Greetings All,

Mike Weimer, Division Chief for Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Conservation

It gives me great pleasure to announce the official appointment of Mike Weimer as Division Chief for Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Conservation (FARC) at FWS Headquarters. Mike’s professional experience spans across a multitude of skills and positions in the public and private sector.

After receiving his Bachelors of Fine Arts from The New School/Parsons in NYC, Mike worked for CBS, Quaker Oats and Fisher-Price in communications and product marketing. Drawn to his love of the outdoors, Mike ultimately pursued his Masters of Science in Aquatic Ecology at the State University of New York College at Buffalo. During this time, he conducted research on the status of freshwater and marine fish stocks utilizing deepwater trawling and fishery hydroacoustics from large vessels in the Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean, as well as fisheries bioenergetics modeling and predator/prey interactions in the Chesapeake Bay and the lower Great Lakes.

In 1994 while pursuing his Master’s degree, Mike began working as a volunteer at the FWS Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office in Amherst, NY, and was hired by the Sea Lamprey Control Program in 1997, work he describes as being of critical importance to the Service’s mission of aquatic resource conservation on the Great Lakes. In 1998, Mike was hired as a permanent employee of Region 5 Fisheries, supervising aquatic invasive species, fish population assessment, and habitat restoration activities out of the Lower Great Lakesoffice.

In 2004, Mike came to work at the Fisheries Program Headquarters office as staff for the Division of Fish and Wildlife Management Assistance, and in 2006 took the position of Special Assistant to the Deputy Director, working closely with Dale Hall, Ken Stansell and Marshall Jones. In 2008 he migrated to Minneapolis to serve as Region 3’s Assistant Regional Director for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, where he worked for 3 years. In 2011 Mike returned to D.C. as Chief for the Branch of Resource and Mapping Support, with oversight of the National Wetlands Inventory and the Coastal Barrier Resources Act programs, and in June of 2012 began serving as Acting Division Chief for FARC until his recent official appointment.

Mike’s commitment to natural resources extends past his career choice. He’s a member of the American Fisheries Society, Adrindack Mountain Club, Trout Unlimited and numerous other conservation friends groups. In his spare-time, he’s an avid scuba diver and passionate wildlife photographer, angler, and kayaker. I’m confident that Mike is the perfect choice for moving FARC ahead through the Service’s strategic direction, now and in the future.

Jeff Underwood, Acting Assistant Director for Fisheries & Habitat Conservation

FISH MAKE YOU SMARTER NATIONAL AWARDS 2012 WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Wildlife Forever's State Fish Art, Fish Make You Smarter essay winners have been announced. The Fisheries Program sponsored the 10 - 12 grade category and trophies for this category and all othe categories will be presented in June at the State-Fish Art Expo in Little Rock, Arkansas. Sherri Shoults, Manager of Greer's Ferry National Fish Hatchery will be presenting the awards.

 

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Hatchery reveals Civil War secrets

Robert Knox Sneden, a Union private and POW sketched this image of Camp Lawton. Courtesy Virginia Historical Society

By Judy Toppins

Bo Ginn National Fish Hatchery in Millen, Georgia, will play a critical role in imperiled fish conservation, but extraordinary archaeological discoveries have brought new revelations about the importance of this site. The crystal clear springs that make the site ideal for a fish hatchery was once valued for an entirely different reason.

During the last days of the Civil War the Confederates built Camp Lawton—a prison camp—to relieve the squalor of infamous Andersonville. The post was hastily abandoned only weeks later when threatened by Sherman’s march on Savannah. For most of the last 100-plus years the site rested undisturbed, the exact location of the stockade having been lost to time. Prominent archaeologists long ago dismissed the possibility of significant findings, especially of personal artifacts.

In the spring of 2010, student archaeologists from Georgia Southern University, working in partnership with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, pinpointed the former site of prisoner occupation in a rarely trod pine forest near the hatchery’s ponds. Upon excavation, they discovered an enormous density and variety of artifacts, including many unique personal relics.

According to archaeologists, Bo Ginn National Fish Hatchery may hold one of the most pristine Civil War archaeological sites in existence.

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