Activities of the Oregon Chapter American Fisheries Society Native Fish Committee: A Model for a Successful and Popular Chapter Committee

The Oregon Chapter of the American Fisheries Society established the Native Fish Committee in 2013 based on a successful model established by the Idaho Chapter in 2000.  The author is responsible for establishing the committees in both chapters.  He served as Native Fish Committee Chair in Idaho 2000-2005 and Oregon since 2013.  Although the committee is involved in various chapter business related to the conservation of native fish, its recurring annual activities include the annual Nongame Native Fish Workshop and the Native Fish Conservationist of the Year Award.  The workshop is an overnight field trip featuring a nongame native fish within the state, selected by committee members.  Previous workshops have featured Warner and Modoc Suckers, Blitzen River Whitefish, and Borax Lake Chub.   The 2015 workshop will feature several endemic sculpin species occurring near the Oregon Coast, September 2-3, 2015.  The Idaho Chapter has been presenting the RL Wallace Native Fish Conservationist of the Year Award for more than a decade, but this is the first year of the Oregon Chapter Native Fish Conservationist of the Year Award.  It will be awarded during this symposium to an individual within the State of Oregon outstanding in the field of native fish conservation.