Friends of the Upper Mississippi

Last year, we had a new request for Northern Pike eggs from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Genoa National Fish Hatchery regularly collected these eggs in the past, but it had been several years. Some of us had never taken part in spawning Northern Pike. This year, we got the opportunity to continue to hone our craft, as we received another request from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). Northern Pike on the Mississippi River in our neighborhood typically start spawning at the end of March or early April. Using information gleaned from last year’s work, we were able to narrow down our search for spawning sites and set our fyke nets in areas that were productive for us last year. Conditions were a bit different this year with lower water, but the fish were still there. Some of our net sites barely had a foot of water, but the fish didn’t seem to mind! The water in these shallow areas was up to 5 degrees warmer than main channel temperatures, drawing several species looking for a respite from the cold winter. We were able to get all the eggs we needed in two nights of net sets. Staff from IDNR’s Decorah State Fish Hatchery came over to pick up eggs, where they will be hatched out and stocked in hatchery ponds. They will grow for a brief stint in the ponds before being released into Iowa’s interior rivers.
By: Nick Bloomfield

Extracting eggs from a fish and the eggs are going into the pan. Photo: USFWS.

While winter and early spring aren’t normally a hotbed of mussel activity it’s an important season for preparing for the coming year. We start by reviewing what was successful last year before deciding what our priorities are for the next. Some of this work includes assessing the status of cages, preparing dive gear for another season and coordinating plans with our partners. We’ve had discussions with our various State and Federal partners, as well as the staff at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, about plans for the coming season. If you’ve been following the mussel program for a while you know that we meet with the rest of the Mussel Conservation Team in March. We had a great meeting this week with colleagues from across the upper Mississippi River basin. We talked about success from last year and what we hope we can get to this year. We’re still providing extensive care for six species of host fish, brooding freshwater mussel adults, and several thousand sub-adult mussels that are overwintering in the mussel building. By: Megan Bradley

A pair of PowerPoint slides from the GNFH presentation for the MCT meeting. Photo: USFWS

I would like to express my sincere thanks for your assistance in putting together a fantastic 2003 Kids Ice Fishing Day at the hatchery February 4th!  There was 529 attendees at the event, with 39 volunteers and staff assisting, giving us a total of 568 people on or around the ice!

Needless to say, it could not have happened with all our your participation and efforts.  Thank you so much for your continued help in reaching out to our community to spread the message that outdoor activities involving our fish and wildlife resources are of great value, multi-generational, and deserve to be passed on for future generations to enjoy and protect.  Thank you for your foresight to be the current generation of conservation stewards, and your help in growing the next one.

All the best, 

Doug Aloisi                           

Hatchery Manager

Genoa National Fish Hatchery

We are very excited to be back on the ice for our Kids Ice Fishing Day event coming up on Saturday, February 4, 2023 from 8:30am – 12:00pm! We will start the day with a safety lesson and then kids will get the opportunity to ice fish for rainbow trout on Pond 11. A light lunch will also be provided. New this year, participants can try their hand at snowshoeing! Volunteers will be onsite to talk to folks about local winter recreational opportunities and we will have snowshoes for folks to try out. As always, safety comes first. This event is weather and ice condition dependent, so please follow us on Facebook for updates! The snowshoes are also available to visitors to use when the Interpretive Center is open. If you are interested in snowshoeing our trails, please check them out at the front desk. While out snowshoeing, be sure to keep an eye out for animal tracks and try to identify what animals are living in our riparian wetlands and floodplain forest! By: Erica Rasmussen

At the end of last year’s growing season, juvenile Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly larvae that had been cultured at the Hatchery all season were packed up and transported to an overwintering facility at the University of South Dakota. At the same time, a new cohort of dragonflies -still in the egg stage- were delivered to the Hatchery from USD.

Hine’s Emerald Dragonfly eggs overwintering at stable temperatures in an environmental chamber. The temperature is tracked by a data logger kept in a similar cup as the eggs, and a twice-daily quick check is made with the thermometer visible in the photo. Photo: USFWS.

Eggs are collected by research partners (USD and others) in the mid to late summer, when females are carrying fertilized eggs and are ovipositing- laying their eggs- in the marshy areas of spring-fed wetlands, wet meadows and fen habitats that this species prefers. The eggs are kept in individual clutches, allowed to harden, counted, and as the fall progresses into winter, chilled from warm summer temperatures to cold winter holding temperatures, approx. 3-4 °C. Over the winter, the groups of eggs are divided, packaged for transport, and delivered to the partner agencies -including Genoa NFH- that continue to over winter the eggs and then culture new juveniles in the spring. The eggs are transported in coolers with cool/cold packs to keep them from warming up and are quickly transferred to a stable temperature environmental chamber at the Hatchery. They’ll be kept at a stable 3-4 °C through the winter, then slowly warmed a few degrees per week in late March and April.
Genoa NFH has been working with Hine’s Emeralds since 2013, and in 2016 eggs were housed and the resulting new larvae reared on station each year. These previous cohorts of eggs have all been collected from females in a (relatively) large breeding population in Northern Wisconsin, but this new cohort consists of eggs collected from females in a smaller and more critically endangered population in Illinois along the Des Plaines River. The population augmentation or reintroduction of individuals that (hopefully!) will result from these hatchery reared animals is a key part of the recovery of Hine’s Emeralds, especially in the critical Des Plaines River population.
By: Beth Glidewell

A close up view of dragonfly eggs overwintering. Photo: USFWS.