2025 Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference

2025 Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference

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7:00am CST

Continental Breakast with Exhibitors - Sponsored by St. Louis Zoo WildCare Institute Grand Foyer (4th Floor) Trade Show Open Grand Foyer (4th Floor) Speaker Ready Room Open Mills 4 (4th Floor) Conference Registration Desk Open Grand Coatroom (4th Floor)

8:00am CST

Plenary Session 1 and Awards Grand Ballroom (4th Floor)Ben Batten • Jim Inglis

10:05am CST

Coffee Break - Sponsored by Wildlife Management Institute Grand Foyer (4th Floor)

10:30am CST

Annual Membership Meeting – North Central Section of The Wildlife Society Grand C (4th Floor)Jeremy Holtz North Central Division AFS Business Meeting Grand A (4th Floor)Daniel Isermann MAFWA R3 Foundations Training Regency A (2nd Floor)

12:00pm CST

Lunch On Your Own Offsite Student & Professional Networking Luncheon (pre-registration required) Grand Ballroom (DEFGH)

1:00pm CST

Confluence Region Conservation Partnerhsip Sterling 6 (2nd Floor)J. Michael Checkett Conservation Philanthropy...it's not just about special events Mills 6 (4th Floor)Kevin Roper Lake and Reservoir Management Committee Meeting Mills 3 (4th Floor)Will Radigan

1:40pm CST

Fisheries Track: Effects of Flow Variation on Recruitment in a Central Missouri Stream Fish Assemblage Regency D (2nd Floor)Connor Church Fisheries Track: Identifying Walleye and Lake Whitefish Spawning Habitat to Inform Habitat Improvements for Lake Sturgeon in the Lower Fox River below De Pere Dam Regency C (2nd Floor)Braden Lensing Wildlife Track: 'On The Road Again' Native Species Seeding By Midwestern DOTs and Potential Improvements Regency F (2nd Floor)Wesley Bollinger Wildlife Track: WITHDRAWN Sterling 3 (2nd Floor) S-01: Audubon’s bird conservation strategy on the Mississippi River Sterling 9 (2nd Floor )Dale Gentry S-02: WITHDRAWN Regency B (2nd Floor) S-03: CWD: Strengthening Public Involvement: Iowa’s Multifaceted Approach to CWD Outreach and Management Regency E (2nd Floor)Catherine Cummings S-04: Historical Perspectives on Trout Management in Missouri Grand A (4th Floor)Mike Kruse S-05: Fishers & Farmers Partnership: Energizing Healthy Farms & Fish Habitats Through Neighbor Connections Grand B (4th Floor)Ben Lubinski S-06: Prairie Reconstruction: Prairie Fork CA Case Study and Lessons Learned Grand C (4th Floor)Chris Newbold

2:00pm CST

Fisheries Track: Diet and Niche Overlap of Blue Catfish and Resident Reservoir Sportfishes to Inform Stocking Decisions Regency D (2nd Floor)Jacob Bentley Fisheries Track: Identifying Spawning Sites and Fidelity of Ogaa (walleye Sander Vitreus): Implications for Fishery Stewardship Regency C (2nd Floor)Kayla Lenz Wildlife Track: Effects of Landscape Characteristics on Occurrence and Density of Native Bumblebee Species. Fort Riley. Kansas Sterling 3 (2nd Floor)Cassidy Lathrom Wildlife Track: WITHDRAWN Regency F (2nd Floor) S-01: Bottomland Forest Birds along the Upper Mississippi River Sterling 9 (2nd Floor )Tara Hohman S-02: Fish Freeways: How Rock Ramps are Assisting Prairie Stream Fish Movement Regency B (2nd Floor)Seth Callahan S-03: CWD: Identifying the Motivations and Barriers of Landowners to Participating in Targeted Removal to Manage Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Missouri Regency E (2nd Floor)Jason Isabelle S-04: Trout Streams of the Northern Ozarks: Overview of Missouri's Ribbon Areas Grand A (4th Floor)Blake Stephens S-05: Partnering with Private Landowners on Forest Management for Water Quality Grand B (4th Floor)Jennifer Wahls S-06: Woodland Management for Biodiversity at Shaw Nature Reserve Grand C (4th Floor)Calvin Maginel

2:20pm CST

Fisheries Track: Evaluating the influence of climate change on walleye and largemouth bass consumption rates in a northern Wisconsin lake Regency C (2nd Floor)Jeston Hassler Fisheries Track: Zooplankton in the Upper Mississippi River System Regency D (2nd Floor)Molly Sobotka Wildlife Track: Monitoring tarantulas in Missouri glades: Conservation of a charismatic arachnid. Sterling 3 (2nd Floor)Becky Hansis-O'Neill Wildlife Track: PHASE: Pollinator Habitat Aligned with Solar Energy Regency F (2nd Floor)Alison Little S-01: Breeding bird community in the Mississippi River floodplain forest: Two Decades of change Sterling 9 (2nd Floor )Mike Wellik S-02: Beyond barriers: Fish communities in a recovering tributary of Lake Erie Regency B (2nd Floor)Matthew Acre S-03: CWD: Exploring Landowners’ Support for CWD Management in Illinois Regency E (2nd Floor)Eric Walberg S-04: The Meramec River Brown Trout Dilemma - a Case Study of a Missouri Ozark Stream's Salmonid Management Grand A (4th Floor)Jen Girondo S-05: The Power of Partnerships in Advancing Coldwater Conservation Grand B (4th Floor)Mike Siepker S-06:Monitoring the Ecological Response to Restoration Treatments in the Missouri Pine-Oak Woodlands Restoration Project of the Mark Twain National Forest Grand C (4th Floor)Elizabeth Yohe

2:40pm CST

Fisheries Track: First occurrence of American Brook Lamprey (Lethenteron appendix) in the Cuyahoga River, OH Regency D (2nd Floor)Zane McAdams Fisheries Track: Movement of Walleye and Sauger assessed using acoustic telemetry in Lewis and Clark Lake, a Missouri River reservoir Regency C (2nd Floor)Will Radigan Wildlife Track: Protecting Remnant Prairies and Grassland Reconstruction/Restoration Success Across Missouri. Regency F (2nd Floor)Jerod Huebner S-01: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Autonomous Recording Units for Detecting Upper Mississippi River Migratory Landbirds Sterling 9 (2nd Floor )Nicole Michel S-02: Moxostoma Migratory Movements during Restoration Efforts in the Cuyahoga River, OH Regency B (2nd Floor)Sophia Bonjour S-03: CWD: Decoding CWD Testing Regency E (2nd Floor)Sherri Russell S-04: Bennett Spring State Fish Hatchery Renovations Grand A (4th Floor)Ben Havens S-05: Conservation Counts: Building Urban and Rural Partnerships to Address Stream Biological Impairments Grand B (4th Floor)Josh Balk S-06: Fire effects on plant communities in Ozark woodlands and glades Grand C (4th Floor)Carolyn Stephen

3:00pm CST

Coffee Break Grand Foyer (4th Floor)

3:20pm CST

Fisheries Track: Environmental changes lead to reduced Walleye production in Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota Regency C (2nd Floor)Tom Jones Fisheries Track: Spatial and temporal resource use of the Upper Mississippi River Regency D (2nd Floor)Shaley Valentine Wildlife Track: Habitat Features and the Presence of Coyotes Cause the Greatest Shifts in Mammal Diel Activity Regency F (2nd Floor)Nathan Proudman Wildlife Track: The Role of Extralimital Exploration in Avian Range Expansion Sterling 3 (2nd Floor)Wendy Dorman S-01: A framework to facilitate habitat conservation for marsh birds in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions Sterling 9 (2nd Floor )Michael Monfils S-02: Can We Have Our Cake and Eat It to? Retrofitting an Aging Urban Dam for Multiuse, Including Recreation and Fish Passage. Regency B (2nd Floor)Donald Pereira S-03: CWD: Where Have All the Deer gone? Regency E (2nd Floor)Tricia Fry S-04: Insights into the Missouri Winter Trout Program Grand A (4th Floor)John Schulte S-05: Growing Relationships for Increasing Wetland Practice Adoption to Improve Downstream Water Quality Grand B (4th Floor)Jill Kostel S-06: Burn with Care – Challenges and Considerations for Replicating Historic Fire in Missouri State Parks Grand C (4th Floor)Ron Colatskie

3:40pm CST

Fisheries Track: Evaluating the distribution of fish community production in northern Wisconsin lakes with different walleye recruitment histories Regency C (2nd Floor)Maxwel Wilkinson Fisheries Track: Macroinvertebrate Assemblages Using Live Freshwater Mussels as Habitat Regency D (2nd Floor)Madison Dunlap Wildlife Track: Space use and habitat selection of a recolonized bobcat population Regency F (2nd Floor)Ellen Audia Wildlife Track: WITHDRAWN Sterling 3 (2nd Floor) S-01: Sora and Virginia Rail Migratory Timing and Stopover Duration in the Illinois River Valley Sterling 9 (2nd Floor )Auriel Fournier S-02: Utilizing the USFWS National Fish Passage Coordination Map and the SARP National Aquatic Barrier Inventory and Prioritization Tool to Assess Stream Connectivity Across the Western Great Plains Regency B (2nd Floor)Jacob Zona S-03: CWD: CWD Hunter Harvest Initiative Regency E (2nd Floor)Deborah Hudman S-04: Evaluating Brown Trout strains stocked into Spring River, Arkansas Grand A (4th Floor)Joseph Kaiser S-05: Scars to Shiners. Iowa's Private-Public Partnership to Save the Endangered Topeka Shiner through Oxbow Restorations. Grand B (4th Floor)Brandon Iddings S-06: Native bee response to woodland and glade restoration on Missouri’s state parks Grand C (4th Floor)Ken McCarty

4:00pm CST

Fisheries Track: Evaluation of otolith and eye lens chemistry for identifying stocked Walleye Regency C (2nd Floor)Joshua Fluur Fisheries Track: Spectaclecase Mussel Detection in the Upper Mississippi River Using eDNA Regency D (2nd Floor)Tariq Tajjioui Wildlife Track: Habitat Selection of Gray Foxes in Southern Illinois Regency F (2nd Floor)Nadine Pershyn Wildlife Track: Integrated dynamic occupancy models reveal declines in gamebird distributions in Illinois and sampling bias in eBird data Sterling 3 (2nd Floor)Lauren Scopel S-01: Monitoring grassland bird populations in Missouri & beyond Sterling 9 (2nd Floor )Dana Ripper S-02: Connecting Freshwater Resilience and Barrier Prioritization Regency B (2nd Floor)Mary Khoury S-03: CWD: Calculating the Cost of CWD: A Minnesota Approach Regency E (2nd Floor)Elizabeth Baker (Rasmussen) S-04: Evaluation of the Effects of a Slot Length Limit and Stocking Changes for Rainbow and Brown Trout in Lake Taneycomo, Missouri Grand A (4th Floor)Shane Bush S-05: Insights, Community Development, and Other Benefits of the Watershed Leaders Network Grand B (4th Floor)Beth Baranski S-06: Renovating Duck Creek CA: An Integrated Approach Grand C (4th Floor)Frank Nelson

4:20pm CST

Fisheries Track: Addressing the Data Need to Manage Future Change in Fisheries Regency D (2nd Floor)Madalyn Siller Fisheries Track: Evaluating Data-limited Population Assessment Tools for Walleye Regency C (2nd Floor)Caleb Branam Wildlife Track: Using the Motus Wildlife Tracking System to fill knowledge gaps for priority Neotropical migratory birds in the Midwest and beyond Sterling 3 (2nd Floor)Sarah Kendrick Wildlife Track: When, where, and how prey pair antipredator behaviors to natural and anthropogenic mortality risks Regency F (2nd Floor)Michael Egan S-01: An Assessment of Avian and Vegetation Communities on Agricultural Conservation Easement Wetlands in Eastern South Dakota Sterling 9 (2nd Floor )Katherine Millman S-02: Facilitated Discussion - Developing an Aquatic Connectivity Team: An example from the Missouri Stream Connectivity Partnership. Regency B (2nd Floor)Eric Rahm S-03: CWD: Post-Season Targeted Removal Efforts are Worth the Work to Manage CWD Regency E (2nd Floor)Aaron Hildreth S-04: From Rod to Research and Resilience: How Anglers Enhance Fisheries Research and Management in Minnesota Waters of Lake Superior Grand A (4th Floor)Nick Peterson S-05: Engaging Private Landowners through Conservation Marketing Shoal Creek Woodlands for Wildlife Case-History Grand B (4th Floor)Rob Pulliam

4:40pm CST

Fisheries Track: Assessing Habitat Quality Changes for Cool- and Warm-Water Fishes Regency D (2nd Floor)Madalyn Siller Wildlife Track: Creating a state-space model to assess the population status of fishers (Pekania pennanti) in Michigan's Upper Peninsula) Regency F (2nd Floor)Justin Remmers Wildlife Track: Expansion of Motus in Missouri and the Midwest: examples of local and large scale Motus tracking Sterling 3 (2nd Floor)Kristen Heath-Acre S-01: Owl and Nightjar Monitoring in Iowa Sterling 9 (2nd Floor )Anna Buckardt Thomas S-03: CWD: Facilitated Discussion Regency E (2nd Floor) S-04: Community ecology in a bottle: Leveraging eDNA metabarcoding data to predict occupancy of co-occurring salmonids and gill lice ectoparasites Grand A (4th Floor)Sasha Tetzlaff S-05: The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) Aquatic Life Monitoring Project in the Illinois River and Kaskaskia River basins, Illinois Grand B (4th Floor)Sarah Molinaro

5:00pm CST

S-05: The Nature Conservancy at Dog Tooth Bend Grand B (4th Floor)Tharran Hobson Invasive Species Technical Committee Information and Interest Meeting Sterling 6 (2nd Floor)Hannah Mulligan • Logan Zebro

6:00pm CST

Offsite Dinner and Social ($) - Sponsored by Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation Anheuser-Busch Brewery