On:
In: Charlotte Ford, Christopher Dunn, coronavirus, Eric Leis, fish viruses in Wisconsin, Isaac Standish, La Crosse Fish Health Center, Pathogens journal, Tony Goldberg, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Wisconsin-Madison, virome, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Discovery is part of first-ever study of viruses in healthy fish across the state.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have detected a suite of new viruses in five species of Wisconsin sport fish. Although none pose a threat to human health, one is a type of coronavirus usually associated with birds. It was found in healthy walleyes from Wisconsin lakes. The finding is part of a Wisconsin Sea Grant-funded study of the natural diversity of viruses (or virome) of fish in Wisconsin and is the first project of its kind in North America.

Tony Goldberg takes a blood sample in a non-lethal way from trout caught near Wauzeka, Wisconsin, while Whitney Theil observes. The fish was collected by DNR staff members to test for emerging diseases in the fish population. Image credit: Bryce Richter, UW-Madison

Tony Goldberg, a professor in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences, said his research group identified 19 viruses in blood samples from 103 Wisconsin bluegills, brown trout, lake sturgeon, northern pike and walleye. Seventeen of the 19 viruses were new to science. Among them was the first fish-associated coronavirus from the Gammacrononavirus genus, which differs from the type of virus that causes COVID. It was present in 11 out of 15 walleyes sampled by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

While the findings are novel, Goldberg stressed that anglers should not be worried. “None of these viruses can infect people. It’s not a risk for people to catch, handle and eat fish because of these viruses. There’s no evidence that these viruses are causing any problems. They may just be part of the natural ecosystem of these fish,” he said.

The results were recently published in the journal “Pathogens.” Of the different species of fish sampled, lake sturgeon blood contained the most viruses (97% of samples), with brown trout samples showing the least prevalence (6%).

Regarding the coronavirus found in walleye, Goldberg said, “There’s an important poultry disease called infectious bronchitis that is caused by a relative of this new virus, but this is the first example in fish and it is an honest-to-goodness coronavirus.”

This virus survey builds on previous Sea Grant-funded research in which Goldberg studied viral hemorrhagic septicemia in fish. The DNR took blood samples from healthy fish across Wisconsin to test for viral hemorrhagic septicemia antibodies. They saved the blood and used it for this current study on the viromes of Wisconsin fish.

The findings will aid fishery managers when they routinely test the health of fish about to be released into state lakes from hatcheries or for fish that are being shipped out of state.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fisheries technicians collect trout from a creek near Viroqua, Wisconsin. Image credit: Bryce Richter, UW-Madison

“This is a huge problem for fisheries managers that happens all the time,” Goldberg said. “We recently had a case where there were thousands of muskies that were ready to be released and they came back with an unknown virus. So, do you release them? Do you just keep them there? Do you kill them all? Maybe there are viruses out there that are a normal part of the ecosystem and they just infect a lot of fish, but they don’t cause disease.” This study’s findings will help managers decide what is normal and what is concerning in terms of fish viruses.

Goldberg said that one thing anglers can do to ensure fish viruses aren’t spread is not to transport fish between water bodies “If you move a fish from one water body to another, you’re moving everything that lives on and in that fish, and potentially causing problems,” he said.

As a follow-up, Goldberg’s collaborators at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have designed specific tests for the various viruses and the team will test a larger set of fish blood samples from around Wisconsin. They will map the viruses so that fisheries managers can tell what’s normal for a particular watershed and whether stocking can or should not proceed.

He also plans to develop a “Fish Get Sick, Too,” educational program. Goldberg said that fish are “animals, like anything else, and they get sick, too. I think if people were more aware of that, it might help reinforce some of the best-handling practices we do for catch-and-release fishing, some of the harvest practices, and food safety things we do.”

Other members of the research team include Charlotte Ford and Christopher Dunn with the UW-Madison Department of Pathobiological Sciences; and Eric Leis and Isaac Standish with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, La Crosse Fish Health Center.

The post Wisconsin sport fish carry suite of new viruses first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/wisconsin-sport-fish-carry-suite-of-new-viruses/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Climate change, Keillor Fellowship, Mike Smale, wetlands, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Person wearing a plaid shirt and smiling with water in the background.

Mike Smale is assessing 38 wetlands in the Wisconsin part of the Lake Superior watershed to see what vulnerable plant and animal species are present. Submitted photo.

If Mike Smale were king of the world for a day, he might just decree that all city buses in Madison, Wisconsin, be outfitted with front racks to hold kayaks, in addition to bikes, as they are now. That way, a person could stow their kayak, climb onto the bus, ride to a nearby body of water, remove the kayak and have a paddle. This would be the convergence of two things Smale is passionate about – embracing mass transit to reduce emissions and enjoying water.  

“I’m kind of a nerd in that way (supporting eco-friendly trains and buses) on top of being a water nerd,” Smale said.

While filling the role of the J. Philip Keillor Great Lakes – Wisconsin Sea Grant Fellow focused on climate change and coastal wetlands, Smale may not really don the royal mantle and order what’s affixed to buses, but he can embrace his love of water. He took on the 18-month fellowship based at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in Madison in mid-June and has a dual-focused appointment.

First, he is tackling what he calls “oddball” tasks, such as collaborating with people in the DNR’s Drinking Water and Groundwater Program, attending conferences and assisting with Sea Grant’s review process to determine a biennial research package. His second focus is assessing how climate change is affecting 38 wetlands in the Wisconsin portion of the Lake Superior watershed.

Smale said, “We are coming up with methods for a framework to evaluate the climate sensitivity of these wetlands. That involves finding out what data is available, working with experts to establish those methods, and how that framework could be representative of true climate sensitivity. And then some mapping (of the wetlands).” The end point will be a scoring table for the sites.

He is looking through the lens of four shifts expected to affect wetlands under a changing climate as identified by the 2021 Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Report:

  • Warmer temperatures
  • Increased precipitation
  • Lake level fluctuations
  • Increased lake wind and wave action

Those shifts are being incorporated into a whole-picture analysis of a wetland. Smale elaborated, “Based on communities that are present (in a wetland), we can estimate which wetlands are more or less likely to shift – which wetlands are going to change the most. We’re starting with vegetation, and we are going to move into looking at the climate sensitivity of fish habitat and birds, and also culturally important beings.”

With that data in hand, Smale and his team will next determine how, “Those components or communities will translate, or not translate, into adaptive capacity. We’re asking, ‘How well could these wetlands, even though they’re sensitive, how well could they cope with the change in climate’?”

Smale’s work can also inform assessments throughout the Great Lakes Basin because one source of data is the Coastal Wetland Monitoring Data Program, which includes insights about the region’s fish, frog, bird, macroinvertebrate and vegetation populations, along with water quality. The program is based at Central Michigan University and is supported by contributions from binational governmental agencies, universities and a private business.

Person wearing waders and standing in brown and green vegetation. Submitted photo.

Smale said through the fellowship he has, “Learned that I like these actionable positions where you’re doing something that is having a visible effect on people’s lives. ” Submitted photo.

“We’re building the framework (in Wisconsin) to, at a very minimum, work with that dataset so it could be extrapolated to all the Great Lakes. We’re finding ways where we could include state data or from other sources to fill out gaps or make it a little bit more robust, more applicable, but other states could also use this data, tweak it to their own framework using their own data sources,” said Smale.

Speaking of tweaks, Smale said he’s so far encountered one in his own fellowship. “When I first started this position, it really seemed like I jumped into Sophie’s (his predecessor in the fellowship, Sophie LaFond Hudson) work. I thought ‘Oh, wow, this is halfway done. What am I going to be doing?’”

As he dug deeper, though, Smale realized he should adjust LaFond Hudson’s work in the aquatic invasive species (AIS) category – to view AIS as an indicator of stress in a wetland not as a community on par with, say, the state of fish and frogs. For example, if nonnative cattails are present, the wetland is near a tipping point toward a monoculture that should be reflected in an individual wetland’s resiliency score.

Adjusting that part of the framework, “Felt like I was regressing back in the project,” he said. “Here, I thought I was halfway done and actually I’m back working on the basics of the project. But after talking it through with Cherie Hagen, who’s my supervisor at the DNR, she’s like, ‘Oh no, this is exactly what you should be doing. You’re building it up more. You’re incorporating exactly the feedback you’re supposed to.’”

In light of this, Smale said, “I guess I was surprised at how much more influence I would have on this project and also kind of the depth that we are working on.”

In addition to the DNR’s Hagen, the Lake Superior basin supervisor in the Office of Great Waters, Smale is also mentored by Madeline Magee, monitoring and beach coordinator in that same DNR office; Sea Grant’s Associate Director Jennifer Hauxwell; and Titus Seilheimer, Sea Grant’s fisheries outreach specialist.  

The post Keillor Fellow, reviewing resilience of coastal wetlands first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/keillor-fellow-reviewing-resilience-of-coastal-wetlands/

Moira Harrington

On:
In: 1854 Treaty Authority, David Grandmaison, Manoomin Camp, Marne Kaeske, Martha Minchak, St. Louis River, The Nature Conservancy, wild ricing, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

David Grandmaison, Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources, poles through a wild rice bed in the St. Louis River. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

A co-worker and I were invited to attend a day of Manoomin (Wild Rice) Camp on the St. Louis River in Duluth, Minnesota. The camp flier said, “Join us in a guided paddle to the wild rice restoration sites and welcome manoomin back to Gichi Gami Ziibi (the St. Louis River). Try your hand at harvesting and experience each step in the finishing process (drying, parching, jigging and winnowing).”

That sounded good to us, so with wild rice harvesting permits in hand, we met in the Fond du Lac neighborhood of Duluth near the Wisconsin border. The event was hosted by the 1854 Treaty Authority, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve and The Nature Conservancy in an area that had been seeded with wild rice three or four years previously.

We were met by Marne Kaeske, cultural preservation specialist with the 1854 Treaty Authority, Martha Minchak and David Grandmaison, St. Louis River wild rice and habitat restoration coordinator with the WDNR. After a sage smudging ceremony and a chance to offer tobacco to the river as the Ojibwe do, they gave us a brief orientation to where the rice bed was located and how to harvest it.

“The rice needs us and we need the rice,” said Minchak, a retired Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wildlife manager. “In places where it’s not harvested anymore, it’s disappeared. Kind of like sweet grass, it needs to be pulled up and picked. Rice needs to be harvested to reseed itself. We’re here to celebrate that today.”

The St. Louis River. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Under a blue sky and calm winds, my co-worker (who shall remain nameless for reasons that will become clear soon) and I clambered into our canoe with our life jackets, a pair of rice knocking sticks and long pole. We paddled toward the wild rice bed where Grandmaison was stationed in a motorboat and kayak to aid us ricers. We spotted a gleaming white pair of trumpeter swans and we watched as a small kettle of hawks circled overhead.

We must have not done our opening ceremonies correctly, because things did not go as planned. I was in the bow of the canoe and my job was to use the rice knockers to coax the rice seeds off the plants. My co-worker was in the stern to pole us through the rice bed. That all went fine, for a while.

Marie uses rice knockers to harvest wild rice in the St. Louis River. Image credit: Sharon Moen, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The soft swishing sounds of the aluminum canoe pushing through the thick rice stand combined with the gentle patter of rice seeds falling into it as I gently bent the rice with one knocker and used the other to tap the plants was soothing. The rice stand had already been visited by other groups earlier in the week. That, combined with a heavy rain the day before, made for a sparse harvest. Still, oblong seeds with long grassy tails slowly filled the bottom of our canoe. Some of the seeds were purple, others were tan. A small sora rail flushed several times as we passed. This secretive water bird needs marshes and rice beds as nesting habitat.

My co-worker began poling us through the shallow rice bed sitting down at first. Then she stood for the task, which is how it is traditionally done. As the manoomin continued accumulating in our canoe, the push pole got stuck in the soft muck and she lost her balance.

Into the chilly river we went, rice and all!

Our shouts of surprise and splashes as we struggled to stand in the deep muck alerted Grandmaison to our plight. He paddled over in his kayak and tied a rope onto our swamped canoe. My co-worker and I waded through the waist-deep water, holding onto the canoe through the wild rice beds until we reached shore, which was about 100 yards away.

The swamped ricing canoe. Image credit: David Grandmaison, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

There, we were able to tip the canoe over and empty most of the water (and any wild rice that remained). We took it all in good stride, however, laughing at our plight and commenting about what a good story this would make. I thought up the title of this blog post on the spot. There’s nothing like a real-life experience to provide creative inspiration!

Our misadventure was also probably good for the rice bed. Wild rice is an annual plant and as Minchak mentioned, it needs to be seeded every year to prosper. We just dumped a whole lot of seeds back into the river for next year. Maybe that’s what the wild rice gods wanted us to do?

We were worried about our cell phones and other electronic devices that spent a short time in the water. But our phones, at least, seemed functional.

Cold and wet, my co-worker and I decided we’d had enough ricing for the day. We paddled back to the landing and emptied the remaining water from the canoe, pulling it on land and turning it over.

From the time we overturned in the rice bed to the time we reached the landing we’d been wet for two hours. We headed home for warm, dry clothes. We would miss the rice processing demonstration and a wild rice-themed meal. We were disappointed to cut the experience short.

However, I happened to have a special lunch awaiting me at home: wild rice soup. I swear, I did not plan that. I just worked out that way.

My co-worker and I certainly got “immersed” in the process of harvesting wild rice. The experience was memorable and was not one we could have had only a few years ago, before efforts to restore rice took off in the estuary.

But if we ever do it again, I’m going to volunteer to be the poler.

Marie’s clothes drying out at home. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

The post Wild ricing in the St. Louis River Estuary: An immersive experience first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/wild-ricing-in-the-st-louis-river-estuary-an-immersive-experience/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
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

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.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

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

Wisconsin Sea Grant

On:
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

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.

The post Reconnecting Menominee students with their roots in the bay of Green Bay first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/reconnecting-menominee-students-with-their-roots-in-the-bay-of-green-bay/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Andre Bennett, Christine Custer, Emily Cornelius Ruhs, Eve Muslich, Gavin Dehnert, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, Jonathan Gilbert, Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwe University, lake water, maple sap, maple syrup, Ojibwe Ceded Territories, PFAS, quantifying PFAS, Robert Flynn, Sean Strom, tree swallows, University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USGS, Voigt Intertribal Task Force, walleye, wild rice, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, wolves and PFAS levels, Zhewaab Reggie Cadotte
Eve Muslich, University of Wisconsin-Madison, pours maple sap from a collecting bag into a bottle for testing for PFAS. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

April 3, 2023
By Marie Zhuikov

When Jonathan Gilbert, director of biological services with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, received a report about levels of PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) in wolves taken during the 2021 hunting season in Wisconsin, he was flummoxed. The scientific report contained terms and measurements that he, even as a biologist, didn’t understand. Gilbert’s quest for answers led to a larger project that is testing maple syrup, walleyes and lake water for PFAS in areas of the Midwest where Ojibwe tribal members harvest food.

During the wolf season, hunters volunteered their wolf remains to GLIFWC for PFAS testing. Gilbert said about 40% of the wolves had detectable levels of these chemicals. He was given Gavin Dehnert’s name as someone who could help answer his questions about the PFAS report. Dehnert, an emerging contaminants scientist, specializes in PFAS. Dehnert works for Wisconsin Sea Grant, a sister agency to the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute (WRI).

Jonathan Gilbert, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

“So, I called him up and we had a nice conversation and he answered all my questions and educated me quite a bit on this,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert needed to present the wolf data to the Voigt Intertribal Task Force – a group composed of 10 of the 11 Ojibwe tribes that harvest from Ceded Territories in parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The task force ensures safe harvest limits and is advised by GLIFWC. Gilbert invited Dehnert to attend the meeting.

Dehnert said, “We spent probably two to three hours just listening to the questions they had, concerns they had – big questions they were really hoping to answer.” Those questions involved PFAS levels in fish, wild rice, and maple syrup and other things tribal members harvest on a regular basis.

“Gavin kept saying, ‘Well, we don’t know, we don’t know.’ But he took what he heard there, and he wrote up a grant proposal to test the waters in rice lakes and in walleye lakes, and to test the sap of maple trees. That’s exactly what the tribes were telling him they were really concerned about,” Gilbert said.

The three-year tribally driven project, “Quantifying PFAS bioaccumulation and health impacts on economically important plants and animals associated with aquatic ecosystems in Ceded Territories,” was recently funded by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Water Resources Research Act Program, the same program through which WRI is funded.

The project has three goals: 1) Assess aquatic environments for PFAS contamination in the Ceded Territories, 2) Determine the accumulation of PFAS in different plants and animals and 3) Understand the health impacts from PFAS exposure. In addition to Dehnert and Gilbert, the project involves Emily Cornelius Ruhs with the University of Chicago, Sean Strom with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Christine Custer and Robert Flynn with USGS.

“Zhewaab” Reggie Cadotte, Native American Studies Faculty and Cultural Coordinator, Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwe University, and Gavin Dehnert, Wisconsin Sea Grant, inspect a maple tree for sap sampling on Lac Courte Orielles tribal land in northern Wisconsin. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Dehnert said that part one of the project will explore lakes where there’s high harvests of walleye and other fish species and wild rice in Ceded Territories. Researchers will look for the presence of PFAS and determine the levels.

Maple trees were tapped for maple sap collection on Lac Courte Orielles tribal lands to determine levels of PFAS. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Part two involves understanding the bioaccumulation of PFAS in harvestable goods. “If we know that it’s in the water source where these walleye or wild rice are living, we want to be able to have some sort of correlation between how much PFAS is in the lake water and then how much is then getting into the fish and wild rice,” Dehnert said. Gilbert stressed that they don’t know how much PFAS moves from the water into fish and plants. They will also test vats of maple sap harvested by tribal members.

Part three will look at impacts on organisms that live in the aquatic environments, focusing on tree swallows. This part, led by Ruhs, will explore how PFAS can impact the immune function of tree swallows in different life stages, from nestlings to adults. The swallows are considered an indicator species for contaminated water because they feed near their nesting area almost solely on aquatic insects. Researchers will take blood samples from the birds and look at white blood cell count and antibodies.

Part one will begin this spring with sampling of maple sap and lake water in 25 lakes.

Dehnert is looking forward to the project.

“It’s not focusing on just science for science. There’s a true actionable side to it. That was why we chose the plants and animals that were highly harvested by these tribes. If you’re finding high concentrations of PFAS in these types of harvestable goods, they are going to disproportionately impact the tribes because they are relying on them for their sustainability and food consumption. Sometimes in science people might look at different plants and animals that don’t really have a cultural tie. So that, to me, has always been why we got so excited about this project,” he said.

A research project team collects maple tree sap for PFAS sampling on Lac Courte Orielles tribal land in spring 2023. Pictured, left to right, are Eve Muslich, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Andre Bennett, Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwe University; Gavin Dehnert, Wisconsin Sea Grant; Jonathan Gilbert, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission; and “Zhewaab” Reggie Cadotte, Lac Courte Orielles Ojibwe University. Image credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant
The post New project tests Ceded Territories for PFAS at request of tribes first appeared on WRI.

Original Article

News Release | WRI

News Release | WRI

https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/new-project-tests-ceded-territories-for-pfas-at-request-of-tribes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-project-tests-ceded-territories-for-pfas-at-request-of-tribes

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Allouez Bay, Cat Island project, David Grandmaison, Matt Steiger, piping plovers, St. Louis River Alliance, St. Louis River Summit, wild rice, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Point, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Field trip participants with the St. Louis River Summit learn about efforts to encourage piping plovers to nest on Wisconsin Point. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

I participated in a field trip during the recent St. Louis River Summit that involved snowshoeing out to a bird sanctuary on Wisconsin Point, which is near Superior, Wisconsin. The sanctuary is a protected area on a sandy spit of land, specifically designated for endangered shorebirds called piping plovers (Charadrius melodus).

I enjoy any opportunity to visit Wisconsin Point, but I also attended because I was involved in early habitat restoration efforts for these cute little birds before I worked for Wisconsin Sea Grant. I was interested in hearing the latest intel about their status.

A piping plover. Image credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The St. Louis River Estuary had breeding plover pairs up until 1989. The last nesting pair was seen at this bird sanctuary site. Plovers, which look like killdeers, prefer large isolated beaches for nesting. Much of this habitat type has been lost due to development and recreational pressure. Work to increase the population of plovers is going on all across the Great Lakes and in other parts of the country.

Matt Steiger, St. Louis River Area of Concern Coordinator with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), led the field trip along with David Grandmaison, St. Louis River wild rice and habitat restoration coordinator with the Wisconsin DNR.

As we snowshoed out to the end of the beach in a cold wind from the northeast, Steiger explained that several projects had taken place on the site over the years to make it attractive to plovers and common terns. The latest was begun with Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding in 2019, which involved enlarging the beach with clean dredged sand. The goal was to create habitat that would last despite changing water levels in the harbor and storms and would require minimal maintenance. Fourteen acres of nesting and foraging habitat were created along with three “nesting pans” composed of small cobblestones that plovers prefer.

Matt Steiger, WI DNR, (center) discusses the Wisconsin Point Bird Sanctuary restoration efforts to field trip participants. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Piping plover monitors coordinated by the St. Louis River Alliance have kept their eyes peeled for any plovers on this site and others around the estuary. So far, none have nested, but sometimes these efforts take time – decades, even. Steiger said that a female plover was spotted in the sanctuary during the spring 2022 migration season at the same time a male was spotted on nearby Minnesota Point. Let’s hope that someday two plovers will land on the same beach at the same time!

In other areas of the state, Wisconsin Sea Grant has played an integral role in habitat restoration that benefits piping plovers. Our staff were involved in the Cat Island Restoration Project in Green Bay, which created 1,400 acres of barrier islands in Lake Michigan that had previously disappeared due to high lake levels and storms. In 2016, for the first time in 75 years, endangered piping plovers successfully nested on a restored island there and fledged chicks.

Sea Grant was also involved in an earlier effort on Wisconsin Point’s Shaefer Beach to create plover habitat. We were involved in initial design discussions for the bird sanctuary work but are not currently participating. For more information, see this cool post and videos on the Perfect Duluth Day website.

At the end of the tour, Grandmaison described work going on in nearby Allouez Bay to restore wild rice beds. Historically, wild rice was abundant in Allouez bay and throughout the estuary, providing an important food source for Native Americans. Wild rice beds also provided habitat and food for birds and wildlife. Their abundance in the estuary declined significantly in the past century, and today only a sparse remnant stand exists in Allouez Bay. Wild rice seeds were spread throughout the bay. Exclosure fencing was installed protect the seedlings from browsing pressure of Canada geese.

As I snowshoed back to my car, I remained hopeful that someday, Wisconsin Point will be home to nesting piping plovers and lush stands of wild rice, thanks to these efforts.

The post Restoring piping plover habitat on Wisconsin Point first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/restoring-piping-plover-habitat-on-wisconsin-point/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=restoring-piping-plover-habitat-on-wisconsin-point

Marie Zhuikov

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In: A Taste of Wisconsin Waters event, Bodin Fisheries, Charlie Henriksen, Emma Hauser, Henriksen Fisheries, Ho-Chunk Nation, Hoop's Fish Market, Marlon White Eagle, Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility, Preston Cole, Rock Springs Free Spring water, Sharon Moen, Steve Summerfelt, Superior Fresh, United Nations Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

A Wisconsin Sea Grant event held in Madison this fall celebrated Wisconsin’s water, from drinking water to water on which businesses rely for their livelihoods. These include commercial fishing and aquaculture operations.

A centerpiece at the Taste of Wisconsin Waters event featured a floating candle, cranberries and rocks. Image credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

This first-ever, invitation-only event was organized by Sharon Moen, food fish outreach specialist. She got the idea from conducting a needs assessment with commercial fishermen and fish farmers in Wisconsin.

“They told me what they would really like Sea Grant to help them with was articulating the importance of their industries to decision-makers,” Moen said. She incorporated that into the event by inviting state legislators and natural resource professionals. Two other objectives were to celebrate Wisconsin Sea Grant’s 50th anniversary and the United Nations’ Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture.

“The U.N. really took a bold stand on supporting local fishing communities and what they bring to society,” Moen said. “Certainly, aquaculture and fisheries in Wisconsin could be considered artisanal compared to some of the big operations.”

A Taste of Wisconsin Waters featured a water bar where event-goers could sample nine waters from around the state and vote for their favorite. Same for a fish spread table, which featured eight spreads donated by commercial fisherman and fish farmers throughout the state.

The favorite Wisconsin water was Rock Springs Free Spring water from a natural spring near Madison. The favorite fish spread was a tie between Bodin Fisheries and Hoop’s Fish Market. Both are located in Bayfield, Wisconsin, and used whitefish as their base ingredient.

An event participant samples Wisconsin water from the water bar. Credit: Bonnie Willison, Wisconsin Sea Grant

“People had a good chance to network with each other and taste some appetizers made out of the fish and listen to some speeches,” said Moen. “I was really pleased that Preston Cole was able to join us. He’s the secretary of the Department of Natural Resources in Wisconsin, and then Marlon White Eagle, the president of the Ho-Chunk Nation was able to join us, too. So, it was really great to have dignitaries and scientists and fish producers all mingling together and to hear those conversations.”

Speeches were also offered by Wisconsin Sea Grant Director Jim Hurley; Steve Summerfelt, chief science officer for Superior Fresh, an aquaponics business that raises Atlantic salmon and grows leafy greens in Hixton, Wisconsin; and Charlie Henriksen of Henriksen Fisheries.

Cole outlined current challenges facing water systems in Wisconsin. “There’s a lot of places in the state of Wisconsin that people don’t have surety when they turn on their tap that they’re going to have clean fresh drinking water,” he said. “A lot of the circumstances are lead laterals in some of our older cities. I think there’s probably about 100 communities still in Wisconsin spread all across the state that still have lead laterals. And for children, there is no safe level for lead. We know that emerging contaminants like PFAS [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances] in our drinking water do serious harm where we’ve been finding legacy contaminants from firefighting foam.”

Cole also shared some thoughts on a “Taste of Wisconsin Waters.”

“I think this is awesome. For folks in this room tonight, from commercial fishermen, to researchers, to restauranteurs, people who count on that fishing industry, people who count on the research that’s occurring – I met a couple of those researchers this evening – and I think it’s a wonderful way to look forward by relishing how far we’ve come in the past and providing clean water and research around our water systems.”

Summerfelt with Superior Fresh was also impressed by the event. “I’m ecstatic that Sea Grant put this together to recognize how Wisconsin uses water for food and brought in aquaculture. Sea Grant has not only helped educate consumers about eating Wisconsin seafood, which is so good for them because there’s nowhere else you can get omega-3s, which are good for your brain and heart, like you can get it from seafood. And then, Wisconsin Sea Grant has also been instrumental in funding research that’s helped the technology develop that’s used in Superior Fresh.”

Depending on funding, similar events may happen in the future, and they may be open to the public.

Preston Cole. Credit: Marie Zhuikov, Wisconsin Sea Grant

Many of the outcomes will take a while to manifest, but Moen explained that one connection was made right away. “A thousand arctic char from the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility that is operated through the University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point, got homes. One of the fish producers, because he heard about them being available, came and collected them and took them back to his farm for growing out as an experiment. So that was a big plus,” Moen said.

She also said that networking among the event-goers led to site visits to research and education facilities and that she’s received invitations to host similar events in two other Wisconsin communities. Moen and Emma Hauser, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s aquaculture and education outreach specialist, recently met with staff from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection to discuss working together to support the food-fish industry. “This happened as a direct result of the Taste of Wisconsin Waters,” Moen said.

The post A Taste of Wisconsin Waters first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/a-taste-of-wisconsin-waters/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-taste-of-wisconsin-waters

Marie Zhuikov

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In: Angelo Cozzola, Aquatic Toxicology journal, effect of fluidone on fathead minnows, eurasian watermilfoil and hydrilla herbicides, Gavin Dehnert, William Karasov, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

In a study recently published in the journal, “Aquatic Toxicology,” researchers found that while concentrations of the herbicide fluridone similar to those used when it’s applied to lakes to control Eurasian watermilfoil and hydrilla did not kill fathead minnows, it can impact fish health in more subtle ways.

Eurasian watermilfoil is an invasive water plant that grows so densely it can make boating, fishing and swimming unpleasant and difficult. Image credit: Gavin Dehnert, Wisconsin Sea Grant

“The good news for fluridone is that it didn’t really have any impacts on survivorship or even on fish growth, which was to be expected. But when we looked at some of the more sensitive endpoints, particularly prey capture and endocrine disruption, we see that at certain concentrations there seems to be an impact,” said Gavin Dehnert, research team member and Wisconsin Sea Grant’s emerging contaminants scientist.

Fluridone is one of the major active ingredients in commercial aquatic herbicides. It affects the entire plant by inhibiting its ability to photosynthesize, which eventually leads to death. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is interested in using herbicides containing fluridone as an alternative to those containing 2,4-D, which preliminary research has found can be toxic to fish.

Dehnert said that before commercial use, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates testing of fluridone to ensure it does not impact fish survival and growth parameters such as length and weight. This testing is done with very high concentrations and recommendations are derived.

“The problem is, they (the EPA) rarely test the actual lower concentrations that they say are safe for the lake,” Dehnert said. “That’s usually a big question mark. It’s like, well, they just said it was safe, but is it actually?”

The research team, led by William Karasov with the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, exposed fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) to concentrations of fluridone that would be found in a lake during treatment. Unlike 2,4-D, which only needs to be applied once, fluridone herbicides could require several applications to a lake to be effective over a minimum of 45 days but usually 90 days. The minnows were exposed to the chemical in the lab for 35 days and then a subsequent generation of larval minnows from the original test group was exposed for 65 days.

Larval fathead minnows were tested for impacts from the aquatic herbicide fluridone. Image credit: Gavin Dehnert, Wisconsin Sea Grant.

After 30 days of fluridone exposure, the adult male fish showed an increased number of nuptial tubercules, which can indicate endocrine disruption. Dehnert explained that some herbicides, especially when they are used at low concentrations, can mimic fish hormones. The tubercules are found near the minnows’ noses and increase or decrease in number depending on how much androgen and estrogen a fish produces. “That’s really important because it could have major impacts on reproduction,” Dehnert said.

The researchers also found that the fishes’ livers were enlarged and that their ability to catch prey decreased significantly when exposed to fluridone, which could be because it impairs their ability to move. Previous studies suggest fluridone can act as a neurotoxin.

The DNR funded the study because, as Dehnert said, “In the state of Wisconsin, everybody likes to fish. So, we’re trying to make sure we protect them as much as possible.”

Other members of the team included Angelo Cozzola and Amber White, all with UW-Madison.

The post Herbicide Study Finds Good News, Bad News for Use of Fluridone in Lakes first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

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News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/herbicide-study-finds-good-news-bad-news-for-use-of-fluridone-in-lakes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=herbicide-study-finds-good-news-bad-news-for-use-of-fluridone-in-lakes

Marie Zhuikov