# 2005 Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 8, 2005

Contact: Mary Dettloff 517-335-3014

2005 Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference Slated to Start Sunday in Grand Rapids

More than 850 fish and wildlife management professionals from around the Midwest will gather in Grand Rapids starting Sunday, Dec. 11, for the 2005 Midwest Fish and Wildlife Annual Conference. The conference will run in conjunction with the 9th National Wild Turkey Symposium at the Amway Grand Plaza in downtown Grand Rapids.

Sundays events include various workshops for attendees on topics that include media training, use of the National Hydrography Dataset in fisheries management and a session aimed a college students considering a career in wildlife or fisheries management.

Mondays session will feature a wide array of presentations by natural resource professionals from around the Midwest. The topics include ecology and conservation of herps; human dimensions; conservation of communities, ecosystems and landscapes; stream ecology and biology; inland lakes ecology and biology; the Lake Huron food web; cormorant research, management and policy; tribal fisheries management; and comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy. Tuesdays sessions include topics on habitat relationships; population dynamics and management; ecology and conservation of birds; stream ecology and biology; inland lakes and ecology; the Lake Huron food web; and hunter recruitment and retention. Wednesdays sessions will focus on new technology in wildlife management, population dynamics and management, ecology and conservation of birds, Great Lakes ecology and biology; non-native invasive species; stream restoration and ecology; and lake sturgeon biology.

The conferences keynote speaker on Monday will be Winona LaDuke, program director of Honor the Earth and founding director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project. LaDuke is an enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg, and has worked for two decades on land issues of the White Earth Reservation. In 1994, she was nominated by Time magazine as one of Americas 50 most promising leaders under 40. She has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues. Her most recent book, Recovering the Sacred, was published in July.

On Tuesday, the keynote speaker will be Dr. Ralph Keeney, a research professor of Decision Sciences at the Duke Fuqua School of Management. With a PhD from MIT in operations research, Dr. Keeney has recognized expertise in management decision-making, risk analyses, and decisions analyses. He is especially interested in decision-making with multiple objectives and high levels of uncertainty.

Registration is still available at the door for the conference. More information on the conference, including the full schedule of presentations, is available on the conferences Web site at www.midwestfishandwildlife.com . Members of the media wishing to cover any of the presentations should show some form of identification that identifies them as a member of the press at the registration area in order to receive a media pass.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

900 wildlife lovers to attend event 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-26/1134299787184630.xml&coll=6

Sunday, December 11, 2005 By Howard Meyerson Press Outdoors Editor

GRAND RAPIDS -- Whether they come holding a particular perspective on fish, frogs, wolves or rattlesnakes, wildlife professionals from nine Midwestern states will be part of the melting pot of ideas presented at the 66th annual Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference at DeVos Place, a four-day event starting today. 

"This is one of the oldest natural resource conferences in North America," said Kelly Siciliano Carter, a wildlife information specialist of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. "It rotates from state to state each year, and Michigan hosts it every nine years."

Nearly 900 wildlife biologists, researchers and academics were expected to arrive in Grand Rapids on Saturday for the conference that runs through Wednesday. The conference has more than 350 presentations scheduled, covering an array of topics. 

"This is the principal forum for getting current research midwest fish and wildlife management," said Siciliano Carter, who said this year's theme is "Bridges to Understanding." 

The keynote speaker, an author and Harvard graduate, will speak Monday at 9 a.m. to address that theme. Winona LaDuke, is an Ojibwe Indian who was nominated by Time magazine as one of America's 50 most promising leaders younger than 40. 

"The theme here is linking multiple perspectives," said Siciliano Carter. "That's why we thought it would be important to have a native American perspective." 

Among subjects are: the status of the eastern massasauga rattlesnake found in Michigan; what it takes to recruit and keep hunters; how the gray wolf is faring; and Lake Michigan yellow perch. 

Various tribal fisheries issues will be discussed as well as the effects of global climate change on ducks, the problem of birds flying into communications towers, Asian carp control and zebra mussels. 

The 2005 Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference is a cooperative effort by state and federal wildlife agencies along with universities such as Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. 

The conference is being held for the first time in conjunction with the ninth annual National Wild Turkey Symposium, which also is held in the DeVos Grand Gallery. 

Siciliano Carter said the event's approach has changed over the years. More attention is given now to the social-human aspects of wildlife management. 

"It use to be species specific," she said. "It was all deer or bear or game research, but now we are trying to understand more about non-game and threatened species."


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