Natural Resources

Peoria Natural Resources

The BIA invasive species program has continued to be successful during the FY21 fiscal year. The UTV’s are about to receive some much-needed upgrades! We are always looking and searching for new locations to deploy traps within Ottawa County, Oklahoma. If any Tribal Citizens have land within Ottawa County and have feral hog issues, please get in touch with the Environmental Department! Jamie Williams, Environmental Manager

The fish hatchery is preparing to perform specific maintenance to winterize warm weather equipment, which are items and tools that are primarily utilized in the warmer months. This is something we do to ensure optimal performance for our equipment for the upcoming spring. We are also planning and preparing to take bids to perform old-pond construction. This will be an exciting opportunity for us, by getting specific ponds in working order as well as allowing us to open several more ponds for spawning and grow-out procedures. It’s going to be a great fall/winter at the Peoria tribe aquatic facility, and we are super excited to continue making progress in preparation for the 2022 fish spawning season.

The Endangered Species Grant has great news this quarter. The FLUPSY was installed this quarter with the help of Dr. Chris Barnhart, his lab manager Allison Seja, their intern Derrick, and the rest of the members of our Environmental Department. In September, we welcomed a new member to our team, Ashlyn Roten, who will be assisting in freshwater mussel propagation, collection and care. We have been training her to clean, maintain, and build aquaria as well as to handle and feed the animals. Over the next few months, she will learn how to collect mussels, apply for collection permits, and inoculate various mussel species. Additionally, we designed and constructed our new Pulse Overflow (aka “Beaker”) system. The system was installed with the help of Ashyln Roten and designed with the help of Dr. Chris Barnhart and Amy Maynard—the state malacologist in Virginia. Lastly, the mussel lab has been working on the grow out of juvenile Bleufer, Fatmucket, and Neosho Mucket mussels. We will continue to grow out these species over wintertime and spring.

Regina Sapp, Mussel Biologist