From diving into the murky depths of the Mississippi River to designing a mussel-friendly hatchery building, Roger Gordon, assistant manager of Genoa National Fish Hatchery, has proved to be a freshwater mussel’s best friend. His efforts to save endangered mussels of the Upper Mississippi River from extinction earned Gordon the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2006 Recovery Champion award.
Service Director H. Dale Hall named Gordon as one of 16 recipients of the award, which recognizes outstanding contributions of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees and their partners toward efforts aimed at recovering threatened and endangered species in the United States.
“ The Recovery Champion award not only recognizes the exceptional conservation accomplishments of the honorees, it also provides the public with a unique opportunity to learn about endangered species conservation,” said Hall. “These Recovery Champions are extraordinary conservationists dedicated to protecting and restoring our nation’s wildlife and ensuring that future generations of Americans enjoy the natural treasures we experience today.”
Gordon was honored for his work with two endangered freshwater mussels, the Higgins eye pearlymussel and the winged mapleleaf mussel. Gordon was cited as the driving force behind mussel conservation at Genoa National Fish Hatchery, where under his guidance, Higgins eye pearlymussels and winged mapleleaf mussels are produced for relocation in rivers and streams in the Upper Mississippi River System. These efforts are helping restore rare mussels to an ecosystem where they once flourished.
“ Roger’s work with endangered mussels has impact beyond the waters of the Upper Mississippi River,” said Robyn Thorson, the Service’s Midwest Regional Director. “Mussel culture techniques developed by Roger at Genoa are being used by others across the country for mussel restoration and recovery efforts. He is considered a leader in native mussel restoration and recovery issues.”
In his work to save endangered mussels, Gordon and the staff at Genoa National Fish Hatchery designed and built the first production-scale mussel propagation building since the turn of the century. Since its beginnings in the year 2000, the mussel propagation program at Genoa has produced over 7.5 million mussels of nine different native species, including over 6 million Higgins eye and winged mapleleaf mussels.
Prompted by Gordon’s interest in mussel recovery, Genoa is the first and only national fish hatchery to have a dive team stationed on site, giving staff the capability to collect wild broodstock broodstock
The reproductively mature adults in a population that breed (or spawn) and produce more individuals (offspring or progeny).
Learn more about broodstock and assist with habitat and population assessments. Gordon initiated the dive team, earning his certification to further the station’s efforts to recover native mussels.
A native of the Saginaw Bay area of Michigan, Gordon studied fisheries biology at Lake Superior State University in Michigan after a 4-year stint in the Navy. His first fisheries job was as a fisheries technician at an Army Corps of Engineers facility in Washington state, monitoring downstream passage of young Pacific salmon. His career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began in 1991 as a fishery biologist at the Sullivan Creek National Fish Hatchery in the upper Peninsula of Michigan. He then worked at the Iron River National Fish Hatchery in Wisconsin as a fishery biologist in the lake trout program. He received the assistant manager position at Genoa in the summer of 1999.
For additional information please visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Midwest website at: http://www.fws.gov/midwest
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 96-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
