Fall 2003 - This issue was submitted by Shelly Miller, newsletter editor
Special awards and scholarships will again be presented at our annual Chapter meeting. Please take the time to nominate a colleague, friend, or special organization that you feel deserves either the Eugene W. Surber Professional Fisheries Biologist Award or the Natural Resource Conservationist/Citizen Award . Please also apply, if applicable, or pass the word to a deserving student about our graduate and undergraduate scholarship awards . Deadline for all awards is January 2004, which is right around the corner!
There are many deserving people and organizations in Virginia and we need your help identifying those professionals, non-professionals, and students. Please give this opportunity your special attention now so that all deserving applicants can and will meet the deadlines.
Thank you!
ExCom Gets Cracking
September meeting summary--The Chapter's executive committee met in the Verona office of the VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries on September 15 th . Mark Hudy, current president; Steve Reeser, pres-elect; Price Smith, past president; Shelly Miller, secretary; and Paul Bugas, outreach and membership committees were present.
The main focus of the meeting was initial planning for the 2004 annual meeting and the 2005 Mid-year meeting. Other topics discussed include recent activities of the outreach committee including the production of a chapter brochure, (see article for more info), committee reports, possibility of holding a zooplankton or conflict resolution continuing education workshop, and committee reports. Price Smith also provided the members with copies of the revised bylaws and procedures manuals. Thanks to Price for all of his hard work!
Chapter Outreach Committee Keeps on Truckin'
The VCAFS Outreach Committee kept busy over the summer and has plans for the upcoming year. The Shenandoah Sojourn on May 26-30 was an unqualified success. It emphasized the role of the Shenandoah River watershed in both U.S. and Virginia history, as well as focused on current issues plaguing the river. It was sponsored by the Shenandoah Pure Water Forum, which includes DGIF, local soil and water districts, businesses, school districts, and so on. If you want more about the Forum, check out www.purewaterforum.org . Eight Sojourners made the entire 5-day trip. Participants came from a variety of backgrounds including academia, ministry, middle school student, college student, writer, and retired state employee. Many "day trippers" came along for the ride. Virginia Chapter AFS provided a catfish dinner, courtesy of member Tom Gunter, as well as campsites for the daily travelers for one night. The event was filmed by DGIF videographers a nd will be made into an educational CD ROM.
Three Hutton Scholars are working with Virginia Chapter members this summer: Chas Kyger with Steve Reeser/Paul Bugas/Brad Trumbo, Elizabeth Lowry with Bob Greenlee, and Tomas Ivasaukas with John Copeland. Many thanks go out to these chapter members for their commitment to a new generation of fisheries professionals. For more information, check out this website or contact participating Chapter members: http://www.fisheries.org/Hutton.shtml
The Chapter was approached to team up with the UVA and VA Tech Natural History Museums to promote the museums themselves and natural history of the Commonwealth. The Chapter has tentatively agreed to participate through the development of some outreach materials on aquatic resources and possibly identification of willing speakers.
The outreach committee is also working on a student recruitment packet for Virginia universities. To date, a list of all schools has been developed. He is now looking for members to help identify contacts at each of the schools. The packet will contain an informational brochure on the Chapter (in development), an AFS national brochure, an introductory cover letter, and a membership form. If you are interested in helping with this effort or other outreach activities, please contact Paul Bugas ( bugasp@dgif.state.va.us).
Warmwater Streams Committee meets in Luray--John Copeland, VDGIF
The meeting was held September 8-10. We held a mini-symposium on smallmouth bass management in the southeast, with presentations from Scott Smith and Steve Reeser, Frank Fiss from TN Wildlife Resources Agency on their statewide smallmouth bass management plan, Paul Balkenbush from OK Dept of Wildlife Conservation on smallmouth bass and stream management in eastern OK, and Jason Henegar from TN Tech on movements and habitat use by smallmouth bass in a southwest VA river. Other than these presentations, we discussed committee business, like ongoing efforts to distribute our recently produced video entitled: “Warmwater Streams: A Resource Worth Protecting”. If anyone has not seen this video and would like to use it for outreach and education efforts, they can contact me for a copy ( copelandj@dgif.state.va.us).
We also laid the groundwork for a Warmwater Streams Symposium at the SDAFS Midyear Meeting in OK City, OK in February 2004. The symposium will consist of 18 presentations in 3 areas of warmwater streams management: Species Restoration and Recovery Successes, Stream Habitat Improvement, and Warmwater Streams Fisheries Management. All presenters will prepare extended abstracts for their presentations, which will be compiled into an Internet published symposium proceedings.
Six members of our committee participated in a Tom Gunter fish fry (sponsored by VA Chapter AFS) with members of DGIF staff at Trace Noel's outfitting facility in Bentonville. Five of the committee members helped with Shenandoah River sampling at Island Ford the following day.