New River Symposium

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https://hdl.handle.net/10919/86759
The New River Symposium is a multidisciplinary conference held biennially in the New River watershed (parts of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia) organized by the New River Conservancy. Photo: Shumate Falls, Va., near the West Virginia state line.

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Browsing New River Symposium by Author "Copeland, John R."

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    Back to the Future: The TIA Alliance as a Student Recruitment Tool
    Copeland, John R.; Smith, A. Kirk; Murphy, Brian R. (New River Symposium, 2019-04-12)
    Future natural resource management success depends on a workforce of well-trained, motivated, and relevant conservation professionals. Today’s high school students need to ‘rub elbows’ with inspirational natural resource managers doing field work culminating in meaningful experiences. Over the last six years, a James Madison High School club in Vienna, VA piloted a successful program. Urban students traveled to the Blue Ridge Mountains, conducted basic headwater drainage basin assessments and identified release sites for brook trout raised in Northern Virginia Classrooms. They were rewarded with fishing trips sponsored by a local Trout Unlimited (TU) chapter, potentially recruiting them as nontraditional anglers. In November 2018, TU joined the Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA) and the American Fisheries Society (AFS), creating the TIA Alliance, pledging to work together to expand the Madison club approach, potentially creating a nationwide program. One local area where this work may happen is the New River Valley, Virginia area, where the primary author is the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries fisheries biologist, an IWLA member and an active AFS member. Meaningful outdoor experiences will be enhanced by leaders providing quality mentorship to propel us ‘Back to the Future’ by creating new natural resource managers.
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    Marker-assisted restoration of native New River walleye
    Harris, Sheila; Copeland, John R.; Palmer, George Caleb; Hallerman, Eric M. (New River Symposium, 2017-05-16)
    Walleye (Sander vitreus) is an important game fish in the Upper New River, with March and April walleye fishing effort from Buck Dam to Claytor Lake increasing from 49 to 66% of total fishing effort between 2007 and 2016. Population genetics research has shown the persistence of the presumptive native stock in the New River. Although the river had been stocked from sources in the Great Lakes region, unique genetic markers (microsatellite alleles at the Svi17 and Svi33 loci and mitochondrial restriction fragment haplotype 43) were observed, indicating that the native stock had persisted. Native walleye is of conservation interest due to their adaptation to a southern river system and their large ultimate size. Genetic marker-assisted selection of presumptive native walleye has been carried out since 2000, and has led to an increase in native allele frequencies from 16% and 14% in the 1997 and 1999 genetic surveys to 46% and 58% in the 2004 and 2006 surveys. Walleye abundance and angler catch increased over this time period in relation to annual stocking success. Ongoing work is aimed at deepening our understanding of population genetics and natural history of walleye in the southeast.
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    Mucking Around with Aquatic Plants in Claytor Lake: What Have We Learned?
    Copeland, John R.; Blankenship, Joan; Walters, Laura (New River Symposium, 2019-04-12)
    Aquatic vegetation is an important habitat component in southern reservoirs, but native vegetation in these important fisheries is often displaced by unwanted non-native species, creating less desirable habitat conditions. Claytor Lake, a 1,764 ha mainstem reservoir of the New River in Pulaski County, Virginia, contained a number of native aquatic plants historically, but was colonized by hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) in the early 2000’s. Hydrilla control during the early 2010’s using triploid grass carp (Ptenopharyngodon idella) resulted in hydrilla suppression and the loss of remaining native aquatic vegetation beds in Claytor Lake. While the management plan guiding hydrilla control discussed native vegetation restoration as an outcome, additional partnerships were created and grant funding was awarded to make the dream a reality. After 5 years of native vegetation restoration work on this reservoir, we share our story as an example of what can be accomplished when diverse constituencies converge in natural resource management. Potential impacts of the Claytor Lake triploid grass carp stocking on native aquatic plants in the Upper New River will be discussed, as well as spin-off effects on the aquatic integrity of the New River, as well as the potential for native plant reintroduction in the Upper New River.