The Brookings Wildlife Federation will host Steve Chipps, SDSU professor and leader of the federal Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at its monthly infolunch on Feb. 2 at noon at the Brookings County Outdoor Adventure Center, 2810 22nd Ave.

Chipps will be reporting on his recent work on the Missouri River fishes and angling recreation in South Dakota’s “great lakes.” He will be using a novel term — hydroclimate.

Climate change is much in the news and is often linked to changes in ocean water temperatures. However, we hear less about temperature change in the freshwater hydroclimate. Chipps talk is titled “Hydroclimatevariability influences angler use and economics in the Missouri River.”

The hydroclimate of the Missouri River is complicated because water temperatures are also influenced by the big dams that interrupt river flow. The historic Missouri River was mostly a warm- and cool-water river.

Today, the hydroclimate of the riverine portions of the Missouri is influenced by the cold-water discharges from the dams.

The Missouri River and its reservoirs provide considerable economic and recreational activity for South Dakota. The Missouri River system provides over 2 million hours of fishing opportunity — that’s about 30 % of all angling in South Dakota. Half of SD resident anglers fish “the river.” Fishing the river contributed between $6.3 and $22.7 million annually to local and regional economies, from 2005-2015.

The study was done in cooperation with Mark Fincel, GFP fisheries biologist. Fincel got his Ph.D. at SDSU; studied food-webs of Missouri River fishes with Dr Chipps back in the day (2011) when smelt crashed and shad increased. Also assisting Chipps was SDSU research associate Laurel Sacco. The Coop Unit is “cooperative” meaning that it is jointly supported by the USGS, SDSU and GFP.

Chipps and his colleagues have studied both the recreational fishery and the rare fishes through the years. For example, in the riverine sections of the Missouri resides a remanent population of the endangered Pallid Sturgeon, which can grow to 100 lbs. and 6 feet in length.

Chipps and his graduate students have studied the survival of pallid sturgeon larvae in various water temperatures in fish nursery areas, like off-channel pools and backwaters, which are warmer than the main channel.

The BWF is affiliated with the South Dakota Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation. The BWF is in its 43rd year of supplying conservation information and activities to the Brookings community. When the Legislature is in session, the BWF monitors proposed bills related to conservation. There will be a short legislative update at the Feb. 2 meeting. For more information, contact BWF President Bob Kurtz at 605-695-1361.