Awards for best posters and presentations at KNRC 2025

The Awards Committee of the Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society would like to recognize several award winners during presentations held on February 6^th and 7^th 2025 in Manhattan, Kansas (as part of the Kansas Natural Resources Conference).

Connor Ossowski – certificate of appreciation for serving as Past president

There were many great presentations at the 2025 Kansas Natural Resources Conference. In total, we judged 14 oral presentations and 10 posters. Thank you to those that volunteered to judge presentations.

These meetings would not be as valuable without your willingness to share your research and management findings. We thank those presenters and encourage others to share their project outcomes at next years’ meeting. The winners of the 2025 awards are as follows:

 

Best Professional Presentation

Jeff Koch: Percid stocking evaluations in Kansas reservoirs

 

Best Student Presentation

Randy Wilson: Quantifying avian predation rates of the Colorado Pikeminnow

 

Best Professional Poster

Ryan Waters: Fishes of the Arkansas River in Kansas

 

Best Student Poster

Joshua Holloway: Recent range expansions of four species of freshwater mussels in the Spring River of Kansas

 

 

-Bryan Sowards

Award Committee Chairman

2024 Kansas Chapter of AFS Award Winners

 

The Awards Committee of the Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society would like to recognize several award winners during presentations held on February 8^th and 9^th 2024 in Manhattan, Kansas (as part of the Kansas Natural Resources Conference).

Brett Miller (District Fisheries Biologist - KDWP) – certificate of appreciation for serving as Past president

There were many great presentations at the 2024 Kansas Natural Resources Conference. In total, we judged 16 oral presentations and 11 posters. Thank you to those that volunteered to judge presentations.

These meetings would not be as valuable without your willingness to share your research and management findings. We thank those presenters and encourage others to share their project outcomes at next years’ meeting. The winners of the 2024 awards are as follows:

 

Best Professional Presentation

Jeff Koch (Fisheries Research Supervisor - KDWP) : Comparative recruitment of Walleye and Saugeye in three Kansas reservoirs

 

Best Student Presentation

Kade Jackson (Graduate Student - Kansas State University): Habitat use and overlap of Blue Catfish and Channel Catfish populations in two Kansas reservoirs.

 

Best Professional Poster

Michael Parr (Aquatic Invasive Species Biologist - KDWP) : The Kansas River user survey: results and recommendations

 

Best Student Poster

Ethan Thompson (Fisheries Seasonal - KDWP  / Undergraduate Student Washburn University): Comparison of Blue Catfish populations at two northeast Kansas reservoirs

 

 

-Bryan Sowards

Award Committee Chairman

2023 OTTO TIEMEIER-FRANK CROSS STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED - Blake Hansen, Pittsburg State University Graduate Student

The 2023 recipient of the Otto Tiemeier-Frank Cross Student Scholarship was awarded to Blake Hansen, a graduate student for Dr. James Whitney at Pittsburg State University, at the 2023 Kansas AFS Chapter Business meeting at the Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference in Overland Park. Please see below for a portion from the nomination letter provided by Dr. Whitney that highlights the distinction, work ethic, and high academic standing for Blake that made him an excellent recipient of the award with a promising, bright future ahead of him in the fisheries field. Congrats, Blake!

The major objective of Blake’s thesis research project is to compare secondary channel and island backwater habitats in their ability to function as nurseries for young-of-year Colorado Pikeminnow and Razorback Sucker in the San Juan River of NM, CO, and UT. This research is critically important for the conservation of these two federally-endangered species that experience near zero natural recruitment in the San Juan River, such that hatchery stocking is the only thing keeping them from being extirpated. Data collection associated with this project requires 6-day floating and camping trips through a 56 river-mile reach that flows from Shiprock, NM to Montezuma Creek, UT. The remoteness of this area makes conducting research difficult, but to complicate things further, data collection occurs during the critical post-spawning time period of July-September that coincides with the southwestern monsoon season that produces frequent flash floods and haboobs. Despite these challenges, Blake successfully coordinated and led seven data collection trips in 2021 plus an additional six trips in 2022, with each trip requiring management of two 16-foot rafts, two research technicians which he supervised, and all of the gear and food necessary to successfully make it down the river. This has been some of the most logistically-challenging research I have ever been involved with, thus I was thankful to have a graduate student as capable as Blake who could handle all the unexpected challenges of collecting data in the San Juan wilderness. Blake has been highly-capable off the river as well, as he has done an excellent job of managing and analyzing all the data he collected. He gave an oral presentation of his research at the Desert Fishes Council annual meeting in St. George, UT during November 2022, and plans to give another oral presentation at the 2023 Kansas Natural Resources Conference. Blake will be defending his thesis in April 2023. 

Beyond his research achievements, Blake has also distinguished himself as an exemplary student of fisheries and aquatic sciences. I have taught Blake in Fisheries Management, Ichthyology, Biometry, and Stream Ecology, and in every class, Blake has always been a top performer, achieving a 4.0 GPA going into the final semester of his master’s degree. These classes have helped give Blake the skills he needs to be an effective fisheries researcher and biologist. In closing, Blake has repeatedly distinguished himself as an exceptional student capable of conducting research that informs the conservation and management of imperiled fishes. I believe the knowledge and experiences he has gained coupled with his hard-working and self-motivated attitude would make him a worthy recipient of the Otto Tiemeier Frank Cross Student Scholarship.

2023 KANSAS AFS CHAPTER AWARD WINNERS / Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference

 

The Awards Subcommittee of the Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society would like to recognize several award winners during presentations held on February 14^th in Overland Park, Kansas (as part of the Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference).

Dr. James Whitney (Associate Professor of Biology - Pittsburg State University)– Past president

There were a few great presentations at the 2023 Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, and likely would have been more if the Awards Subcommittee did a better job indicating that those were the presentations that would be judged. The Kansas Natural Resources Conference had several presentations as well but those weren’t included in the Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society’s award process in 2023.

These meetings would not be as valuable without your willingness to share your research and management findings. We thank those presenters and encourage others to share their project outcomes at next years’ meeting. The winners of the 2023 awards are as follows:

 

Best Professional Presentation

Susan Steffen (Human Dimensions Specialist - KDWP): Effect of Invasive carp on Kansas River recreationists

 

Best Student Presentation

Ethan Rasset (Graduate Student - Missouri State University): Investigating invasive carp in the Neosho River

 

Best Professional Poster

Ben Neely (Fisheries Research Biologist - KDWP): Status of Freshwater Drum in Kansas impoundments with emphasis on three populations

 

Best Student Poster

William (Brendon) Mason (Graduate Student - Fort Hays State University): Evaluating size structure and growth rates of Flathead Catfish in four western Kansas reservoirs

 

 

-Bryan Sowards

Award Committee Chairman

2022 KNRC Presentation Award Winners Announced

 

The Awards Subcommittee would like to recognize several award winners during our 2022 Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society business meeting held on February 3^rd in Manhattan, Kansas (as part of the Kansas Natural Resource Conference).

Lucas (Luke) Kowalewski – Past president

There were many great presentations at the 2022 Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society meeting in Manhattan, Kansas (as part of the Kansas Natural Resource Conference). These meetings would not be as valuable without your willingness to share your research and management findings. We thank those presenters and encourage others to share their project outcomes at next years’ meeting. The winners of the 2022 awards are as follows:

 

Best Professional Presentation

Chris Steffen: Invasive carp management in Kansas

 

Best Student Presentation

Peter Pfaff: Farm ponds: build it and they will come, stock it and they won’t

 

Best Professional Poster

Michael Parr: Using environmental variables to predict Walleye catch during broodstock collection efforts

 

Best Student Poster

John M. Smith Jr: First documentation of invasive Rusty Crayfish (Faxonius rusticus) in Kansas

 

 

-Bryan Sowards

Award Committee Chairman

Electronic Link to Pay KS AFS Membership Dues!

 Here is a link to those who wish to pay their Kansas Chapter AFS membership dues electronically:

https://ks-chapter-of-american-fisheries-society.square.site/

Membership dues are $10.60 (electronic fee of $0.60) for Professional Membership and $5.50 (electronic fee of $0.50) for Student Membership. 

 2021 KNRC Presentation Award Winners Announced

There were many great online poster presentations at the 2021 Kansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society virtual meeting (as part of the Kansas Natural Resource Conference). This was the first year of doing a virtual format and poster-only sessions. These meetings, virtual or otherwise, would not be as valuable without your willingness to share your research and management findings. We thank those presenters and encourage others to share their project outcomes at next years’ meeting. The winners of the 2021 presentation awards are as follows:

Best Professional Poster

Brett Miller: Life history characteristics of Goldeye in Milford Reservoir, Kansas

Best Student Poster

Alex Martin: Assessing internal phosphorous loading in Marion Reservoir

-Bryan Sowards

Award Committee Chairman