Establishing a West Texas community fishery from the ground-up
Small impoundments in communities are important resources to provide fishing recreation and subsistence opportunities. Larger reservoirs are typically less convenient for individuals and families because of travel, lack of shoreline angling access, lack of amenities, as well as the need for vessels. Community fishing ponds are usually closer in proximity to homes, are situated in park spaces that offer a …
White River Reservoirs Fish Habitat Project Leads into the Northwest Arkansas Fish Habitat Alliance
The White River Chain of Lakes in Arkansas is comprised of Beaver, Norfork and Bull Shoals lakes. Fish populations in these lakes are managed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and popular sportfish include Largemouth Bass, Spotted Bass, Smallmouth Bass, White Crappie, Black Crappie, Striped Bass, and Walleye. As with most large reservoirs in the southeast, the White River …
Oklahoma Habitat Initiative: Improving Fisheries with Community Involvement
The Oklahoma Habitat Initiative is an effort to improve fisheries habitat statewide with community involvement. Habitat is essential for a healthy fishery. Unfortunately, habitat enhancement can be costly for conservation agencies and often requires more manpower than an agency can provide. Community involvement in Oklahoma has helped to fill some of the monetary and manpower gaps. In 2023, a local …
Lake Havasu Fisheries Improvement Program
The presentation will be on the history of the Lake Havasu fisheries improvement program, what habitat work has been completed, what type of monitoring efforts have happened, and what the plan is moving forward to replace old broken habitats.
Arizona Community Fishing Program Fish Habitat Improvement Project 2022-2024
The Arizona Game and Fish Department's Community Fish Program (CFP) has expanded from 21 waters in 11 communities in 2014 to 53 waters in 23 communities around the State of Arizona. Based on a recent creel survey in 2020, the CFP currently serves an estimated 137,000 anglers. Objective 8 in the CFP Vision Document is to “improve fish habitat and …
Update on the Oklahoma Fish Habitat Initiative: Communication, Challenges, and Habitat Research
The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) recently started a habitat initiative to improving fish habitat across the state. While the first year was a great success with over 200 Shelbyville cubes built, year two has been a challenge with a lack of funding and missed connections in communication efforts to the public regarding the initiative. Additional efforts within the …
Reef Balls in Freshwater Environments
Reef Balls in Freshwater Environments J.W. McFarlane assisted by AI, 2024 Abstract Reef Balls, artificial reef structures commonly used in marine environments, have shown promise in enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem health in freshwater settings (1). This presentation explores the potential benefits and challenges of deploying Reef Balls in freshwater lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. We discuss the design and placement considerations, …
Looking Back at Five Years of MLF FMD Partnerships
Improving Logistics, for fish habitat within the state of Kentucky
Getting to the point of placing habitat in a lake, is often the easiest step of the process. Staffing, material sources, regulatory constraints, and equipment can all be bottlenecks to accomplishing a fish habitat project. Our fish habitat branch is now a decade old, with the message always being to go big. Since the initial start of largescale fish habitat …
Reservoir Fish Habitat
Over the past decade, the Region 6 Aquatic Wildlife Program and the Aquatic Habitat Program have implemented habitat enhancement initiatives across five of the six primary lakes, utilizing both artificial structures and natural materials like Christmas trees. This presentation will provide an overview of each project, highlighting key lessons learned throughout the process. Additionally, it will summarize the creel and …
On-Going Reservoir Habitat Manipulation Projects in New Mexico
New Mexico has numerous small reservoirs (80-200 ha) that are over 50 years old and in need of habitat manipulations/installations, especially woody debris. Historically, when issues in sportfish populations pertaining to growth rates, relative abundances, and body conditions have been observed, the only management tool available has been the manipulation of stocking strategies, change in recreational harvest limits, or removal/relocation …
Bass Pro Shops Open Grant Projects at Pymatuning Reservoir and Blue Marsh Lake
In 2021 the National Fish Habitat Partnership announced that it would be distributing $1.6 million in grants toward on-the-ground fish habitat projects on lakes across the U.S. The grant program was established through proceeds from the Bass Pro Shops U.S. Open Amateur Bass Fishing Championships. Nine of thirty proposals were awarded grant funding. Among those fish habitat proposals were Pymatuning …
Habitat Enhancement in the Newly Created Ralph Hall Reservoir
Lake Ralph Hall, a 7,600-acre reservoir currently under construction in Fannin County, Texas, was selected as the site for one of nine projects funded under the Bass Pro Shops/National Fish Habitat Partnership U.S. Open Grant Program in 2022. Project partners, the Upper Trinity Regional Water District and Texas Parks and Wildlife Inland Fisheries Division, received $250,000 through the grant program …
Creating Artificial Habitat Manufacturing and Construction Protocols
Anonymous Location Data as an Innovative Data Source for a Statewide Recreation Survey
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 …