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Conservation Fisheries, Inc. Newsletter #1 October 31, 2000
Welcome to the first edition of the CFI Newsletter! It's something we've wanted to do for quite a while. It seems the time is finally here! We intend to use this forum to keep you up to date on new things happening at CFI. Eventually, we hope to be able to electronically distribute this newsletter to all who are interested in receiving it. Until then, please check this section often. We hope to update this on an irregular basis several times a month. Some great things have been happening at CFI since the spring spawning and monitoring season began. Over the next couple of weeks we'll try to bring you up to speed on these happenings. This summer, Pat and I realized that we needed a hatchery manager! For the past year, the two of us have worked full time on CFI-related matters but there simply weren't enough hours to keep up with all that had to be done around here. Many of the larval fish we rear require care and feeding three to four times a day! Yet, field surveys demanded more and more of our time. We were fortunate that Sherry Wehner happened to catch a short television show featuring CFI and the recovery work we were involved in at Abrams Creek in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She dropped by with resume in hand and a clear interest in what we were doing! Soon thereafter, we hired her. Sherry has worked in Oregon as a fisheries biologist with the U.S Forest Service. She has also worked in public aquaria in the Pacific Northwest where she developed a keen interest in nutrition and disease control in captive fishes. She has been a valuable asset to CFI! We'll set aside a place on our Staff page with more information on Sherry. So many of our part time summer field workers have moved on to "real jobs". We miss having them around to help, but we're really proud of what they have accomplished! This summer, Lee Echols, from Appalachian State University come down to do an internship. He helped us quite a bit and he probably even learned a thing or two about the local aquatic fauna! Melissa (Missy) Petty has been working with us part time throughout much of the summer and continues to do so. She's been a great help in the field and is also assisting Sherry with hatchery duties. This year, we have received help in the form of volunteers from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Federal Fish Hatcheries. Kelly Taylor of the Chattahoochee National Fish Hatchery has been instrumental in arranging for field workers and has been an invaluable field worker himself! Thanks guys! Next time, we'll bring you up to date on some of the projects we've been working on this year. As I said before, some exciting things have been happening around here! J.R. Shute
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