The Warmwater Hatchery Connection ….

1. The Warmwater Hatchery Connection …. Strategic Habitat Conservation Then to Now ….

2. Objectives • SHC Review • Practical examples • Alligator gar • Louisiana pearlshell mussel • Plugging SHC into LCC’s

3. Warm Water Hatchery Production Program Biological Planning Assumption-based Research Outcome-based Monitoring Conservation Design SHC Conservation Delivery

4. Strategic – necessary to or important in the initiation, conduct, or completion of a strategic plan Habitat – the place or environment where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives and grows Conservation - a careful preservation or protection of something; esp. : planned managementof a natural resource to prevent exploitation, destruction or neglect What Does It Really Mean?

5. Priority Species • Population Objectives • Synthesis of science (models) Build the scientific foundation for Management Program Accomplishments Net progress toward Population objectives Biological Planning Assumption-based Research Spatially-Explicit Models Habitat Objectives Program Priority Areas Outcome-based Monitoring Conservation Design Population Impacts The Basic SHC Framework Conservation Delivery

6. SHC in the real world … Alligator Gar • Large geographic range • Information heavy • Partnership network established Louisiana pearlshell mussel • Very small geographic range • Information light • Partnership network established

7. Alligator gar • 2010 • Mussel biologist, work group, studies • 2004 • FONS funding to determine life history • 2006 • Partners, habitat, outreach • 2005 • Hired STEP student to do mussel work • 1989 • LPM listed under ESA • 2008 • STEP transferred • 2011 • Life history, habitat mapping, production

8. Louisiana pearlshell mussel • 2010 • Mussel biologist, work group, studies • 2004 • FONS funding to determine life history • 2006 • Partners, habitat, outreach • 2005 • Hired STEP student to do mussel work • 1989 • LPM listed under ESA • 2008 • STEP transferred • 2011 • Life history, habitat mapping, production

9. Biological Planning Assumption-based Research Outcome-based Monitoring Conservation Design Conservation Delivery

10. Biological Planning

11. Conservation Design

12. Conservation Delivery

13. Outcome-based Monitoring

14. Assumption-based Research

15. L C C Biological Planning Assumption-based Research Outcome-based Monitoring Conservation Design Conservation Delivery

16. How do we plug into LCCs? • Station matrix model • Defines specifics for 5-element SHC circle • Operational compass • Shows degrees of accomplishments by partnership • Organizationalroles & responsibilites • Provides potential involvement for specific partnerships

17. Pvt. John Allen National Fish Hatchery – SHC Hatchery Matrix Model – Alligator Gar Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks Landscape Conservation Cooperative Biological Planning Biological Planning Units - The biological planning unit defined for the purpose of this specific matrix will be the Lower Mississippi River, and it’s immediate tributaries, beginning downstream of Cairo Illinois at the confluence of the Ohio River and the Upper Mississippi River and continuing south to the Gulf of Mexico. Specifically, St. Catherine Creek and its associated flood plain found within the boundary of the St. Catherine Creek NWR, Sibley MS; the Obion and Forked Deer rivers of western TN. Other management units outside of the MS River basin include Claiborne Lake and the Mobile basin of Alabama. Coordination activities with other LCCs will occur through the ongoing projects associated with the Lepisosteid Fish Research and Management Committee and the Southern Division American Fisheries Society Alligator Gar Technical Committee. Priority Species - Alligator Gar – State listed as a species of management concern throughout the Biological Planning Unit (excluding Louisiana). Seek partner input to identify other priority species within identified BPUs in order to integrate all species management and ultimately create an Aquatic Species Corridor. Population Objectives - Develop standardized population objectives throughout the biological planning units. No clearly defined population objectives have been developed at this point. Limiting Factors - This species is most commonly found in slower moving rivers, oxbows, reservoirs, and brackish estuaries along the Gulf of Mexico, but they have also been occasionally found further out in salt water. Spawning occurs over flooded vegetation in shallow, slow to calm waters adjacent to deeper backwaters, tributaries, oxbows, or sheltered deep water areas when waters reach a sustained temperature of 72 degrees F. These habitats exist in this particular BPU during seasonal flood events occurring on the Mississippi River and associated floodplain areas. Due to a lack of life history data there are a lot of uncertainties relating to alligator gar. Some of these uncertainties could be alleviated by determining the relationship between photoperiods and spawning events, determine both optimal and conducive water quality parameters, etc. Availability of each of these is greatly influenced by available habitats.

19. SHC Potential Roles & Responsibility thing …. Will have to get from LMVJV website and insert here

20. Ricky - Not sure what to do to summarize – ran out of time to work on it

21. RICKY – this just is a placeholder for pictures