2025 Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference

Pre-registration and additional fees are required for participation. If you signed up online, you will receive a ticket in your registration materials.

HALF DAY AM- 9AM-12PM
Fee: $20 (Additional cost of $20 for attendees to obtain their own ChatGPT account prior to the conference)
Contact: Keith Hurley, Fish and Wildlife Specialist, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, keith.hurley@nebraska.gov

Overview:
Does IT restrictions make small-scale, one-off app development impossible for you? Is the lack of financial resources for software solutions that you have at your disposal blocking your workflow and productivity? We’re all just trying to Get Stuff Done but often it seems like we spend precious time fighting the technology-based hurdles in our way. Gorilla-programming is a philosophy with a few concepts: use readily available and free/low-cost tools, keep things in-house and in your control, and avoid the flashy while aiming for the functional.

The rise of ChatGPT and it’s family of large-language model AI siblings has given us the ability to create computer code without being trained computer developers. During this workshop, we will use ChatGPT along with tools and software you already have on your laptop to create three utility and data-entry applications. We will show you the general process and workflow to create functional software applications that work across devices and operating systems - no coding experience or previous computer development skills are needed! When you return to work after the conference, you’ll be ready to use gorilla-warfare to clear those technology hurdles and GSD.

Intended Audience: Audience: biologists, researchers, anyone working with computers and data on the job. Level of difficulty: beginner (must be able to do basic computer tasks like create a folder and file, open web browser, etc). All levels (students through professionals) would benefit from the workshop - the intent being to provide a new skillset immediately applicable to most any position.

Pre-registration and additional fees are required for participation. If you signed up online, you will receive a ticket in your registration materials.

Fee: $25
Contact: John Schulz, University of Missouri; schulzjh@umsystem.edu
Workshop sponsored by the North Central Section of The Wildlife Society.

Overview:
This workshop provides information for developing an understanding of the derivation, principles, and processes for a wide variety of recreational and natural resource management policies concerning public land management. This is accomplished by providing a broad overview of policy issues related to historical and current recreational and natural resource management.
Course/Learning objectives

• Understand history of North American conservation and how it has shaped the development of natural resource and recreation policies.
• Understand roles of science, policy, and politics in developing and implementing outdoor recreation and natural resource policies.
• Understand how economics and markets affect outdoor recreation and natural resource policy processes.
• Understanding of the processes of policy development and implementation for recreation and natural resource management.
• Understand roles and responsibilities of various agencies in developing and implementing recreation and natural resource management policies.
• Develop an understanding of the complexities of recreation and natural resource policy by examining real-life examples of past and current policy issues. 

Intended Audience: Students and Professionals; intermediate level

AUTHORS:

ABSTRACT:

AUTHORS: Matt Harlow, DJ Case & Associates; Holly Mauslein, DJ Case & Associates; Tanna Wagner, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks

ABSTRACT: A lot of effort has been put into making state fish and wildlife agencies more relevant to broader audiences. To this end, AFWA’s Education, Outreach and Diversity Committee created the National Conservation Outreach Strategy in 2018. This strategy provided a toolkit that enabled each state fish and wildlife agency to increase awareness of its role in protecting and conserving wildlife. In 2019, the “Making It Last” campaign was pilot-tested to help learn how to best “tell the state story” to boost relevancy with the public, followed by a second phase to fine-tune and further test the initiative. However, states’ limited budgets and uncertainty regarding the campaign’s effectiveness reduced the number of states able to implement and evaluate the campaign. With the relevancy topic becoming more critical every year, the need existed to field a rebranded and tested campaign accompanied by improved toolkit materials and evaluations.
With four participating state agencies from Kansas, Vermont, South Carolina, and California, this project advances the public case for why fish and wildlife agencies matter across the nation. This third phase focused on engaging more states by rebranding away from the “Making It Last” theme to a more directly relevant brand and messaging content. These new resources were developed using public testing via focus groups, best practices, and lessons learned in previous phases of this campaign. We focused on updating and upgrading the story of state-based conservation through messaging and materials designed to resonate better with the public and agency staff.
The result is a campaign that more state agencies can utilize to increase public awareness and support, especially among audiences not traditionally engaged in conservation or fish and wildlife-based recreation.

AUTHORS: Kristin F. Hurst, Southern Illinois University; Zachary M. Hurst, Playa Lakes Joint Venture

ABSTRACT: Addressing complex conservation challenges frequently requires collaboration between stakeholders who hold disparate and sometimes incompatible views. To advance solutions, stakeholders need a common understanding of the scope of the problem and other stakeholder’s positions related to it. This requires that they be receptive to information that may not align with their pre-existing positions. We experimentally tested a strategy to foster such receptivity by evaluating the effect of a behavioral intervention on perspective-taking and empathy. Participants (N = 223) who previously expressed opposition to a transition to renewable energy were randomly assigned to write a short, morally grounded essay either in favor of (intervention) or in opposition to (control) a shift to renewable energy. We expected that writing a morally grounded essay in favor of one’s opposing stance would increase perspective-taking, empathy, and support of the energy transition. We found a main effect on support and empathy but not perspective-taking. We also hypothesized that empathy would mediate the relationship between essay writing and support. We tested a serial mediation model where writing a counter-attitudinal essay would result in increased empathy and support, which then results in an intention to act. While we found a significant indirect effect of essay writing on behavioral intention, mediated by support, there was no evidence that empathy helped to explain this relationship. Given the relatively simple intervention and its potential to be easily incorporated into group settings, we suggest that its use may help lay the foundation for a more productive discussion. Future research can help understand the mechanism by which this occurs and its impact on the likelihood of reaching agreements.

AUTHORS:  Ashley Gramza, Playa Lakes Joint Venture; Zach Hurst, Playa Lakes Joint Venture; Ryan Roberts, Playa Lakes Joint Venture

ABSTRACT:  The Central Grasslands region of North America provides crucial habitat for a myriad of bird and wildlife species and vital resources for human communities. This ecosystem is in rapid decline mainly due to cropland conversion, climate change, and invasive plant species. Current conservation efforts have not stopped this decline, highlighting the need for a shift in conservation delivery strategies that incorporate local populations within this landscape. Furthermore, grassland management decisions are multidimensional and complex, requiring social science to understand, yet this research has not often been coordinated among social scientists nor integrated into conservation delivery strategies. To improve the integration of social science knowledge into conservation delivery, we synthesized existing conservation social science research related to grassland management decision-making, examined social science needs and priorities of grassland conservation delivery professionals, and used the aforementioned information to create a plan that identifies challenges and opportunities for grassland conservation delivery and includes a research priority list for future social science research to benefit grassland conservation. The grassland management social science literature review underscored the importance of conducting more transdisciplinary, community-based and participatory grassland conservation projects. These strategies will increase the reach, effectiveness and equity of conservation efforts and help ensure long-term grassland persistence across the Central Grasslands. This project with its combination of data sources provides a good understanding of the current state of knowledge and related research needs, while making this information available to grassland conservation professionals. It also provides a starting point for conservation social scientists to coordinate and collaborate on future research that is useful and usable to grassland conservation professionals within the Central Grasslands.

AUTHORS: Susan Steffen, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks

ABSTRACT: Creel surveys are often touted as extremely important to fisheries management as a way of understanding angling participation and characteristics. What types of information is collected during creel surveys, and, more importantly, how is it applied to fisheries management? Using Kansas Department of Wildlife and Park’s (KDWP) creel survey data, I will demonstrate the link between fisheries management goals and objectives, among other useful applications of creel surveys – including “supplemental questions” at the end of creel surveys as an alternative to online surveys. Through these applied examples, the audience will better understand how KDWP fisheries managers use creel survey and other human dimensions data to inform decision-making, engage with anglers, and maintain quality fishing opportunities.

AUTHORS:  Sarah Ulrichsen, University of Nebraska - Lincoln; Christopher Chizinski, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

ABSTRACT:  Understanding the factors that motivate anglers to go fishing is crucial for effective fisheries management and conservation efforts. People's engagement with fishing is deeply influenced by their motivations—a complex interplay of the needs, desires, and goals that propel people to engage in recreation. We analyzed anglers' motivations to seek their primary species—including trophy fishing, keeping and eating the catch, identity, social interaction, and gear use—across various species preferences, such as Bass, Catfish, Walleye, and panfish. Data were collected via a web-based survey distributed to a stratified random sample of licensed anglers across Kansas. We sent invitations to 7500 licensed anglers and had 771 total responses (a 13% response rate). Preliminary results indicate significant differences in motivational factors when comparing species preferences. Walleye anglers are more motivated by keeping the fish they catch and liking the taste of their preferred species. In contrast, Bass anglers place a much lower value on reaching the bag limit, fishing for nutrition, and keeping the fish they catch. Among all species, anglers placed the most importance on choosing a fishing location because of the presence of their preferred fish species. These results highlight the importance of species-specific management strategies catering to the angling community's diverse motivations. Through understanding differentiated motivations, managers can be provided with critical insights into the importance of various motivational factors of recreational fishing as they relate to sought-after fish species, helping to inform the development of targeted regulations and conservation strategies that address the diverse needs and values of fishing communities in the Midwest.

AUTHORS:  Josef Hrabowski, Ball State University; Sandy Clark-Kolaks, Indiana DNR; Emily McCallen, Indiana DNR; Len Hunt, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources; Faezeh Soleimani, Ball State University ;Paul Venturelli, Ball State University

ABSTRACT:  Recreational fishing license sales have been declining for almost a decade in many US states, greatly impacting management funding. A detailed knowledge of the license buying patterns of specific population segments could allow agencies to tailor their marketing and management more efficiently. We used the ESRI Tapestry system to identify life-mode-specific, spatial and temporal patterns of license sales in Indiana between 2012 and 2022. Each life mode describes a population segment based on demographic (e.g., age and household makeup), economic (e.g., income and profession) and behavior (e.g., recreational preferences and affinity to technology). We found that the majority of license holders in Indiana in all years were older people living in more rural communities. However, younger urban population segments had the largest increase in license sales during 2020 (i.e., during the COVID pandemic). This suggests that the younger urban population segment is interested in fishing but does not have the time for this hobby during normal years. We also calculated churn rates by market segment as well as identify recruitment, retention and reactivation trends. We saw that while older people make up a higher proportion of total license purchases, they were more likely to drop in or out, while younger segments who a higher consistency. We also examined spatial patterns of license purchases while taking the observed differences of market segments into account, to identify possible geographic influences. We found that the availability of boat ramps and boat docks had the greatest influence on license purchases. Information gathered through the analysis of purchasing patterns by population segment will allow agencies to identify barriers to fishing, and tailor marketing, communications, and management to specific segments.

AUTHORS: Ben C. Neely, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks; Susan F. Steffen, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks; Jeff D. Koch, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks

ABSTRACT: Harvest regulation is a common tool used by fisheries managers to structure fish communities. However, anglers must comply with harvest restrictions for expected outcomes to occur. Dynamic angling motivations have led to supposition that different, unexplored factors influence contemporary angler decisions to harvest captured fish. We used recursive partitioning (i.e., decision trees) to model fate of angled fish (harvested or released) from creel data collected throughout Kansas from 1997 to 2024. A suite of 20 variables that related to the captured fish (e.g., fish length, legal status), location (e.g., surface area, rural/urban), time (e.g., year, day of week), and angling party (e.g., number of anglers, proportion male) were associated with each fish encounter. The global model indicated that legal status of an individual fish (i.e., vulnerable to harvest based on length), species, and fish length were the most important variables and correctly classified fate in 83.8% of test data records. Submodels developed individually for 12 species or species groups correctly classified fate in 67% (Lepomis spp.) to 96% (Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu) of test data records. These models highlight how variables influencing harvest differed by species or species group, and specified fish length, legal status, rural/urban characterization, and fishery longitude as the most important variables impacting fate. Our models demonstrate that angler decision to harvest a fish can be approximated from a few important variables commonly captured during standard creel surveys. Although these variables may differ based on fish taxa, generalities within can be useful for informing harvest regulation for fisheries management.

AUTHORS:  Rebecca M. Krogman, Iowa Department of Natural Resources; Annika Preheim, Iowa Department of Natural Resources

ABSTRACT:  Anonymous location data (ALD) provide travel and movement information based on mobile and "smart" devices' geolocations. When applied to a recreational location like a lake, ALD can provide metrics such as travel distance from home, trip duration, trip timing across days and seasons, and total visitation. These are essential metrics for recreational use studies, which have traditionally collected such data via mailed, telephone, or intercept survey. In Iowa, recreational use of public lakes and reservoirs is monitored every five years to identify areas for priority work, measure change over time, and assess recreational user opinions, behaviors while visiting, and needs. The Department of Natural Resources' (DNR's) Iowa Lakes Survey was conducted as an incentivized mailed survey in 2002-2005, 2009, 2014, and 2019, and was due to be completed again in 2024. However, as has been seen across survey science, response rates were declining, and DNR decided to conduct its 2024 Iowa Lakes Survey using a completely novel methodology: a combination of ALD and intercept survey of recreational visitors. With the travel metrics captured by ALD, intercept surveys could focus on preference and experience questions, making them shorter and more targeted. DNR initiated the 2024 Iowa Lakes Survey in April 2024 with intercept surveys being conducted statewide for 12 months. These data will be combined with ALD for the same time period to yield recreational information that is both comprehensive and representative of Iowa's resource users. Preliminary data from the spring, summer, and fall will be presented.

AUTHORS: Matthew Maldonado, University of North Dakota; Taufique Mahmood, University of North Dakota; David P. Coulter, South Dakota State University; Alison A. Coulter, South Dakota State University; Steve R. Chipps, U.S. Geological Survey; Maddy Siller, South Dakota State University; Michaela Neal, University of North Dakota; Ayon Saha, University of North Dakota; Mark A. Kaemingk, University of North Dakota

ABSTRACT: As climate change continues to manifest, its potential effects on angler behavior remain a blind spot in inland recreational fisheries. Predicted alterations to a waterbody’s hydrology, fish community, and infrastructure from climate change could ultimately influence angler behavior. The severity and impact of these alterations on angler behavior is currently unknown, despite the importance of angler effort for effective fisheries management. Previous research has shown that angler effort is closely tied to hydrology or waterbody surface area, with larger waterbodies attracting more angler effort. Establishing this link between resource availability and angler effort allows us to further our understanding of how anglers may respond to climate change. Our goal was to use a resource size (i.e., lake surface area) – use (i.e., angler effort) model to understand the potential influence of climate and hydrology on the spatial and temporal patterns of angler effort. We used this model to understand how drought and deluge cycles may influence the magnitude and distribution of angler effort within a basin (i.e., several watersheds). Our lake size – angler effort model was developed using historical creel survey angler effort and remotely sensed waterbody surface area data for 15 waterbodies in North and South Dakota from 1990 to 2019 (r2 = 0.86). We used this model to predict angler behavior by remotely sensing the surface area for 45 public waterbodies in the Devils Lake Basin, North Dakota, USA for 32 years (1990-2021). We tracked synchrony in angler effort in the basin, demonstrating spatial and temporal patterns that are tied to changes in lake hydrology and fishing opportunity for anglers. Our results allow managers to address the current blind spot of how anglers might respond to climate change by characterizing climate-related spatiotemporal dynamics in angler effort and identifying hotspots of high interannual variation in angler effort at a basin-level.

AUTHORS: Matteo Cleary, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; John Pohlman, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources;

ABSTRACT: Each state that receives Land and Water Conservation funding from the National Park Service is responsible for drafting plans for how it will disburse those funds to applicant organizations. State, county, and municipally owned properties are where much of Wisconsin's wildlife management and related recreation take place. We present results from a large mixed-methods effort to learn what our public experiences as they recreate in these places. We paired our publicly sourced data with responses from county and municipal recreation decisionmakers, which helped us build a more holistic picture of emerging needs for land and water management throughout the state, as they relate to recreation planning.

AUTHORS: Natalia Hagen, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Matthew Gruntorad, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Sarah Ulrichsen, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Christopher C. Chizinski, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

ABSTRACT: The Rainwater Basin in south-central Nebraska is a working landscape with numerous wetlands and important wildlife habitats. We conducted phone interviews with 198 agricultural producers across 10 counties in the Rainwater Basin region to understand their perspectives on conservation programs and their level of concern towards the environmental issues of climate change, water pollution, and biodiversity loss. Results indicated that none of the interviewed producers were currently participating in conservation programs despite their concerns about water pollution on a local level. Coding of the interviews revealed four major themes as to why producers were no longer participating in conservation programs and an overall lack of strong positive or negative opinions towards these programs. This suggests agricultural producers may lack confidence in the ability of conservation programs in their current state to be of personal benefit. To increase conservation program participation, it will be critical to recognize what producers need to facilitate enrollment.

AUTHORS:

ABSTRACT:

AUTHORS: Brittany Harried, Missouri Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, School of Natural Resources, Columbia, MO; MJ Oubre, Illinois Chapter of the American Fisheries Society; Jory Jonas, Michigan Department of Natural Resources


ABSTRACT: The Fisheries Community Advocacy and Sustainability Team (FishCAST) was established following in-depth discussions on the critical need for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the North-Central Division (NCD) at the 2024 Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference. Formed in March 2024, FishCAST aims to provide resources and opportunities to support its members, fostering a strong sense of belonging and improving the retention and recruitment of diverse members within the fisheries community.

At the upcoming 2025 Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, FishCAST will host a dedicated symposium titled “FishCAST: Working Towards a Better Future for all Fisheries Professionals”. We will start this symposium by introducing FishCAST and its mission, purpose, and goals. Then, we will identify existing DEI committees within the NCD, allowing time for representatives of these committees to introduce themselves and share their mission, purpose, goals, and accomplishments. Finally, we will introduce the session which will consist of a wide array of presentation topics and will conclude with a moderated panel discussion.

AUTHORS: Jory Jonas, Co-chair FishCAST AFS Standing Committee;
Nivette Perez-Perez, Co-chair FishCAST AFS Standing Committee;
Greyson Wolf, Co-chair Committee FishCAST AFS Standing Committee

ABSTRACT: The AFS FishCAST Standing Committee was recently renamed from the Diversity and Inclusion Standing Committee. A primary objective of the FishCAST Standing Committee is to provide oversight for AFS efforts to increase and maintain diversity in membership and the fisheries profession, and to assure that all AFS activities and programs are fully inclusive. Committee efforts are aimed toward improving communications and leveraging resources within the society to best understand and address systemic barriers to member participation. The committee serves as a centralized organizational network which facilitates effective communication among related committees and teams. Successful efforts will enhance communications among interest groups, establish platforms for connection, and streamline redundant processes. By creating an environment where members can learn from each other and adapt to increasingly complex landscapes, the goal is to improve satisfaction, recruitment, and retention for a broader range of current and future members. We look forward to sharing and having discussions regarding initiatives occurring withing the AFS FishCAST.

AUTHORS: Gweniviere Oubre, Wilmington Substation, Carterville FWCO, USFWS, gweniviere_oubre@fws.gov

ABSTRACT: In recent years, the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) field has made significant strides toward embracing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) principles. However, many marginalized communities within STEM still face systemic barriers that hinder their full participation and success. Although some research has explored these challenges, there is a notable gap in the recollection of historical figures and accounts from historically excluded communities. Incorporating historical perspectives is essential to understanding the context of current DEIA efforts in STEM. By critically examining the past, we can gain valuable insights into the roots of these barriers and develop more effective strategies for creating an inclusive and equitable future.

AUTHORS: Jory Jonas, Michigan DNR, jonasj@michigan.gov, 231-350-6429

ABSTRACT: A nine-step process was employed to organize DEIJA responses within a state agency. We used a Systems Approach to understand structures within the agency and crowd sourced creation of Guiding Star and Problem Statements to orient actions. Systems were broken down into five subject matter categories (staff composition and hiring, public perception and partnerships, training and education, employee engagement, and workplace rules, power and hierarchy). Nearstar (shorter term) objectives were established within each subject matter category. Recommendations were shared with each division (forestry, law, marketing, history, wildlife, fisheries, finance, executive) via a recommendations document. Division teams were asked to create strategic plans and report on metrics. The different sections within the agency are in varying levels of implementation but are making progress and generally orienting around shared goals and objectives.

AUTHORS: Shaley Valentine, Aquatic Ecology Lab, Ohio State University

ABSTRACT: Recruitment and retention of students and early career professionals (ECPs) is an ongoing issue throughout all levels of AFS. Engaging students and ECPs is critical to their recruitment and retention, but AFS activities may need to adapt to engage students and ECPs. To garner ideas on how to best engage students and ECPs, I administered a survey throughout the North Central Division. A total of 176 respondents ranked their perception of current and proposed benefits of AFS and provided written open-ended feedback on activities that would benefit rising professionals. Students and ECPs called for more tangible and monetary benefits that would allow them to network and gain technical and soft skills to kickstart their future careers. From the inclusivity side of the survey, marginalized individuals almost always stated a greater benefit or need for proposed workshops and benefits than majority identifying individuals. Write-in responses repeatedly stated a need for more diversity and inclusion initiatives. Poignantly, women and women of ethnic minorities reported feeling lower levels of acceptance in the fisheries community compared to men. Combined, these results suggest the needs of students and ECPs are not met within the Division, and there is a clear need for more volunteers to create and offer tangible benefits. Results also highlight a clear need for diversity initiatives throughout the NCD but beginning and maintaining these diversity initiatives may be an ongoing challenge.

AUTHORS: Brittany Harried, Missouri Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, School of Natural Resources, Columbia, MO; MJ Oubre, Illinois Chapter of the American Fisheries Society; Jory Jonas, Michigan Department of Natural Resources


ABSTRACT: The Fisheries Community Advocacy and Sustainability Team (FishCAST) of the North Central Division (NCD) will conclude the “FishCAST: Working Towards a Better Future for all Fisheries Professionals” symposium by hosting a moderated panel discussion. This interactive segment will provide a safe space to foster open dialogue and active engagement among participants. Questions will be submitted anonymously by participants and screened by the moderators to maintain a safe and open environment while allowing for productive conversations. Invited panelists will consist of NCD members and experts with experienced backgrounds in diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and accessibility initiatives. Discussions from this panel will be summarized and shared in the Spring 2025 NCD Mainstream Newsletter. Additionally, FishCAST will use information gathered during this symposium to identify and prioritize areas of short- and long-term growth within the NCD.