2025 Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference

2025 Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference

Tatum Redmon

Missouri Department of Conservation

Aquatic Animal Health Scientist

8:00am CST

Conference Registration Desk Open Grand Coatroom (4th Floor)

9:00am CST

W-02: Promoting Resilient Fish and Wildlife Populations through Disease Investigations Grand C (4th Floor)

8:00am CST

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

10:30am CST

North Central Division AFS Business Meeting Grand A (4th Floor)Daniel Isermann

1:40pm CST

Fisheries Track: Effects of Flow Variation on Recruitment in a Central Missouri Stream Fish Assemblage Regency D (2nd Floor)Connor Church S-04: Historical Perspectives on Trout Management in Missouri Grand A (4th Floor)Mike Kruse

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 S-04: Trout Streams of the Northern Ozarks: Overview of Missouri's Ribbon Areas Grand A (4th Floor)Blake Stephens

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 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

2:40pm CST

S-04: Bennett Spring State Fish Hatchery Renovations Grand A (4th Floor)Ben Havens

3:20pm CST

S-04: Insights into Missouri's Urban Winter Trout Program Grand A (4th Floor)John Schulte

3:40pm CST

S-04: Evaluating Brown Trout strains stocked into Spring River, Arkansas Grand A (4th Floor)Joseph Kaiser

4:00pm CST

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

4:20pm CST

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

4:40pm CST

Fisheries Track: Assessing Habitat Quality Changes for Cool- and Warm-Water Fishes Regency D (2nd Floor)Madalyn Siller 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

8:00am CST

Plenary Session 2 and Awards Grand Ballroom (DEFGH)Rob Hunt • Roger Still

10:20am CST

S-04: Salmonid diets in Minnesota streams with waterfalls, nuisance algae, and extreme hydrology Grand A (4th Floor)Heidi Rantala

10:40am CST

S-04: Evaluating Lake-Run Brown Trout in Saginaw Bay Using Acoustic Telemetry Grand A (4th Floor)April Simmons

11:00am CST

S-04: Salmonid Movement and Habitat Use in Warming North Shore Tributaries to Lake Superior Grand A (4th Floor)Dylan Undlin

11:20am CST

S-04: Assessment of Invasive and Nuisance species in a Nebraska Reservoir Managed as a Trout Fishery Grand A (4th Floor)Alexandria Keiler-Klein

11:40am CST

Fisheries Track: Flow and temperature impacts on catfish populations in two Missouri River tributaries Regency D (2nd Floor)BJ Schall S-04: Assessment of Isotope Shifts in Northern Pike in Response to Increased Rainbow Trout Stocking Length Grand A (4th Floor)Jeremy Kientz

1:20pm CST

S-04: Advancing Cold Water Beyond Trout: Characterizing Aquatic Biota and Habitat Across Thermal Gradients in Missouri Grand A (4th Floor)Natalie Coash

1:40pm CST

S-04: Heritage Brook Trout program in southeast Minnesota Grand A (4th Floor)Doug Dieterman

2:00pm CST

S-04: Brook Trout Management in the Iowa Driftless Region Grand A (4th Floor)Mike Siepker

2:20pm CST

Fisheries Track: Built to Last? Evaluating the Condition of Fish Habitat Structures in Missouri’s Ozark Reservoirs Regency C (2nd Floor)Tyler Ham S-04: Assessment of Coldwater Fisheries Resources in Northeast Iowa. Grand A (4th Floor)Greg Gelwicks

2:40pm CST

S-04: Brook Trout Restoration in Iowa using Multi-Pass Electrofishing to Removal Nonnatives Grand A (4th Floor)Caleb Schnitzler

3:20pm CST

Fisheries Track: Identifying potential sources of natural recruitment of muskellunge in Green Bay, Lake Michigan Regency D (2nd Floor)Ryan Eastman Fisheries Track: Linking Stream Fish Thermal Ecology and Adaptive Capacity to Prioritize Watershed Areas with Greatest Value for Conservation Regency C (2nd Floor)Brittany Harried S-07: Invasive Carp Removal Approaches in the Missouri River Basin Regency E (2nd Floor)Jessica Howell

3:40pm CST

Fisheries Track: Navigating the Currents: Investigating Environmental Cues for Pallid Sturgeon Immigration and Emigration for a Missouri River Tributary Regency C (2nd Floor)Jenna Ruoss S-09: Using resource size-use models to predict how climate cycles influence angler effort Mills 3 (4th Floor)Matthew Maldonado

4:10pm CST

S-12: Incorporating Ecological Design for Production and Resilience: A Case Study in the Lower Missouri River Floodplain Sterling 3 (2nd Floor)Zack Miller

4:40pm CST

S-08: Population genetics of the crawfish frog (Rana areolata) in Oklahoma support a single taxon with little genetic differentiation Grand B (4th Floor)Neil Balchan

6:00pm CST

Poster Session & Tradeshow Social - Co-Sponsored by Aquatic Control, HDR Engineering & NASA Grand Ballroom (4th Floor)

8:00am CST

S-14: Managing for Resilient Walleye Populations: Avoiding an Ecological Tipping Point Regency A (2nd Floor)Greg Sass

8:20am CST

Fisheries Track: Evaluating Lake Sturgeon Spawning Site Use and the Relative Contribution of Spawning Tributaries to Harvest in the Lake Winnebago System Regency C (2nd Floor)Sam Embersits S-13: Harmful Algal Blooms, Leveraging Remotely Sensed Data for Timely Decisions and Long-term Understanding Sterling 3 (2nd Floor)Nicholas Sievert S-14: How RAD are Walleye Fisheries at the Southern End of their Range? Regency A (2nd Floor)Melissa Wuellner

8:40am CST

Fisheries Track: Assessing Age and Incremental Growth Rates in Cedar River Shovelnose Sturgeon through an 18-year Mark-Recapture Dataset Regency C (2nd Floor)Juliana Kaloczi

9:00am CST

Fisheries Track: If at First You Don’t Succeed: The Evolution of Capture Methods in Great Lakes Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) Control Regency B (2nd Floor)Robert Mapes S-15: Assessing the effects of experimental flow releases on Shovelnose Sturgeon spawning in the Des Moines River, Iowa Grand A (4th Floor)McKensie Vaske

9:20am CST

Fisheries Track: Intraspecific variation in stable isotopes provides insight into adfluvial migrations and ecology of brook trout in Lake Superior tributaries Regency C (2nd Floor)Brandon Gerig

9:40am CST

Fisheries Track: Tracking the Spread of Invasive Mollusks in the Illinois River Watershed Regency B (2nd Floor)Nicholas Iacaruso

10:20am CST

Fisheries Track: History of Fish Production and Design in North America Regency C (2nd Floor)Matt Cochran

10:40am CST

Fisheries Track: Bioprogramming: A Tool to Help Guide Hatchery Design into the Modern Era Regency C (2nd Floor)Baylee Thornton

11:00am CST

Fisheries Track: Variation in Fatty Acid Composition of Channel Catfish and Blue Catfish in Two Central Ohio Reservoirs Regency C (2nd Floor)Steven Gratz

11:20am CST

Fisheries Track: Enhancing proactive aquatic nuisance species management by developing a standardized risk screening workflow Regency B (2nd Floor)Lindsey LaBrie Fisheries Track: Influence of Thermal Variation on Paddlefish Thermal Tolerance, Recovery and Post-Release Behavior Regency C (2nd Floor)Shasta Kamara

11:40am CST

Fisheries Track: Understanding fecal microbiome of Pallid Sturgeon Regency C (2nd Floor)Israt Jahan