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IDNR Report
The Indiana DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife and Division of Nature Preserves recently presented awards to employees who have provided outstanding contributions to conservation, mentoring, and teamwork during the previous year.
District Fish Biologists Tom Bacula, Matt Linn and Tyler Delauder were among state award winners to include Denise Reust, Tom Despot, Scott Namestnik, Sandy Clark-Kolaks, Emily McCallen, Joe Caudell, and Karl Eliason.
The Indiana Hellbender Partnership, represented during the awards ceremony by Nate Engbrecht, state herpetologist, also received recognition.
Bacula, district 1 fisheries biologist, received the Fish & Wildlife Conservation Champion Award. It recognizes employees who have made outstanding contributions to conservation. Bacula has provided instrumental leadership in the effort to rehabilitate J.C. Murphey Lake at Willow Slough FWA.
The team that produced the 2022-2023 Licensed Angler Survey received the Fish & Wildlife Director’s Team of the Year award, which recognizes a team’s significant contribution to conservation. Clark-Kolaks (south region fisheries research biologist), Linn (north region fisheries research biologist), Bacula, McCallen (biometrician), Caudell (deer biologist), Delauder (district 3 fisheries management biologist) and Eliason (business systems senior consultant) all received awards for their contribution to the 2022-2023 License Angler Survey, which was the largest-ever public input effort by the DFW fisheries program. The survey yielded data about angler concerns and fish consumption habits from nearly 17,000 licensed anglers. Results from the survey effort can be seen at on.IN.gov/angler-survey.
Despot, northwest public lands supervisor, received the Fish & Wildlife Mentor of the Year Award, which recognizes an exceptional ability to mentor others. Despot leads by example, promotes staff communication and collaboration, and ensures that everyone understands expectations and the resources available to them.
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By Louie Stout
Indiana Habitat Info
The Indiana DNR has made some changes to its website to include real-time tracking of fishing stockings and locations of planted brush on Hoosier reservoirs.
The stocking site lists every fish that has been stocked in modern times. You can search by species, county, lake and year.
“If you catch a fish in a lake and didn’t know if that specie was in that lake, you can look it up and see when the last stocking occurred,” said District Fisheries Biologist Tyler Delauder.
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IDNR Report
Brown Trout
The DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife stocked roughly 4,500 brown trout into northern Indiana streams in early January.
Most fish ranged between 8 to 14 inches at the time of release. Indiana obtained the trout from Illinois last year when they were approximately 3 inches long. Mixsawbah State Fish Hatchery in Walkerton raised the trout until they were close to an average of 10 inches long.
The six streams stocked included Pigeon River (Steuben/LaGrange counties), Solomon Creek (Elkhart County), Little Elkhart River (LaGrange/Elkhart counties), Rowe Eden Ditch (LaGrange/Elkhart counties), Cobus Creek (Elkhart County), and Little Kankakee River (LaPorte County).
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The Tackle Shack will hold its “Spring Open House” Friday at the Middlebury store.
The program will run from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. with seminars by Heath Wagner (4:30 p.m.), Garmin Electronics representative Brendan Scarpone (5:30 p.m.) and Mike Raber (6:30 p.m.).
The Twisted Tiki Food Truck will be offering food from noon to 7 p.m.
Shop owner Brendon Sutter promises “massive sales” and drawings throughout the day. For more information, call the Tackle Shack at 574-825-0802.
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IDNR Report
Indiana Conservation Officers Tim Janowski and Bryan Beneke have been selected as the 2022 District Officers of the Year.
Janowski oversees District 10 includes Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, Jasper, Starke, and Pulaski counties. Beneke works in District two that includes Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells, and Whitley counties.
Janowski is assigned to Lake County where he has served since 1998. Beneke is assigned to Allen County where he has been a conservation officer since 2015.