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 TBA Trade Show Open TBA Speaker Ready Room Open TBA Conference Registration Desk Open TBA

8:00am CST

Plenary Session 1 TBA

10:05am CST

Coffee Break - Sponsored by Wildlife Management Institute TBA

10:30am CST

Annual Membership Meeting – North Central Section of The Wildlife Society TBAJeremy Holtz North Central Division AFS Business Meeting TBADaniel Isermann

12:00pm CST

Lunch On Your Own TBA Student & Professional Networking Luncheon (pre-registration required) TBA

1:00pm CST

Conservation philanthropy...it's not just about special events TBAKevin Roper Lake and Reservoir Management Committee Meeting TBAWill Radigan

1:40pm CST

Fisheries Track: Effects of Flow Variation on Recruitment in a Central Missouri Stream Fish Assemblage TBAConnor 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 TBABraden Lensing Wildlife Track: 'On The Road Again' Native Species Seeding By Midwestern DOTs and Potential Improvements TBAWesley Bollinger Wildlife Track: Low population densities of Missouri brown tarantulas (Aphonopelma hentzi) in Missouri glades. TBABecky Hansis-O'Neill S-01: Audubon’s bird conservation strategy on the Mississippi River TBADale Gentry S-02: Climbing the Ladder Towards Aquatic Connectivity for Stream Fishes in Eastern South Dakota TBAEvan Spencer S-03: CWD: Strengthening Public Involvement: Iowa’s Multifaceted Approach to CWD Outreach and Management TBACatherine Cummings S-04: Historical Perspectives on Trout Management in Missouri TBAMike Kruse S-05: Fishers & Farmers Partnership: Energizing Healthy Farms & Fish Habitats Through Neighbor Connections TBABen Lubinski S-06: Prairie Reconstruction: Prairie Fork CA Case Study and Lessons Learned TBAChris Newbold

2:00pm CST

Fisheries Track: Diet and Niche Overlap of Blue Catfish and Resident Reservoir Sportfishes to Inform Stocking Decisions TBAJacob Bentley Fisheries Track: Identifying Spawning Sites and Fidelity of Ogaa (walleye Sander Vitreus): Implications for Fishery Stewardship TBAKayla Lenz Wildlife Track: Effects of Landscape Characteristics on Occurrence and Density of Native Bumblebee Species. Fort Riley. Kansas TBACassidy Lathrom Wildlife Track: Mastering the Flames: An overview of prescribed burning training for students and early career professionals TBACraig Maier S-01: Bottomland Forest Birds along the Upper Mississippi River TBATara Hohman S-02: Fish Freeways: How Rock Ramps are Assisting Prairie Stream Fish Movement TBASeth Callahan S-03: CWD: Identifying the Motivations and Barriers of Landowners to Participating in Targeted Removal to Manage Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Missouri TBAJason Isabelle S-04: Trout Streams of the Northern Ozarks: Overview of Missouri's Ribbon Areas TBABlake Stephens S-05: Partnering with Private Landowners on Forest Management for Water Quality TBAJennifer Wahls S-06: Woodland Management for Biodiversity at Shaw Nature Reserve TBACalvin Maginel

2:20pm CST

Fisheries Track: Evaluating the influence of climate change on walleye and largemouth bass consumption rates in a northern Wisconsin lake TBAJeston Hassler Fisheries Track: Zooplankton in the Upper Mississippi River System TBAMolly Sobotka Wildlife Track: PHASE: Pollinator Habitat Aligned with Solar Energy TBAAlison Little Wildlife Track: The relationship between butterfly diversity and canopy cover management across 25 years in Midwestern oak savannas TBAJoseph Deas S-01: Breeding bird community in the Mississippi River floodplain forest: Two Decades of change TBAMike Wellik S-02: Beyond barriers: Fish communities in a recovering tributary of Lake Erie TBAMatthew Acre S-03: CWD: Exploring Landowners’ Support for CWD Management in Illinois TBAEric Walberg S-04: The Meramec River Brown Trout Dilemma - a Case Study of a Missouri Ozark Stream's Salmonid Management TBAJen Girondo S-05: The Power of Partnerships in Advancing Coldwater Conservation TBAMike Siepker S-06:Monitoring the Ecological Response to Restoration Treatments in the Missouri Pine-Oak Woodlands Restoration Project of the Mark Twain National Forest TBAElizabeth Yohe

2:40pm CST

Fisheries Track: First occurrence of American Brook Lamprey (Lethenteron appendix) in the Cuyahoga River, OH TBAZane McAdams Fisheries Track: Movement of Walleye and Sauger assessed using acoustic telemetry in Lewis and Clark Lake, a Missouri River reservoir TBAWill Radigan Wildlife Track: Monitoring tarantulas in Missouri glades: Conservation of a charismatic arachnid. TBABecky Hansis-O'Neill Wildlife Track: Protecting Remnant Prairies and Grassland Reconstruction/Restoration Success Across Missouri. TBAJerod Huebner S-01: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Autonomous Recording Units for Detecting Upper Mississippi River Migratory Landbirds TBANicole Michel S-02: Moxostoma Migratory Movements during Restoration Efforts in the Cuyahoga River, OH TBASophia Bonjour S-03: CWD: Decoding CWD Testing TBASherri Russell S-04: Bennett Spring State Fish Hatchery Renovations TBABen Havens S-05: Conservation Counts: Building Urban and Rural Partnerships to Address Stream Biological Impairments TBAJosh Balk S-06: Fire effects on plant communities in Ozark woodlands and glades TBACarrie Stephen

3:00pm CST

Coffee Break TBA

3:20pm CST

Fisheries Track: Environmental changes lead to reduced Walleye production in Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota TBATom Jones Fisheries Track: Spatial and temporal resource use of the Upper Mississippi River TBAShaley Valentine Wildlife Track: Habitat Features and the Presence of Coyotes Cause the Greatest Shifts in Mammal Diel Activity TBANathan Proudman Wildlife Track: The Role of Extralimital Exploration in Avian Range Expansion TBAWendy Dorman S-01: A framework to facilitate habitat conservation for marsh birds in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions TBAMichael Monfils S-02: Can We Have Our Cake and Eat It to? Retrofitting an Aging Urban Dam for Multiuse, Including Recreation and Fish Passage. TBADonald Pereira S-03: CWD: Where Have All the Deer gone? TBATricia Fry S-04: Insights into Missouri's Urban Winter Trout Program TBAJohn Schulte S-05: Growing Relationships for Increasing Wetland Practice Adoption to Improve Downstream Water Quality TBAJill Kostel S-06: Burn with Care – Challenges and Considerations for Replicating Historic Fire in Missouri State Parks TBARon Colatskie

3:40pm CST

Fisheries Track: Evaluating the distribution of fish community production in northern Wisconsin lakes with different walleye recruitment histories TBAMaxwel Wilkinson Fisheries Track: Macroinvertebrate Assemblages Using Live Freshwater Mussels as Habitat TBAMadison Dunlap Wildlife Track: Investigating the effects of habitat on the distribution and abundance of Chuck-will’s-widows (Antrostomus carolinensis) in central Texas, their diet across space and time, and insect availability... TBASonia Tomczyk Wildlife Track: Space use and habitat selection of a recolonized bobcat population TBAEllen Audia S-01: Sora and Virginia Rail Migratory Timing and Stopover Duration in the Illinois River Valley TBAAuriel 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 TBAJacob Zona S-03: CWD: CWD Hunter Harvest Initiative TBADeborah Hudman S-04: Evaluating Brown Trout strains stocked into Spring River, Arkansas TBAJoseph Kaiser S-05: Scars to Shiners. Iowa's Private-Public Partnership to Save the Endangered Topeka Shiner through Oxbow Restorations. TBABrandon Iddings S-06: Native bee response to woodland and glade restoration on Missouri’s state parks TBAKen McCarty

4:00pm CST

Fisheries Track: Evaluation of otolith and eye lens chemistry for identifying stocked Walleye TBAJoshua Fluur Fisheries Track: Spectaclecase Mussel Detection in the Upper Mississippi River Using eDNA TBATariq Tajjioui Wildlife Track: Habitat Selection of Gray Foxes in Southern Illinois TBANadine Pershyn Wildlife Track: Integrated dynamic occupancy models reveal declines in gamebird distributions in Illinois and sampling bias in eBird data TBALauren Scopel S-01: Monitoring grassland bird populations in Missouri & beyond TBADana Ripper S-02: Connecting Freshwater Resilience and Barrier Prioritization TBAMary Khoury S-03: CWD: Calculating the Cost of CWD: A Minnesota Approach TBAElizabeth Rasmussen S-04: Evaluation of the Effects of a Slot Length Limit and Stocking Changes for Rainbow and Brown Trout in Lake Taneycomo, Missouri TBAShane Bush S-05: Insights, Community Development, and Other Benefits of the Watershed Leaders Network TBABeth Baranski S-06: Renovating Duck Creek CA: An Integrated Approach TBAFrank Nelson

4:20pm CST

Fisheries Track: Addressing the Data Need to Manage Future Change in Fisheries TBAMadalyn Siller Fisheries Track: Mille Lacs Lake Walleye: Changes in Body Condition Over Time in Relation to Biotic and Environmental Changes TBALevi Suchla Wildlife Track: Using the Motus Wildlife Tracking System to fill knowledge gaps for priority Neotropical migratory birds in the Midwest and beyond TBASarah Kendrick Wildlife Track: When, where, and how prey pair antipredator behaviors to natural and anthropogenic mortality risks TBAMichael Egan S-01: An Assessment of Avian and Vegetation Communities on Agricultural Conservation Easement Wetlands in Eastern South Dakota TBAKatherine Millman S-02: Facilitated Discussion - Developing an Aquatic Connectivity Team: An example from the Missouri Stream Connectivity Partnership. TBAEric Rahm S-03: CWD: Post-Season Targeted Removal Efforts are Worth the Work to Manage CWD TBAAaron Hildreth S-04: From Rod to Research and Resilience: How Anglers Enhance Fisheries Research and Management in Minnesota Waters of Lake Superior TBANick Peterson S-05: Engaging Private Landowners through Conservation Marketing Shoal Creek Woodlands for Wildlife Case-History TBARob Pulliam

4:40pm CST

Fisheries Track: Assessing Habitat Quality Changes for Cool- and Warm-Water Fishes TBAMadalyn Siller Fisheries Track: Evaluating Data-limited Population Assessment Tools for Walleye TBACaleb Branam Wildlife Track: Creating a state-space model to assess the population status of fishers (Pekania pennanti) in Michigan's Upper Peninsula) TBAJustin Remmers Wildlife Track: Expansion of Motus in Missouri and the Midwest: examples of local and large scale Motus tracking TBAKristen Heath-Acre S-01: Owl and Nightjar Monitoring in Iowa TBAAnna Buckardt Thomas S-03: CWD: Facilitated Discussion TBA S-04: Community ecology in a bottle: Leveraging eDNA metabarcoding data to predict occupancy of co-occurring salmonids and gill lice ectoparasites TBASasha Tetzlaff S-05: The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) Aquatic Life Monitoring Project in the Illinois River and Kaskaskia River basins, Illinois TBASarah Molinaro

5:00pm CST

S-05: The Nature Conservancy at Dog Tooth Bend TBATharran Hobson Invasive Species Technical Committee Information and Interest Meeting TBAHannah Mulligan • Logan Zebro

5:30pm CST

Michigan State University Fisheries and Wildlife Alumni and Friends Social TBA