Agenda

Onsite Registration and Continental Breakfast
(Hallway by Washington & Fairfax Rooms)

Matthew Shank / PADEP [email protected]

(Rumsey)

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Freshwater Science serves a broad group of members who have an interest in the freshwater environments of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, and West Virginia and the surrounding regions. The Mid-Atlantic Chapter’s mission is to connect regional SFS members with each other and to practitioners, government agencies, non-profits, consultants and others tasked with evaluating, conserving, and restoring the freshwater environments in our region. A specific goal of this mission is to facilitate engagement with federal scientists and policy makers in an effort to better link science and practice. This chapter meeting is open to any interested individuals, regardless of the current status as a chapter member or as an SFS member. As this will the first in-person chapter meeting in a few years, chapter business will be largely regulated to introductions and setting short- and long-term goals for the chapter.

While teaching with live bugs is always best, sometimes you don’t have time to gather new critters or you may have some people who aren’t comfortable being around insects. Learn tips and tricks on how to preserve insects for lasting teaching tools by creating your own “forever bugs” with insect resin cubes. Ecologists from Fairfax County’s Watershed Education and Outreach (WEO ) have been making aquatic insect resin cubes for over five years and are ready to share all knowledge they have acquired along the way. Each participant will learn how to mix, pour, and cure resin all within the time it takes for this workshop. All materials will be provided at no cost. Attendees will leave the training with their own example “forever bug” and instructions on how to make your own set. Prepared aquatic insects will be provided for you to use but feel free to bring your own dried bugs if you would like.

(Old Inn)

The aquatic molluscan fauna of North America, north of Mexico, was historically the most diverse molluscan fauna in the world. Today, freshwater mussels (Family: Unionidae) are ranked among the most imperiled fauna group worldwide and have been identified as the most imperiled fauna group in North America. This dramatic decline can be linked to habitat alterations, loss of host fish species, and increased siltation resulting from past dam construction along major rivers. Currently, poor land use practices, urban development, and a spectrum of domestic, industrial, and agricultural pollution have disrupted the physical and chemical properties of freshwater systems, reduced habitat quality and quantity, and accelerated the decline of freshwater mussels throughout North America. The first portion of the workshop will examine the conservation issues facing freshwater mussels, from a worldwide and EPA Region 3 perspective, and will discuss the biology, life history, and distribution of freshwater mussels. The second will focus on taxonomic identification, providing methods as well as some examples of freshwater mussels found throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, DC, West Virginia, and Virginia. Participants are encouraged, but not required, to bring their own freshwater mussel keys or resource materials. Participants may also elect to bring their own voucher specimens.

(Fairfax)

This workshop will commence with a short lecture on the general biology of salamanders. This will be followed by an introduction to the common salamander families of the North/Central Appalachians with a focus on ones that utilize bodies of water such as streams and vernal pools (some woodland salamanders will be included as well). While some species of salamanders are easy to identify, members of some genera can be more challenging. The workshop will provide participants with the opportunity to learn some of the key differentiating features between some of the trickier species. In addition to examining the key characteristics for species identification in the field, this workshop will include a review of salamander ecology, distribution, natural history, and conservation issues.

(Morgan)

Vernal pools are critical breeding habitat for amphibians in winter and early spring. Ephemeral in the truest sense, they provide shelter for breeding adult frogs and salamanders, a safe nursery for their eggs and young, and then are usually gone by the start of the growing season. West Virginia’s Watershed Improvement Branch developed a citizen science vernal pool monitoring program through EPA Wetland Program Development Grants. The program has continued to grow and develop since its launch in 2023 and continues to be a multi-agency project in order to pool resources and knowledge. This workshop will review the vernal pool protocol for citizen science, discuss some of the science of vernal pools, discuss the progress of the citizen science so far and the development of the program, and conclude with a field visit within the state park to a vernal pool and/or a feature in the landscape that serves a similar purpose in order to demonstrate the protocol in person. If you attend, please prepare for cold weather and bring boots or shoes (rubber knee boots preferred) which you are willing to disinfect with bleach.