Educational opportunities at Hagerman NWR tomorrow

Friends of Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) will host two free educational opportunities on Saturday, April 13.

At 8 a.m., Master Naturalist Jack Chiles will lead a guided Early Bird Walk, weather permitting. Meet at the Visitor Center and return in time for the following program. Register for weather updates/cancellations at www.friendsofhagerman.com. Both the walk and the talk are free and open to the public.

Then, at 10 a.m., join a free program about snapping turtles and American Paddlefish with Benjamin Thomas, lead biologist at Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery (TNFH).
TNFH initiated their Alligator Snapping Turtle head-start program in 2000. Their objective was to augment naturally occurring populations with low densities and reintroduce the turtles to extirpated populations where they historically occurred. 

In this educational class, learn how hatchlings are housed at TNFH, juveniles learn to hunt in ponds and who benefits from the turtles. TNFH also annually spawns adult American Paddlefish to hatch and rear juvenile fish for stocking to reestablish a self-sustaining population.

Thomas oversees the alligator snapping turtle head start program and assists with the spawning of paddlefish, alligator gar, channel catfish and rearing of the resulting fry.
He started work as a Fish Biologist at Tishomingo National Fish Hatchery in March 2023. He has been with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 2020 and has a BS in biology from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, and a MS in biology from the University of Central Missouri.