The Mission of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.


The Neosho National Fish Hatchery Visitor Center, which opened its doors to the public in December 2010, achieved Gold status according to the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating system. It is the first facility within U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Fisheries program to receive this prestigious rating. Read more about this here: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/neosholeed.htm

Youth Conservation Corps

This spring and summer, we had the opportunity to work with three talented, smart high school interns through the Youth Conservation Corps Program.  The program invites high school students ranging ages 15-18 to participate in an 8-week program with US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Forest Service or Department of Agriculture.  While assisting federal agencies with much needed help on public lands, the YCC program provides youth an opportunity to comprehend and appreciate the natural environment and our precious resources.


Jordan Shope, 16, Elizabeth Wood, 16, and Dustin Smith, 16, smile as we celebrate the last day of their YCC internship with us. The three learned the true definition of a hatchery biologist.  Whether it be feeding rainbow trout, cleaning their raceways, seining, splitting, stocking, or sample counting, they participated in everything.  They also experienced a rare opportunity to work with endangered pallid sturgeon.  The interns learned to split, scute remove, PIT tag, and sample count our pallid yearlings.  They also fed and weighed the adult broodstock sturgeon.

Elizabeth, Dustin and Jordan shared a moment with Stuart Leon, the Division Chief of Fisheries for the United States. 

To learn more about the YCC program or how you can get involved, check out:
http://www.fws.gov/letsgooutside/PDF/youth_fact_sheet_final.pdf
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