Featured Species
The Columbia Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office is part of a multi-organization collaboration to reduce the risk of Asian carp spreading throughout the Mississippi River Basin and invading the Great Lakes ecosystem. The Office serves a pivotal role in implementing the national Control and Management Plan for Asian carps (PDF). We are a leader in the development of new and innovative equipment for meeting the challenges posed by capturing Asian carp. We have developed paupier and electrified dozer trawls that are being deployed as effective assessment tools for populations of Asian carp in rivers and streams, backwaters and impoundments throughout the midwest. Perfectly situated along the Missouri River in central Missouri, we routinely assist in Asian carp population assessments to detect and monitor Asian carp populations in the Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio and Great Lakes basins. We also coordinate the multi-jurisdictional Missouri River Basin Asian carp Partnership.
Manmade structures and barriers which impede the natural passage of fish and aquatic organisms are of nationwide concern. The Columbia Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office works closely in Missouri and Iowa with state and county partners in conservation, transportation, public safety, emergency management, natural resources and historic preservation to identify river crossings, dams and other unnatural barriers in priority areas to collectively benefit native aquatic fauna and the safety of area citizens. Our work replacing slab crossings in the historic range of the federally endangered Niangua darter is aiding the recovery of the species and providing safer free span bridges. Fish passage projects are conducted for the federally endangered Topeka shiner, Spring River watershed and a host of threatened and endangered mussel species in the Meramec River and its tributaries.
The Columbia Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office has been involved in pallid sturgeon monitoring since 1997. The station is one of six agencies now partnering with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a year round monitoring program for pallid sturgeon and the Missouri River fish community throughout the entire length of the Missouri River. We are responsible for sampling the lower 250 miles of the lower Missouri River. Our efforts help the Pallid Sturgeon Recovery Team and state agencies develop policy and fund needed research for pallid sturgeon recovery in addition to aiding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with meeting its obligation to monitor the species.
Working in cooperation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Private Lands, Natural Resource Conservation Service and state conservation agencies enable us to match partnership funding to improve fish habitats in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and streams throughout the midwest on public and private lands. The Great Plains Fish Habitat Partnership cooperates with us on projects throughout Iowa and prairies in Missouri. The Fishers and Farmers Partnership works closely with us to improve habitats in the Meramac and Bourbeuse River watersheds in eastern Missouri. Other partnerships in our area are the Southeastern Aquatic Resources Partnership and the Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership.