Student group spotlight: Meet the FWCB Club

The Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology (FWCB) Club has been around a long time. While the exact date of its founding is unknown, there are some club records dating back to 1980, and members say its likely the club is much older.

Although centered around the FWCB major, many members are not from natural resource science-related majors. The club strives to provide both social and professional opportunities for members to learn about the fields of fisheries, wildlife, and conservation biology. Typically eight to 12 members attend events and meetings, and members benefit from being able to attend as many or as few events as they want, tailoring their engagement to the topics that interest them most. 

The FWCB Club hosts a variety of events throughout the year related to the fields of wildlife and fisheries biology. Many members are interested in learning skills and gaining experience useful for careers in fisheries, wildlife, or conservation biology, so the club tries to coordinate many of its events around varied field work opportunities, combining these events with more casual meetings for club members to socialize and build community. 

"I love the club as it provides us with the chance to get exposure to many fisheries and wildlife experiences that the general public may not get the chance to do. With the university and departmental connection, we have had the chance to hold events with agency, university, private, and public partners. Additionally, with such a breadth of topics in our major, it provides us with a fun chance to explore certain aspects of our major that we might not know as much about," said FWCB Club Treasurer Henry Parks. 

Over the past year, some of the clubs' most popular events have been electrofishing and seining at Mississippi Gateway Regional Park, songbird banding at Hawk Ridge, and a tour of the Bell Museum Insect Collection. The club is also a student chapter of The Wildlife Society - Minnesota Chapter and sub-unit of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, and has organized trips for members to attend both professional societies’ annual meetings.