2025 Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference

AUTHORS: Dr. Heidi Mehl, The Nature Conservancy

ABSTRACT: For much of the 20th century, the United States built thousands of large dams and other water projects to meet the nation’s growing need for water, food, flood risk reduction, hydropower and navigation. Since their construction, the operations of very few public dams have been fully reviewed and updated to meet environmental needs. Dams and other river infrastructure disrupt natural flow patterns that are critical to the health of rivers and the flora and fauna that depend on them. Seasonal patterns of high and low flows support animal and plant lifecycles, preserve water quality and maintain diverse habitats. By artificially stabilizing river levels across the seasons, dams can set off cascading effects that negatively impact whole freshwater ecosystems and the diverse array of benefits they provide to people. Science has shown that altered rivers systems are a major factor in 40 percent of the nation’s fish species and 70 percent of freshwater mussel species being listed as imperiled, and why many commercial fisheries have been decimated. To help address these negative impacts, The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—the largest water manager in the nation—launched a collaborative effort to find more sustainable ways to manage river infrastructure to maximize benefits for people and nature. Known as the Sustainable River Program (SRP), the program has grown to include 66 federal dams on 16 rivers in 15 states. This presentation will provide a history and overview of SRP.

AUTHORS: Sarah Peper, Missouri Department of Conservation; Ryan Swearingin, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Travis Moore, Missouri Department of Conservation

ABSTRACT: Lake Sturgeon are an endangered species in Missouri, Illinois and ten other states. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) began recovery efforts, centered around juvenile reintroduction, in 1984. In 2015 the first wild spawn of the reintroduced population was confirmed in the tailwaters of Mel Price Locks and Dam on the Mississippi River. Despite intense monitoring of the site over the next 5 years, no further spawning events were observed. In 2021, MDC and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began working together to improve conditions for Lake Sturgeon spawning success at the site. The team received an SRP grant to fund monitoring efforts and to build a hydraulic model of the tailwaters. Using the hydraulic model as a guide, tailwater velocities were modified to mimic those recorded during the 2015 spawn. We observed successful Lake Sturgeon spawning in the first year the project was implemented. Continued success has brought interest in replicating this project at other dams. USACE is currently leading efforts to evaluate all 27 dams/tailwaters on the Mississippi River for Lake Sturgeon spawning habitat suitability.

AUTHORS: Annie Hentschke, Missouri Department of Conservation; Travis Moore Missouri Department of Conservation; Justin Garret, USACE

ABSTRACT: The Salt River in northeast Missouri is a tributary of the Mississippi River and was dammed in 1984 to create Mark Twain Lake. The Clarence Cannon Dam, operated by the Corps of Engineers and the Southwestern Power Administration, influences the flow out of the dam for water control and hydropower generation. In addition, there is a re-regulation dam below MTL, which was implemented to allow the reuse of downstream water for hydropower. While re-regulation is extremely rare, flows out of MTL and the re-regulation pool significantly impact the lower Salt River species. The river hosts various species of interest, including the state-endangered lake sturgeon, which has seen a recent aggregation below the re-regulation dam during the spawning season in some years. The Sustainable Rivers Project, a proactive initiative, has allowed the Missouri Department of Conservation, in coordination with the Corps of Engineers and SWPA, to evaluate and create consistent seasonal flows to promote native fish aggregation, successful spawning, and reproduction. The Sustainable Rivers Program has allowed for funding for modeling, monitoring, and assessment of existing conditions. In 2023, this SRP team successfully initiated optimal and consistent flows to attract lake sturgeon near the re-regulation dam on the Salt River.

AUTHORS: McKensie Vaske, Iowa State University; Ryan Hupfeld, Iowa DNR; Gene Jones, Iowa DNR; Rebecca Krogman, Iowa DNR; Daniel Paulson, Iowa State University; Michael Weber, Iowa State University; Michael Moore, U.S. Geological Survey

ABSTRACT: Environmental flows in large rivers are crucial for maintaining ecosystem health, supporting biodiversity, and ensuring the sustainability of water resources for human, wildlife, and fish populations. Low and rapidly fluctuating river levels due to drought and dam operations downstream of impoundments may adversely affect the reproduction of native fishes by disrupting migratory cues and the transport of larvae to downstream nursery habitats. The United States Army Corps of Engineers and The Nature Conservancy developed the Sustainable Rivers Program (SRP) to implement science-based management of 45 river ecosystems across the nation. At the Des Moines River SRP site in Iowa, partners hypothesized that implementing experimental spring flow pulses at Red Rock Dam could promote native fish reproduction, including Shovelnose Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) in low-flow years. However, it remains unclear whether these actions have been effective. Therefore, from 2021-2023 we conducted larval drift sampling to examine relationships between flow pulses, water temperatures, and reproductive timing of Shovelnose Sturgeon, a long-lived periodic spawning species found throughout the Mississippi River basin. We sampled four sites from April through June spanning ~84 river kilometers in ~15-20°C water temperatures 1-2 times each week. We collected 4 eggs/larvae in 2021, 17 in 2022, and 20 in 2023. There was a positive relationship with discharge and the number of Shovelnose Sturgeon eggs/larvae collected during 2021-2023. We conducted larval drift sampling again in 2024 in additional rivers to compare flow-reproduction relationships between the regulated Des Moines and Iowa rivers with the less-regulated Cedar River. These data may allow dam managers to adjust the timing and magnitude of flow pulses to benefit native fish reproduction without also promoting the reproduction of later spawning invasive carps.

AUTHORS: Daniel Paulson, Iowa State University; McKensie Vaske, Iowa State University; Michael Moore, U.S. Geological Survey, Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit; Michael Weber, Iowa State University

ABSTRACT: Alterations to natural flow regimes from hydroelectric dams, channelization, and land-use practices degrade riverine habitats for native lotic fish. For instance, over the course of multiple summers, including 2024, more than 10,000 Shovelnose Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorynchus have died on the Des Moines River, IA predicted to be from river alterations creating suboptimal habitat conditions. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through the Sustainable Rivers Program has expressed interest in restoring environmental flows and providing heat relief pulses which could improve available habitat for native lotic species. Since Shovelnose Sturgeon habitat requirements have not been studied on the Des Moines River, our objective is to quantify their habitat use and selection to determine the environmental conditions that contribute to survival during the summer months. From 2022-2024, we acoustically tagged 69 Shovelnose Sturgeon and actively tracked them 2-3 times a week from June-September 2024 (31 total events). At each fish location, we measured macrohabitat (main-channel, main-channel border, side-channel, pool, backwater, or tailwater) and microhabitat characteristics (water temperature, surface water velocity, substrate, and depth). We identified 84 Shovelnose Sturgeon locations (23 individuals; mean detections per fish = 4). These sturgeon occupied water velocities ranging from 0.23 m/s to 1.56 m/s (mean = 0.87 m/s) and water depths between 0.6 m to 3.7 m (mean = 2.01 m). Sand was the most occupied substrate (50% observations) with gravel and cobble evenly split (25% observations). We will repeat this work during 2025 to gain a better understanding of habitat use and selection on this altered river. This research could help guide management efforts on regulated rivers to promote better resiliency for downstream biota by giving insight onto what conditions are critical for Shovelnose Sturgeon during this stressful period.

AUTHORS: Victoria Fasbender, Iowa State University; Stephen Dinsmore, Iowa State University

ABSTRACT: Migratory birds rely on stopover sites as a place to rest and refuel before continuing their migration. One site, Lake Red Rock in central Iowa, has implemented a water drawdown by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to benefit migrating waterbirds as part of the Sustainable Rivers Program (SRP). Our objectives are to document space use and movement patterns and estimate residency time of fall migrating Pectoral Sandpipers (Calidris melanotos) in relation to the drawdown timing. We fitted Pectoral Sandpipers with GPS satellite tags to gather local and global movement information in 2023 and 2024. Of the 25 birds tagged in 2023, seven stayed at Lake Red Rock during their battery life duration, seven made landfall in either Colombia, Venezuela, or the Dominican Republic, and eleven had their battery die while making a long movement south. Pectoral Sandpipers at Lake Red Rock had an average home range of 10.5 km2 (SD = 11.7) and a mean minimum stopover duration of 8.4 days (SD = 3.4). The average distance traveled at Lake Red Rock per day was 3.4 km (SD = 2.0). The average flight speed of departed birds (n = 18) was 47 km per hour (SD = 5.9). Those that left and made landfall (n = 7) flew an average of 4,788 km (SD = 607) with an average nonstop flight time of 98 hours (SD = 17). Our work showed that sandpipers closely tracked the shallow water/mud interface during their stopover and that their refueling efforts were sufficient to fuel a non-stop flight to northern South America. This work highlights the benefits the SRP can have for migrating waterbirds and encourages similar management at other dammed lakes.

AUTHORS: T. Rickey, USACE Mobile
R. Allen, USACE Mobile

ABSTRACT: The USACE Mobile Disrict has been participating in the Sustainable Rivers Program for three years. In those three years the District has worked across three states to improve fish passage, improve water quality, improve mussel habitat, and create spawning habitat using existing federal infrastructure. Using in field operational experimentation and biological and hydrological survey techniques the team has been able to study changes to projects and how to benifit species.

AUTHORS:  Teresa Newton, US Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center; Jeff Cole, US Geological Survey, Pennsylvania Water Science Center; John Young, US Geological Survey, Eastern Ecological Science Center; Jordan Allison, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission; Nate Welker, US Forest Service; Kristi Dobra, US Army Corps of Engineers; Molly Reif, US Army Engineer Research and Development Center

ABSTRACT:  The Sustainable Rivers Program, a national partnership between The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was created to modernize water infrastructure to maximize ecological benefits. In the Allegheny River (PA), resource managers are considering modifying flows at the Kinzua Dam but are concerned about effects of altered flows on sensitive species, such as native freshwater mussels. Prior to implementing a revised flow regime, resource managers requested baseline data on existing mussel resources. We developed a robust sampling design to (1) understand how mussels are spatially distributed across the riverscape, (2) estimate density, population size, and recruitment strength of mussels, and (3) obtain remotely-sensed habitat data across a 135 km reach of the Allegheny River downstream of the Kinzua Dam. In June 2024, divers obtained data on mussels from 300 systemically placed quadrats across the reach. From the quadrat data, multiple metrics of the relative health of mussels will be estimated (e.g., species richness, mortality, age and length demography, recruitment). From high-resolution aerial and boat-borne sensors (e.g., bathymetric lidar, hyperspectral imagery, sonar), characterization of in-channel mussel habitat will be obtained and used to create hydrodynamic and habitat models to explain patterns of mussel distribution at a variety of flows. Currently, resource managers rely on data obtained from project-specific studies to make management decisions. The addition of systemic baseline data on mussels across an entire reach of the Allegheny River will facilitate more informed decisions about how mussels may respond to proposed changes in river flows.

AUTHORS: Liam Wallace, US Army Corps of Engineers; Joan Stemler, Liam Wallace, US Army Corps of Engineers ; Dave Busse, Liam Wallace, US Army Corps of Engineers Lane Richter, US Army Corps of Engineers

ABSTRACT: Environmental Pool Management (EPM), beginning as a request by natural resource partners, is a strategy for improving environmental benefits above navigation dams on the Mississippi River while maintaining a mandated nine-foot navigation channel depth. For the past 30 years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District has worked with resource agencies to implement pool drawdowns during the growing season that promote emergent and aquatic plant development over more than a thousand acres above the three locks and dams (approximately 100 river miles) on the Upper Mississippi River between Louisiana, MO and West Alton, MO. The timing and duration of these drawdowns change annually based on environmental conditions and partner input which results in varied plant response. EPM has been successfully implemented in at least one of the three pools in 25 of 30 years. In recent years, operational changes have been evaluated to expand the plant response from annual emergent plants to aquatic plants in portions of the pools. Monitoring of plant response has shown high productivity and seed production from plants with high value for migratory waterfowl as well as the return of formerly more abundant perennial aquatic species.

AUTHORS: Marvin Boyer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District; Laura Totten, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District

ABSTRACT: The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have partnered to form the Sustainable Rivers Program (SRP) to examine opportunities to optimize reservoir releases and river flows to benefit river ecology while maintaining the federal mandates of the reservoir systems within the United States. The mission of the SRP is to improve the health and life of rivers by changing water infrastructure operations to restore and protect ecosystems, while maintaining or enhancing other project benefits. The USACE Kansas City District and TNC Kansas and Missouri added the Kansas River and the Osage River to the SRP. Workshops were held with regional biology and hydrology experts to help guide the process of identifying e-flows and e-pool management measures. Literature reviews and data mining exercises were undertaken for the Kansas and Osage River systems to identify flow-dependent fish, mussels, and other species and their habitats, examine changes in these species over time, and propose the likely causes of these changes. This information was used to better understand reservoir operation impacts and examine possibilities for reservoir management modifications within the range of authorized reservoir releases that would create flows beneficial to the Kansas and Osage Rivers ecosystems. SRP expanded from traditional e-flows work and began funding projects that targeted managing pool levels at USACE reservoirs, raising and lowering the water surface elevation of wetlands, lakes, or river pools for the purpose of stimulating aquatic seed germination, improving aquatic plant and animal diversity, consolidating wetland soils, and other ecological and environmental effects. The SRP USACE team is currently working to find opportunities to implement test flows outlined in workshops and incorporate recent Kansas and Osage Rivers e-flow and e-pool information into ongoing reservoir Water Control Manual Updates.

AUTHORS: Brian Johnson, US Army Corps of Engineers - St. Louis

ABSTRACT: The US Army Corps of Engineers is one largest water resource management agencies in the United States, managing over 460 reservoirs and providing over 50% of the nation’s entire flood storage capacity. In addition, the Corps manages 237 navigable locks throughout the country. All told the Corps operates and maintains approximately 740 dams and associated structures which directly impact over 52,000 miles of rivers. In recognition of the magnitude and breath of the impact of USACE water infrastructure across the country, the Corps began partnering with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in 2002 on the Sustainable Rivers Program (SRP). The SRP Program has the clear mission of working at Corps operating projects to improve the health and life of rivers by changing infrastructure operations to restore and protect ecosystems, while maintaining or enhancing other project benefits. To date the program has worked on over 40 rivers impacting over 12,000 miles. Within the Midwest there are active SRP projects in at least 8 states, including Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The Corps has continued to partner with TNC to deliver the SRP Program, most recently with the release of TNC’s Resilient & Connected Network analysis of the USACE sites, which helps identify those sites with the highest resilience and biodiversity. The results of that work show there is still abundant need and potential for new projects and opportunities within the Midwest region. This presentation will discuss that potential, delve into the SRP process, and discuss how to work with USACE to submit and propose new projects.