veterans and their helpers, in addition to the bluegills, crappies, and bass. The largest rainbow trout that was caught was 17 inches long. Newcomers to this special event were Harriett, a rehabilitated bald eagle from the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN, and her handler Bob.
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Harriett, and her handler Bob,
meet a veteran from the Tomah VA Hospital.
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Bob, a Vietnam Veteran, explained that Harriett was especially important to him since she helped him recover from severe depression; also since Harriett is the living symbol of our nation, she is very significant to other surviving veterans. Many of the veterans were inspired to see an eagle, and even though Harriett isn't able to fly again due to her injuries, all participants were happy to see that Harriett had survived her injuries.
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The Tomah VAMC houses 270 veterans focusing on medical specialties such as acute medicine, acute and long-term psychiatry; vocational and social rehabilitation; Alzheimer's assessment and management; residential substance abuse treatment and post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Darla Wenger |
Adult lake trout being removed
from nets at Seneca Lake New York
FWS photo
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Well Traveled Lake Trout Cross Many Boundaries in Search of a New Home
Over 5,000 12 inch lake trout future broodstock are settling into their new homes in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at the Sullivan Creek National Fish Hatchery, and in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts at the Berkshire National Fish Hatchery after a 21 hour marathon drive from the Genoa (WI) National Fish Hatchery this past week. |
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Lake trout eggs being incubated by
parentage in isolation building.
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These valuable fish are the results of a successful 20 month isolation rearing process which verified that they carried no infectious diseases that would have precluded them from being used as captive broodstock in ongoing Great Lakes restoration programs. This particular strain of lake trout acquired from the Finger Lakes in New York with the assistance of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, is extremely valuable in restoration programs due to its apparent ability to avoid sea lamprey predation.
Sea lamprey predation is one of the main causes of decline of lake trout populations in the Great Lakes, and an ongoing effort to control this invasive species has been successful in allowing lake trout restoration to occur in Lake Superior, and give ongoing lower Great Lakes restoration programs an increased chance of success by ensuring that lake trout survive to reproductive age. |
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Staff from Genoa loaded their trucks and traveled over 1100 miles non-stop to get their valuable cargo safely to Massachusetts this past week. After driving all night they were met by Pittsford (VT) National Fish Hatchery manager Henry Bouchard and volunteers from the Berkshire National Fish Hatchery to offload the fish to their new home. At Berkshire the fish will grow and be held until modifications to the Allegheny (PA) National Fish Hatchery are completed. When these fish reach reproductive age in 3 years, the egg production from these fish should provide an ample supply of yearling fish for restoration stocking in Lakes Michigan, Huron, Ontario and Erie.
- Doug Alosi |
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The volunteers from
Bangor High School.
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Better Late Than Never...
Mussel Culture Cages Finally Deployed After Late Spring Floods in the Midwest.
WOW! What a year the Upper Mississippi River Basin has had as far as precipitation goes, from a near record snow fall in the winter to continuous rains through May. All this precipitation set the stage for a late and prolonged spring flood for the Mississippi River and its tributaries. High waters this spring complicated and at some sites prevented the collection of brood stock mussels. Delays in brood stock collection resulted in the postponement of the fish inoculation process for the production of this year's production cohort of endangered Higgins eye pearlymussel. Fish inoculations were completed by mid-May thanks to a number of volunteers including the Advanced Wildlife, Fish, and Forest Management class from Bangor High School in Bangor, WI. |
With all the fish inoculated, it was time to focus on the second phase of the program, placing the mussel culture cages in the rivers. This year a total of 107 cages containing largemouth and smallmouth bass inoculated with Higgins eye larva (glochidia) were placed in four locations in three different states and on a Native American Reservation. In 2007, the primary culture location in Lake Pepin near Frontenac, MN was inundated with a massive zebra mussel invasion causing the Mussel Coordination Team (MCT) to explore new sites to propagate Higgins eye and the endangered winged mapleleaf. One of the new sites that the MCT is using is on the Prairie Island Indian Community Reservation north of Redwing, MN. The Prairie Island Indian Community became involved with the Higgins eye recovery work in 2007 and allowed the MCT to use their land/river to house 60 of the mussel culture cages this year.
A second new cage location was selected on the Wisconsin side of the St. Croix River across from Stillwater, MN. This site now houses 20 Higgins eye cages and 22 winged mapleleaf cages. The waters in the Wisconsin River receded enough this May to allow Genoa National Fish Hatchery staff to place 15 open bottom cages in the main stem Wisconsin River and four floating cages in Woodman Lake, a back water lake where Higgins eye were propagated in 2005. Finally, the hatchery returned to Ice Harbor in Dubuque, IA with eight Higgins eye cages as well as cages for black sandshell (2) and fatmucket (3). The use of Ice Harbor has been cooperative effort with the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The forecast through early summer is for more rain, leaving staff biologists like expecting fathers on pins and needles waiting to see what Mother Nature will deliver later this fall.
- Tony Brady |
MCT partners work together to assemble
cages that will be loaded with inoculated
fish and placed in the river to culture
endangered Higgins eye mussels.
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Up close view of a
hatched walleye fry.
Genoa NFH
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State of Minnesota, Rydell National Wildlife Refuge, and Genoa National Fish Hatchery Hitch Up to Produce Walleye in 2008
In May of 2008, Genoa National Fish Hatchery (NFH) employee Dan Kumlin stocked 250,000 Ottertail River strain walleye fry into Clifford lake, MN. The 40 acre lake is one of many small bodies of water found on the Rydell National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). After spring stocking the fish grow on natural food items within the 40 acre lake on the refuge for several months until autumn's first frost signals it is time to begin harvest operations. Fishery and refuge crews set several dozen hoop nets in order to remove the 5-6" walleye. The fish are then transported to federal, tribal, and state waters across northern Minnesota for enhancing recreational fisheries projects and maintaining strong viable fishing opportunities in areas where they are stocked. |
This program is supported directly by the State of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which supplies the newly hatched walleye fry to Genoa National Fish Hatchery for stocking into Clifford Lake. The White Earth Reservation and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians also benefit directly from the program by receiving fish for their tribal fishery management programs. Clifford Lake is unique in that it represents the only natural water body located on a Region 3 national wildlife refuge that is used extensively for fish production.
This small lake is perfect for annual walleye production because of its shallow depth, coupled with very cold temperatures and heavy annual snowfall. These conditions usually result in very low winter oxygen levels which cannot support most species of fish. This annual "cleaning out" of older walleyes or other fish that may compete with the newly introduced fry optimizes production for this valuable sport and food fish. These fish potentially represent thousands of recreational fishing hours in tribal, federal and selected state waters and are an important part of our fisheries cooperative management program in Region 3.
- Nick Starzl |
Fishery crew from Genoa NFH and
La Crosse FRO harvesting fall walleye
from Clifford Lake MN.
Genoa NFH photo
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Young of the year lake sturgeon
in a culture tank at the
Genoa National Fish Hatchery, Genoa, WI.
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Genoa National Fish Hatchery Partners with Researchers from the Illinios Institute of Technology to Study Olfactory Homing Response Development in Lake Sturgeon.
The Genoa National Fish Hatchery (NFH) has been working to restore lake sturgeon populations in the water of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri and Tennessee which have declined due to habitat loss, pollution and overfishing. Genoa NFH has become recognized for its rearing program and as a provider of healthly lake sturgeon at various lifestages for various research projects regarding the biology and management of the species. A new project supported by the Great Lakes Fisheries Trust and conducted by the Biology Division of the Illinois Institute of Technology has been initiated to study the neurobiology of lake sturgeon olfactory development.
During this study the Genoa National Fish Hatchery is providing approximately 150 young of the year lake sturgeon on a weekly basis for two months for cellular and molecular analysis. The goal of this research is to determine the age when the lake sturgeon olfactory system is highly sensitive to the environment and developed to the level where a homing response may be possible. If determined, this information may provide useful data on the migration, homing and reproductive behavior of the lake sturgeon.
Providing animals for research studies can significantly increase the knowledge base for the species and therefore aid in management and restoration efforts. Genoa NFH recognizes the information needs for management agencies and therefore has been an active participant in numerous research projects including several species of fish and mussels.
-James Luoma |
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Tres Hombres Take the Genoa (WI) Hatchery by Storm
Summer is the season of growth at a fish culture facility, which means taking care of young of the year sturgeon, mussels, and other fish species whose numbers reach over the millions at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery. This increased workload is met each summer by enlisting the help of enrollees from the Student Career Employment Program (SCEP) and the Student Temporary Employment Program (STEP). This year Chris Olds, a senior at Lake Superior State University, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan joined us hoping to garner experience in lake sturgeon and freshwater mussel culture, as well as in culturing our traditional warm water species of fish. He is currently enrolled in the Fish and Wildlife Service's SCEP program.
This summer local students Jorge Buening and Brandon Keesler also rejoined the staff as STEP enrollees. Jorge is a senior at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, and Brandon will be a junior at Stevens Point. Both are majoring in Natural Resources and have been assisting the station as volunteers or Youth Conservation Corps employees for several years. The station has helped in their studies and also received timely answers to practical research problems through ongoing lake sturgeon diet trials that were completed as research papers last year. The LaCrosse area is a great place to become familiar with Big River ecology and fishery issues, as they all will be assisting in ongoing fish health and management activities at the LaCrosse Fish Health Center and the LaCrosse Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office. As seen in the picture, these young cowboys have something to prove to not only the staff at Genoa, but the world in general, and we look forward to watching them grow and make an impact on the fish and wildlife resources that we are charged to protect.
- Doug Aloisi |
From left to right,
Chris, Brandon and Jorge
are ready to take on the world.
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For additional information about any accomplishment report please contact Genoa National Fish Hatchery.
 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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