Welcome to 2010!

Well, it's a new decade! And, after a deep freeze around here, the brief warm-up we've had is bringing on some reproductive interests around the hatchery (with the fish...that is...).

Our rush darters are spawning. The slackwater darters are coloring up and even the ashy darters are looking like it won't be long until they start spawning! We're expecting a cool-down later this week. Maybe that will slow things down a bit! In any case, it's an exciting time around here....and a busy time! We had hoped to get out into the field this week. Once again, we may need an ark to do so! We're hoping for maybe just a LITTLE bit less rain this year. And, yes, we know we have to careful what we wish for!

We are finally going to have a complete professional web site make-over! We're very excited about this. It should be much easier to navigate, much more interactive and we hope much more informative! The newsletter format will also change. Hopefully, along with these changes, I'll be inspired to do a better job of keeping up with newsletter writing. We'll see!

The new site will contain, among other things, links to our Youtube site. Once we have this updated, we'll want to encourage everyone to become a member to receive updates letting you know when new videos have been posted. We want to continue posting new underwater video as well as hatchery spawning and rearing sequences. I think this will be something everyone will be interested in.

So, hopefully, in the near future, we'll have a whole new look! I'll be sure to inform everyone on the list when the new site is up.

Have a great spring!

J.R.