University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/learning-about-manoomin/

Deidre Peroff

Tossing seeds and measuring fishes

On: January 12, 2024

In: Amy Carrozzino-Lyon, Little Manitowoc River, manoomin, Menominee Indian High School, Titus Seilheimer, Two Rivers, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, wild rice in Green Bay, wild rice restoration, Woodland Dunes Nature Center

A wild rice stand on the Peshtigo River. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The calendar has flipped to 2024. Our staff members are already tackling new projects. Before they move too deeply into the new year, however, some staff members took a moment to retain the glow of their favorite 2023 project. Titus Seilheimer, fisheries outreach specialist, shared his thoughts.

Call it manoomin (the “good berry”). Call it wild rice. Call it Zizania. Whatever you call it, it is a great plant species! My favorite group of projects from 2023 revolves around wild rice restoration along the west shore of Green Bay and in several rivers in Manitowoc County.

Hundreds of years ago, wild rice was abundant in the Great Lakes region, from what is now Milwaukee Harbor to all over Green Bay. Development and settlement led to declines in habitat and water quality, and associated declines in wild rice. Wild rice is an important staple for the Indigenous people of the region, with the Menominee named for it, “People of the Wild Rice.”

Titus Seilheimer (far side) and Amy Carrozzino-Lyon (left) and her crew use a seine net to capture fish for counting in a Green Bay wetlands near Marinette. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

For the second year, I have worked with Amy Carrozzino-Lyon, a professor at UW Green Bay. Amy leads the wild rice restoration project in Green Bay. We have been looking at fish use and fish assemblage in locations with and without wild rice in Green Bay coastal marshes. We had a great team this summer of college students (Sea Grant summer outreach scholars), high school students (Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin funding through UW-Green Bay) and colleagues. We set nets and pulled seines. We waited out a storm in the back of the truck and had some great times on the water.

As the weather cooled, we also planned for seeding wild rice, which is an annual plant. Although the seeds are ripe and harvested in late August to early September, seeding success is better later in the season. This keeps hungry migratory waterfowl and other species from chowing down on all the seed. We stored the rice seed underwater until late October to early November.

I helped the UW-Green Bay team with educational seeding events with the Great Lakes Explorers and the Menominee Indian High School. I also planned seeding in various ponds and habitats at Woodland Dunes Nature Center in Two Rivers. We seeded about an acre on a snowy day and the team at Woodland Dunes seeded another three acres in the West Twin River on a better weather day. We also seeded an acre of marsh in the Little Manitowoc River.

It was a great year for wild rice projects for the Manitowoc Field Office! Now, the long winter-wait to see how much germinates in the spring.

The post Tossing seeds and measuring fishes first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

In: Center for Biodiversity, Collette LaRue, Dan Meinhardt, First Nations Education Department, Ho-Chunk Nation, Margaret Ellis, Menominee High School, Menominee Nation, Northeast Land Trust, Oneida Nation, Oneida Nation High School youth singers, Potawatomi, Potawatomi youth drum group, Stephanie Dodge, Stockbridge and Brothertown Nations, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wequicok Creek Natural Area, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/tossing-seeds-and-measuring-fishes/

Titus Seilheimer

Annual Wequiock Creek tobacco blessing

On: September 25, 2023

Nikolas Shepard (in red) and the Potawatomi youth drum group provided honor songs for the Wequiock Creek ceremony. Image credit: University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

By Margaret Ellis – Yotsi’nahkwa’talihahte (Wild Rose), Oneida Nation
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay First Nations Graduate Assistant, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Wisconsin Sea Grant and UWGB Center for Biodiversity hosted the third annual tobacco blessing at Wequiock Creek. Wequiock Creek is one of several natural areas managed by UWGB and is a tributary to the Bay of Green Bay. I was honored to have organized and facilitated this year’s tobacco blessing and couldn’t have done it without the previous Graduate Assistant Stephanie Dodge initiating and laying the groundwork for the event.

Dodge, another UWGB First Nations education doctoral student, knew that bringing the Indigenous voice back to the area and ensuring we do that with prayer was essential to the restoration efforts at Wequiock. “Wequiock Creek Natural Area shares a long history of shared land, water, and resources with multiple First Nations,” Dodge said. “Along the shorelines of the Bay and traveling into the Fox River has long been the location of settlements and trade routes for Indigenous people.”

Margaret Ellis introduces the various youth groups present for the blessing. Image credit: University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The Ho-Chunk and Menominee Nations both hold ancestral land claims deriving from their creation stories that take place along the banks of Green Bay. Menominee Nation’s creation story takes place on the Menominee River near the mouth of the bay and the Ho-Chunk Nation honors the Red Banks area as their creation story location. For many Nations, their creation or origin stories hold a lot of knowledge and practices that still guide how they live their lives and practice their cultures today. These areas are not just points of interest but rather living, breathing connections to their places of origin.

Potawatomi settled in the area after migration and later through forced removal. The Oneida Nation migrated with the Stockbridge and Brothertown Nations to the area and purchased land from the Menominee Nation in the early 1800s. As you can imagine, the area holds great meaning, historical knowledge and relevance to all the Nations mentioned.

This year’s tobacco blessing was attended by individuals representing the various invested parties in the Wequiock area including Northeast Land Trust, UWGB First Nations Education Department, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Potawatomi members, Oneida Nation members, Menominee Nation members, Ho-chunk Nation members, and others interested and committed to the restoration of a vital tributary to the Bay of Green Bay.

Kanataloloks Zacarias-Skenandore (purple), Oneida Nation Elementary School Earth Song instructor, and Charlie Doxtater (red), Oneida Nation High School earth song instructor with Oneida Nation High School students/singers who provided friendship songs for the event. Image credit: University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

The highlight of the event was the youth groups from three nations: Oneida Nation High School youth singers, Potawatomi youth drum group and Menominee High School Science class students. The Menominee students helped with a site dig earlier that month with Dave Overstreet as a part of a project to recognize the lands as ancestral homelands to the Menominee Nation. The Oneida Nation High School provided earth songs and the Potawatomi youth drum group provided honor songs – a beautiful way to honor the area as well as demonstrate the beauty and uniqueness of each culture.

After the event, there was great feedback about the overall feeling and message that the blessing provided.

“It was quite a moving experience. As I delve deeper into the history of the lands that surround the Green Bay Estuary. I continue to learn,” said Collette LaRue, a Conservation Photographer and UWGB affiliate.

Dan Meinhardt, associate professor of Human Biology and curator, Richter Museum of Natural History at UWGB, has been attending since its inception. “I am honored to have attended all three blessing events. Hearing from First Nations people with special connections to the land, especially in the songs and music of the youth, is always so moving and inspiring. The blessings have become a real highlight for me.”

The tobacco blessing is a great opportunity to reconnect people with each other, with the land, the history of the area and the rich culture it represents. Bringing people together in prayer and community provides a sense of belonging and authenticity that supports any restoration efforts being done at Wequicok Creek Natural Area.

The post Annual Wequiock Creek tobacco blessing first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

In: Chief Lamotte, Christine Fossen-Rades, Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, David Overstreet, Green Bay, Margaret Ellis, Menominee Indian High School, Point au Sable, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wequiock Creek Natural Area, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/annual-wequiock-creek-tobacco-blessing/

Wisconsin Sea Grant

Reconnecting Menominee students with their roots in the bay of Green Bay

On: August 4, 2023

By Margaret Ellis – Yotsi’nahkwa’talihahte (Wild Rose), Oneida Nation
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay First Nations Graduate Assistant, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Wequiock Creek Natural Area is one of six places managed by the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay (UWGB). Other areas include the Cofrin Memorial Arboretum and Point au Sable.

In the early stages of the management and restoration of the Wequiock Creek Natural Area, David Overstreet was hired to work with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to identify interested parties to the land and to conduct an archaeological dig. Overstreet is a consulting archaeologist for the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and has been doing cultural digs such as this one for many years. The area is the original homeland to many First Nations: Menominee Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, Ho-Chunk Nation, Potowatomi and Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. At this point, UWGB knew it had to bring the Indigenous voice back to the lands to ensure any restoration efforts incorporated its original inhabitants.

Consulting Archaeologist David Overstreet, works with Menominee youths on Point au Sable in Green Bay. Image credit: Margaret Ellis

One such effort to bring the voice back is to connect Indigenous youth to the area. Overstreet and Bobbie Webster, the natural areas ecologist from the UWGB Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, hosted an archeological dig at Point au Sable this spring. The Point au Sable area is an important site to the Menominee Nation as it is the ancestral and ceded territories of the Menominee Nation. There are references in surveyor notes from early 1800 to Menominee, Ho-Chunk, Potawatomi and others.

Point au Sable was always a popular spot. We also know Chief Lamotte had a residence at Bay Settlement when he signed the Menominee Treaty of 1831. The goal of the dig was to find any artifacts that may be from Menominee ancestors so they can be analyzed and protected from any further restoration efforts and movement of lands. The dig was also a means of connecting Menominee youth with their original homelands and historical items.

This was the second year that Overstreet organized the dig with Menominee Indian High School students at the tip of Point au Sable, about a mile walk out into the bay of Green Bay. The students were led by Christine Fossen-Rades, a science educator at the Menominee Indian High School. After a quick visit to Wequiock Falls, the students met at Point au Sable.

Overstreet and his son, Ryan, marked off archaeological sites prior to the dig so that once everyone arrived, the students could just grab their shovels and sifters and trek the mile to the dig site. They were asked to dig holes to a certain depth or until they hit darker soil. They then used shaker boxes made of screen mesh to sift the soil and sand. The items they were looking for included important artifacts such as cracked rocks, bones, coal and any other objects that may have come from the original inhabitants. Overstreet educated them in the process of bagging items of interest and labeling them so he could bring them to his lab for analysis. The Menominee youth and Tribe are a big part of this process and benefit from any research and lab results.

Menominee Indian High School students helped uncover the past on Point au Sable in Green Bay. Image credit: Margaret Ellis.

My favorite part about this activity was seeing the elements of past, present and future — Menominee students working on lands that belonged to their ancestors in an effort to support the preservation of their culture while using modern-day science. The activity represented an Indigenous worldview of continuity and the circular nature of our being. Experiencing this connection to the past felt like coming full circle and I’m glad to have been involved in it.

This dig is part of an ongoing effort to bring Indigenous voices and presence to UWGB natural areas. As an Indigenous person and UWGB student, I appreciate the movement toward a more inclusive as authentic relationship between UWGB, its natural areas, and the Indigenous Nations that once called them home.

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Sea Grant impact in Green Bay: More than $8.8 million invested in research

On: May 23, 2023

In: 175th anniversary, Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, Erin Giese, Green Bay, Jim Hurley, Lower Green Bay, Mayor Eric Genrich, Nicole Van Helden, The Nature Conservancy, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Current outreach efforts focused on flood resilience, water quality enhancement and conservation

Wisconsin Sea Grant has provided Great Lakes research, education and outreach in the state since 1968 and in that time funded 91 Green Bay-focused research projects, investing more than $8.8 million. Some of the research was conducted by University of Wisconsin-Green Bay-based scientists. Other projects were undertaken by researchers from Lawrence University, St. Norbert College and University of Wisconsin schools based in Milwaukee, Madison and Stevens Point who came to the Lower Fox River-Green Bay.

In 1978, Sea Grant sited a field office in the culturally, recreationally and economically important Green Bay watershed. During a news event today, Sea Grant explored past research on topics such as contaminants, the Lake Michigan food web and water quality. It also reflected on its alignment with the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, using that as a base from which to respond to local needs, which currently are centered on assisting communities in building flood resilience, enhancing water quality and fostering conservation of natural resources.

Speakers came from Sea Grant, and others who made comments were Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich; Erin Giese, interim director of the Cofrin Center; and Nicole Van Helden, director of land conservation with The Nature Conservancy. Each speaker highlighted the value of collaborating to fulfill a commitment to what has been termed the world’s largest freshwater estuary, with the city of Green Bay sitting at its head.

At the Jack Day Environmental Educational Center at the mouth of the Fox River with the shining waters of Lake Michigan behind him, Sea Grant Director Jim Hurley said, “For more than 50 years, Sea Grant has embraced and activated a model of strong science to underpin decisions that serve the people of Green Bay and surrounding areas.” He continued, “We also look to the future when that kind of research investment will continue, along with the important science outreach our specialist based at UW-Green Bay, Julia Noordyk, provides on water quality and coastal community issues.”

Close-up of a person wearing glasses, suit, tie and smiling.

Green Bay Eric Genrich is working with Sea Grant staff on addressing flooding issues in the East River watershed. Photo credit: city of Green Bay

“The city of Green Bay has benefitted tremendously from the close partnership that exists between city staff and UW Sea Grant,” said Mayor Genrich. “We’ve collaborated deeply on efforts to prevent flooding and develop neighborhood resiliency within the East River watershed, which is vitally important work to improve the quality of our natural resources and strengthen our community.”

Giese said, “We are excited to celebrate Sea Grant’s huge conservation successes over the years and are grateful to partner with them at Wequiock Creek Natural Area as we bring Indigenous voices back to the land. We are privileged to coordinate an annual tobacco blessing with Sea Grant and UW-Green Bay’s First Nations Studies.”

“We are so fortunate to have Wisconsin Sea Grant working in northeast Wisconsin,” said Van Helden. “They are an essential partner with local presence, expertise in both social and environmental science and an ability to make lasting, positive change. Our work together in the East River watershed is increasing local flood resiliency. Sea Grant staff member Julia Noordyk helped design the ongoing project and two key ingredients were, first, listening to the needs of the flood-impacted communities, then, creating knowledge-sharing opportunities to find flood solutions together.”

The event was also a part of the celebration of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s 175th anniversary. Sea Grant is a program of the University of Wisconsin System, with its headquarters on the flagship campus. Sea Grant also has field offices at the UW-Green Bay, Manitowoc Campus, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Superior.

The post Sea Grant impact in Green Bay: More than $8.8 million invested in research first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/sea-grant-impact-in-green-bay-more-than-8-8-million-invested-in-research/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sea-grant-impact-in-green-bay-more-than-8-8-million-invested-in-research

Moira Harrington

Margaret Ellis: Bringing a voice back to the land

On: April 5, 2023

In: Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, First Nations Graduate Assistant, Julia Noordyk, Margaret Ellis, Oneida, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Wequiock Creek Natural Area

Margaret Ellis, First Nations Graduate Assistant, Wisconsin Sea Grant. Submitted photo.

Margaret Ellis is the latest person to fill the First Nations Graduate Assistantship with Wisconsin Sea Grant and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Cofrin Center for Biodiversity. Ellis has all the qualifications that look good on paper, plus others that are just as meaningful.

Ellis has a master’s in global Indigenous nations studies with an environmental focus from the University of Kansas and is working toward a Ph.D. in education at UW-Green Bay in First Nations entrepreneurial and small business operations.

“I have the skills; I have the knowledge. My master’s degree was years ago, but you know, I’ve continued to live my life in a certain way that reflects a responsibility to earth and water,” Ellis said.

She also has connections to the Wequiock Creek Natural Area, a 76-acre property with forests, wetlands and prairie she will work on along the lower bay shore area of Green Bay. The area is being restored and is culturally significant to the Oneida, Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee nations. Ellis, a member of the Oneida Nation, has been visiting Wequiock Creek since she was a child.

“It was a free place to go and it was beautiful,” she said. “There’s a little waterfall there and so my family would always go there to picnic or just walk around. I was excited to find that connection to the project. I want to bring a voice back to that land and reconnect those nations with the Wequiock area.”

In addition to continuing the tradition of organizing a spring tobacco blessing, Ellis will be helping the Cofrin Center to develop interpretive signage and plant signage featuring Indigenous viewpoints and language. “It’s really about supporting restoration efforts for the natural area and ensuring that the Indigenous knowledge and voice are represented by all the nations that once used the land,” she said.

Wisconsin Sea Grant staff members walk the dry bed of Wequiock Creek. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

In between her degrees, Ellis co-founded Kenco Tribal Marketing Initiative, a full-service marketing and procurement agency serving tribal businesses, plus she owns Mirax, LLC, an apparel business for nonprofits and Native nations. For her Ph.D. dissertation research, she is building off this to create a small business model that is based on the Oneida Thanksgiving Address. Ellis explained that the address gives thanks to all the elements that are on Earth and in the cosmos – water, the sun, plants and the animals. “I want to support small businesses in creating something that keeps those elements in mind. It’s all about sustainability and conscious consumerism,” Ellis said.

Through her business success, academic achievements, and community grassroots efforts Ellis achieved the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development 40 under 40 Award, which recognizes Native American citizens for outstanding leadership and community contributions.

Julia Noordyk, Wisconsin Sea Grant water quality and coastal communities specialist, is Ellis’s supervisor. She’s thrilled that Ellis accepted the position.

“Margaret is such an impressive person. She has a lot of positive energy that she’s willing to share. She’s determined to bring the voices of Indigenous women to the table and integrate business practices that protect water resources. I am hopeful that through this position, Sea Grant can help support her academic and professional goals,” Noordyk said.

Ellis recently posted an announcement about her Sea Grant graduate assistantship on social media. She said, “The post just went crazy! I had so many shares, comments and likes. It made me think it’s a sign that I’m in the right place.”

The post Margaret Ellis: Bringing a voice back to the land first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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A pretty fishy work experience

On: August 9, 2022

In: Amy Carrozino-Lyon, Colin Ritchie, fish sampling, Lake Michigan, Marie Zhuikov, Noah Hoffmann, Seagull Bar State Natural Area, Titus Seilheimer, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, wild rice restoration

Researchers from UW-Green Bay deploy a seine net in a Lake Michigan bay. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

There’s nothing fishy about wanting to learn about colleagues’ projects more deeply, while also spending time with far-flung co-workers, right? Or is there? The numbers below—fish measurements in centimeters—were in fact, so fishy.

Bullhead, 26

Banded killifish, 23

Yellow perch, 60

Madtom catfish, 33

Titus Seilheimer shows a bullhead to Noah Hoffman (left) and to members of the Wisconsin Sea Grant communications team at Seagull Bar State Natural Area on Lake Michigan. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

On an early August trip to the Seagull Bar State Natural Area on Lake Michigan, five members of the Sea Grant communications team (including me) were exposed to this count and what sounded like the recitation of another, decidedly piscivorous language.

As glorious sunshine streamed down in the sheltered small bay, our co-worker, Sea Grant Fisheries Specialist Titus Seilheimer, called out fish names and proportions. He had collected the fish, more than 100 in all, from both a 150-foot seine net and a fyke net.

In a neat hand and with a sharp pencil, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Assistant Researcher Amy Carrozino-Lyon recorded the counts of species type and measurements on a sheet of paper. She will take the figures back to her campus office and add them to previously collected data about fish species found in four areas with fresh beds of wild rice on the western shore of Green Bay for her study about the effect of wild rice on the ecosystem.

The full record of wild rice’s historic presence in the world’s fifth largest lake is murky, but it is known that this wild grass, revered by Indigenous people, grew for centuries at river mouths on the lake until development, varying water levels and pollution took a toll. Now, the plant prefers shallow waters with organic, soft sediment and clear water that isn’t frequently or extremely stirred.

Amy Carrozino-Lyon is collecting data about fish species found in four areas with fresh beds of wild rice on the western shore of Green Bay for her study about the effect of wild rice on the ecosystem. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov

Carrozino-Lyon has been restoring the stands of gracefully swaying rice, purchasing seed by the truckload and fostering nearly 40 acres of habitat. This year (2022) marks the seventh year of her efforts.

Wild rice’s effect on the ecosystem is also being checked by her two students, Noah Hoffmann and Colin Ritchie. That day, these bright young men, both students at UW-Green Bay, gave us lessons in dragonfly larvae growth, crayfish identification and the differences between native and nonnative aquatic plants.

This is all good stuff to us because we write and edit stories, post on social media and create videos and podcasts about the wonders of the Great Lakes. It was a hands-on tutorial for those of us who typically deal in words, audio and images, not slippery fish and underwater bugs.

It was also a chance to meet with our co-worker, Science Communicator Marie Zhuikov, who is based in Superior while we remaining four communicators, including Bonnie Willison and Jennifer Smith, are based in an office in Madison.

The trip not only connected us in person with valued colleagues Zhuikov and Seilheimer, but it also further proved to be a day to observe a fish count, marvel at nature’s beauty and contemplate a place where wild rice can flourish once more.

The post A pretty fishy work experience first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Moira Harrington

Researchers investigate the impact of water birds on Green Bay

On: September 16, 2021

In: Amy Wolf, Cat Island, Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, cormorants, Lower Green Bay, pelicans, piscivorous birds, Robert Bob Howe, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Amercian white pelicans take flight off Cat Island in lower Green Bay. Image credit: Amy Wolf, University of Wisconsin Green-Bay

When Amy Wolf and Bob Howe with the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay bring new research partners or students out to the restored Cat Island chain in lower Green Bay on Lake Michigan, their reactions are memorable.

“To see people’s expressions when they enter the midst of thousands of loud, often smelly and sometimes defecating birds is pretty amazing and gratifying,” said Wolf, biology professor with the Department of Natural and Applied Sciences.

This avian abundance is relatively new, made possible by habitat restoration projects in the bay coupled with pollution remediation and control. For instance, the number of American white pelicans nesting has increased from about 250 in 2005 (State of the Bay report), to more than 3,000 now.

Wolf and Howe are coordinating a small army of students and government agency researchers to count and observe the behavior of birds that eat fish (piscivorous birds) in the lower Green Bay area around Cat Island, an area that Howe likens to the “Serengeti of Lake Michigan” due to the sheer abundance of wildlife. With two years of funding through Wisconsin Sea Grant, they are working to gain basic information about populations of pelicans, cormorants, terns, egrets, herons and gulls in the lower bay, including information about what the birds eat and where they spend their time.

Double-crested cormorants and American white pelicans on Cat Island. Image credit: Amy Wolf, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Howe, professor and director of the Cofrin Center for Biodiversity, explained, “We want to know what impact these large numbers of fish-eating birds have on the lower Green Bay ecosystem in general, and specifically on the fishery, which is so important for public recreation and commercial harvesting.”

Every two weeks during the spring and summer, Howe, Wolf, UW-Green Bay research specialist Erin Giese, and a team of undergraduate and graduate students surveyed all the piscivorous birds from southern Door County down to the DePere Dam on the Fox River, and then up the lakeshore to Oconto, Wisconsin. Graduate students Jacob Woulf and Brandon Byrne flew drones down the Cat Island causeway to count the thousands of birds there. Additionally, the students conducted firsthand observations of what the birds eat, where they catch fish and what other bird species they associate with.

In concert with the bird surveys, Howe said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting fish surveys in the lower bay.

“We’re learning about what kinds of fish these birds are taking and where they’re taking them,” he said. “We’re really excited about this information so far.”

They are also tracking double-crested cormorants with two types of technologies: one uses the cellular phone network and the other uses radio telemetry. For the cellular tracking, the birds are fitted with a lightweight harness that contains a solar-powered transmitter. The device provides information about a bird’s position every hour, even if it leaves Green Bay.

Birds with the radio transmitters are tracked through special towers stationed around Green Bay and in a growing network across eastern North America. They plan to track pelicans next year.

Preliminary findings

The researchers are only beginning to crunch numbers from their first season of data, but Howe and Wolf already have preliminary findings to share.

In terms of tracking, they’ve found that some of the cormorants move much farther than they anticipated. Wolf said, “They hang around Cat Island, they feed around Cat Island, but they definitely range widely; one bird flew 75 kilometers south to Lake Butte Des Morts and returned to Green Bay during the same day. Another went over 110 kilometers north toward Gills Rock, where it stayed for days before returning to lower Green Bay.”

Their feeding observers have noted that the cormorants and pelicans are foraging with each other. Howe suspects their social nature might be why they are the dominant piscivorous species in the Green Bay system. “Social foraging behavior might give them a leg up on exploiting the fish in the lower bay.”

Howe said their counting surveys have provided a good estimate of how many piscivorous birds are in lower Green Bay. By mid-summer 2021, well over 4,000 pelicans and 2,000 cormorants were present.

“We know that a pelican can eat up to three pounds of fish per day. A cormorant can eat about a pound of fish per day. You start doing the math and realize that these birds take tens of thousands of pounds of fish every week. They’re significantly shifting the biomass from one place to another,” Howe said.

Pelicans congregate near recreational fishing boats in Green Bay. Image credit: Bob Howe, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

They’ve also noted that pelicans, and cormorants to a lesser extent, have developed a relationship with recreational fishermen. The birds hang around the boats and feed on fish that the fisherman don’t want and throw overboard.

“The pelicans have learned there’s free food there,” Howe said. “We didn’t anticipate this relationship and it’s very obvious from the data that we’re seeing.”

They expect their research will be helpful for agencies working on management decisions about the abundance of piscivorous birds, including gulls.

Additional partner agencies aiding the project include the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bird Studies Canada, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services Program, Brown County Port Authority and Mississippi State University. The research team has also received cooperation and support from landowners and marinas along the shores of lower Green Bay.

The bird banding crew on Cat Island. The person in the center is holding a cormorant. Image credit: Bob Howe, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

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Field office graduate research assistant jumps from watershed planning to clams

On: June 23, 2020

In: Cofrin Center, Julia Noordyk, Megan Hoff, shellfish assessment biologist, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay

Megan Hoff recently completed her graduate research assistantship in Green Bay, working for Sea Grant Staffer Julia Noordyk. This was the first time such an opportunity has been offered at one of our field offices. Hoff’s work for Noordyk and for her master’s degree in environmental science and policy at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay involved working with the community to develop a watershed management plan for Mahon and Wequiock creeks, which flow through the campus.

Megan Hoff on the Oregon Coast. Image by Austin Yantes

I caught up with Hoff recently, just after she finished a drive across the country to Oregon, where she is starting a new job in Newport as a shellfish assessment biologist. Yes, she’ll be working with clams.

You may wonder how that relates to all the community work she did for her assistantship post. Never fear, Hoff will not abandon her people skills entirely for the company of mollusks.

True, she will be working to document where different species of clams are found along the bays of the Oregon coast, but she will also be on the beach surrounded by beachgoers and people who like to clam recreationally.

Hoff described it like this: “My graduate research assistantship enabled me to not only graduate with my master’s degree debt-free, but I also graduated armed with a suite of new and improved technical and personal skills. Julia and the rest of the Sea Grant folks inspired me and prepared me to address coastal and watershed-based community management and planning challenges. Although the shellfish management challenges are not exactly the same, they still require similar ways to think about how to tackle them.”

Hoff credits her community science communication work with Sea Grant for giving her a leg up on her competition for this full-time permanent job.

“The folks here in Oregon thought my interdisciplinary skills were something unique that I could contribute to their program. My skills in interacting with community members will be really useful and valuable in transitioning to my new life in Oregon,” Hoff said.

Although she is thrilled by this new opportunity, leaving Wisconsin was hard for Hoff.

“I was sad to leave, especially since I didn’t get to say any proper in-person goodbyes to any of the folks I worked with because of social distancing and COVID-19. But I felt so supported and appreciated. Julia and the UW-GB Cofrin Center for Biodiversity staff gave me so much of their time, effort, energy, words of praise and encouragement over the last two years. Without that, I wouldn’t have been as successful.”

Given Hoff’s strong skill set from her academic and Sea Grant experiences, I somehow suspect her success will continue.

Blog – Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/field-office-graduate-research-assistant-jumps-from-watershed-planning-to-clams/