CURRENT STATUS OF WINGED MAPLELEAF PROPAGATION IN MINNESOTA

R. Nicholas Rowse, Philip Delphey, and Gary Wege
Fish and Wildlife Biologists, Twin Cities Field Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bloomington, MN

The federally endangered winged mapleleaf (WML) is being propagated by the Fish and Wildlife Service's Twin Cities Field Office with the assistance of other agencies, including the Corps of Engineers, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the University of Minnesota, and other interested persons. We will briefly review the population status of WML in particular over the past three years. This paper will detail winged mapleleaf propagation efforts, including numbers of host fish infested, numbers of females used, numbers of juveniles and subadults produced in cages. We'll also present information on the use of silos for winged mapleleaf propagation. Recently, a dozen juvenile winged mapleleaf are being housed in silos in the Mississippi River at Hidden Falls Park in St. Paul. We'll also update results of our genetics study, and give a status report on the completion of the Corps' Relocation Action Plan for winged mapleleaf. Finally, we'll report the results of winged mapleleaf propagation efforts in Lake Pepin near Frontenac and the adverse impacts of zebra mussels on propagation efforts.