2025 Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference

AUTHORS: John Schulte, Ellie Prentice, Andrew Glen (Missouri Department of Conservation)

ABSTRACT: 

Missouri’s Urban Winter Trout Program (WTP) successfully provides close-to-home trout angling opportunities for residence of urban population centers in regions across the state including Kansas City (KC), Central (CR), and St. Louis (SL). The WTP stockings are administered and funded by the Missouri Department of Conservation, which stocks community and agency-owned lakes across Missouri’s major metropolitan spaces. This talk provides a brief overview of the MO WTP, including programmatic alignment with agency goals, stocking efforts, and recent insights into the region’s urban trout recent angler opinion and demographic surveys.

Community partner WTP lakes are stocked exclusively through the Community Assistance Program (CAP) which is a contractual agreement through which MDC agrees to monitor, stock, and maintain fish populations within the enrolled lakes. MDC’s WTP annually stocks 46 community lakes, November through February, with over 100,000 Rainbow Trout (RBT) and Brown Trout (BT) averaging a minimum 304-mm. Trout are primarily raised and distributed by state-agency owned cold-water hatcheries at Shepherd of the Hills, Montauk, Bennet Springs.

Continued interest in MO’s WTP has again been demonstrated by urban anglers from across the state through the recent WTP angler participation survey. During January- February 2024, MDC conducted a preliminary trout angler survey on 8 urban trout lakes in three regions (KC, Central, STL) to better understand angler usage, demographics, and inform recruitment efforts. Survey results from across participating regions showed most cooperating anglers; consumed what fish they caught, preferred traveling < 20 miles to trout fish, and KC anglers strongly supported expansion of trout angling opportunities. The survey inversely showed a clear need for better survey accommodations for non-English and ESL speaking anglers in future efforts.

However, there is still a clear need for expanded insight into agency efforts and the processes that benefit and are supported by the WTP, as to help better inform program reach and service to urban residents and underserved communities.