Stream Team Program

Sherry Fischer

Stream Team Biologist
Kansas City, Central, Northeast and Northwest Regions

Phone: (573) 522-4115, Ext. 3169
Fax: (573) 526-0990
Email: Sherry.Fischer@mdc.mo.gov

Sherry Fischer is a Stream Team Biologist for the Kansas City, Central, Northwest, and Northeast Regions.  She also serves as lead for the Stream Team Academy and is Editor for our newsletter, Channels.  She started with the Stream Team Program in1995 after working several years in the Conservation Department’s Fisheries Management Section.  Sherry’s love of streams began at an early age and she spent much of her childhood exploring area creeks in her hometown, Jefferson City.  She was most at home with her feet wet and usually had a frog, turtle, or crawdad in tow!  She also credits her father for instilling in her a deep appreciation for natural resources which the two still share as they hike together in the Colorado Rockies annually. 

Sherry has a B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife Management from the University of Missouri-Columbia and she lives in Jefferson City with her husband and two children.

Mark Van Patten

Stream Team Biologist
St. Louis and Southeast Regions

Phone: (573) 522-4115, Ext. 3892
Fax: (573) 526-0990
Email: Mark.VanPatten@mdc.mo.gov

Mark is as a Fisheries Management Biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation working as a Stream Team Biologist for the Southeast and St. Louis region in Missouri.  He coordinates the activities of Steam Team volunteers throughout his region empowering them to take an active stance in protecting and preserving the rivers and streams they love.  His connection to the volunteers goes beyond his professional life.  As a private citizen he founded the first Stream Team in Missouri in 1989. Mark earned his Bachelors in Biology from Lincoln University and a Masters in Education from William Woods University.  In his personal time he is a published author and hosts a national weekly PBS Television show on fly tying Called “The Tying Bench.”  Mark his wife Regina and their Jack Russell terrier, “Jake” live in Tebbetts Missouri and enjoy fly fishing, hiking, and bird watching together.  Fly Fishing is more than a personal hobby.  Mark and his wife enjoy instructing 7th and 8th graders in the gentle art of fly fishing at the school where she teaches.

Andrew Branson

Stream Team Biologist
Ozark and Southwest Regions

Phone: (573) 522-4115, Ext. 3501
Fax: (573) 526-0990
Email: Andrew.Branson@mdc.mo.gov

A native to southwest Missouri, Andrew began with the Stream Team Program in October of 2007, and is responsible for Stream Team coordination in southwest and south central Missouri.  Graduating from Drury University with a degree in Biology, he has worked for the Missouri Dept. of Conservation since 2005 as the mobile aquarium operator.  Prior to that Andrew was Curator of the Aquarium and Children’s Zoo at the Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma.  When not involved with Missouri Stream Teams, he spends his time with his wife and two sons on their small farm south of Jefferson City, being a Boy Scout leader, and fishing Missouri streams.

Chris Riggert
Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator

Phone: (573) 522-4115, Ext. 3167
Fax: (573) 526-0990
Email: Chris.Riggert@mdc.mo.gov

Chris knew he was destined to work in the outdoors when as a youngster he out-fished his dad on his first fishing trip (three keeper crappie for the boy and none for the dad).  Growing up in the small town of Lexington, Missouri he logged many miles peddling to and from several local farm ponds with his fishing rod and tackle box strapped to his bicycle. 

When it was time to choose a school, it was an easy decision to head east to Columbia.  In addition to studying Fish and Wildlife Management at ‘Ol Mizzo, Chris began working for MDC as an hourly employee at Research (now Resource Science) in 1992.  It was while working on the “crayfish crew” in the Ozarks he found his new love…Missouri’s streams. 

Chris currently lives in Boonville, has worked with the Stream Team Program since 1999 and is the Stream Team VWQM Coordinator in Jefferson City.  He works primarily with Missouri Stream Teams, educating citizens about how streams function. 

His hobbies still include fishing as much as his wife Jeanine will tolerate, watching waterfowl being lured in by plastic decoys, and attempting to harvest his first turkey (the mythical animal that stands in fields mocking him).

Amy Jungclaus

Stream Team Biologist

Kansas City, Central, Northeast and Northwest Regions
State Wide Water Quality Monitoring

Phone: (573) 522-4115, Ext. 3166
Fax: (573) 526-0990
Email: Amy.Jungclaus@mdc.mo.gov

Amy began with the Stream Team Program in January of 2008, and is responsible for providing litter bags to canoe outfitters in Missouri for the Stash Your Trash program, as well as assisting with Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring workshops and ordering replacement water testing equipment for volunteers.  Graduating from Kansas State University in 2001 with a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries and a minor in Entomology, she has worked for the Missouri Dept. of Conservation since 2004 as an aquatic invertebrate taxonomist. When she is not kicking up critters in Missouri streams for water quality assessment, she is spending her free time at the roller rink, refereeing for the CoMo Derby Dames of Columbia.

Kat Lackman
Stream Team Research Assistant

Phone: (573) 522-4115, Ext. 3157
Fax: (573) 526-0990
Email: Kat.Lackman@mdc.mo.gov

Growing up in the State Fair city of Sedalia, Kat's passion for the outdoors was instilled on her at an early age when she took on the role as "dad's hunting buddy" at age two. Ever since, her mom has always said "she has wanted to work for the Conservation Department since she was knee high to a grasshopper."

Kat started with the Stream Team Program in June 2008 as a Research Assistant under the Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring (VWQM) Coordinator.  Her primary responsibilities are assisting with the VWQM workshops and tending to the Missouri Stream Team web-site.

She received her Bachelors of Science in Wildlife Conservation and Management from Missouri State University and it was while working in the Ozarks for the Christian County Soil and Water Conservation District as an Information Education Specialist that she gained her interest into Missouri Streams.

Kat resides once again in Sedalia and when she’s not out playing in the water or plugging away at a computer, she’s usually watching something NASCAR with her husband Aaron and playing with her menagerie of animals that include four dogs, a fish, snake and two hamsters.

Coordinator's Map

Missouri Department of Natural Resources

Mail:
Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources
Water Protection Program
PO Box 176
Jefferson City, MO 65102

URL: http://www.dnr.mo.gov

Priscilla Stotts

Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator

Phone: (573) 526-3406
Fax: (573) 522-9920
Email: Priscilla.Stotts@dnr.mo.gov

I have been wading in water for fun most of my life.  Playing in streams is on the top of my fun list.  I love it. I grew up in eastern Colorado where flowing water was extremely valuable.  I often walked or rode my horse to a tiny stream that was alive with tiny fish and insects.  This watery oasis was my special place. I grew up loving agriculture and my first degree was an Associate in General Agriculture. Later, I earned Bachelor degrees in Environmental Science and Resource Management.

I have a mini-farm that borders the Katy Trail.  I enjoy having the bikers and hikers stop by my garden to chat about our goats grazing near by.  The best part of my life is filled with family activities that include 8 grandchildren.  The youngest gets to name the baby goats each spring.  If you enjoy the Katy Trail as much as I, please stop by just 1 mile west of Tebbetts.

Wayne Maresch

Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator

Phone: (660) 438-2805
Fax: (660) 438-5271
Email: Wayne.Maresch@dnr.mo.gov

I served in the U.S. Army from 1972 and retired at Ft Leonard Wood in 1992, I attended Drury University and graduated with Bachelor of Science degree, and I majored in business and minored in biology. I worked for the Benton County Health Department as an Environmental Specialist for eight years. I came to work for The Department of Natural Resources in 2003; I worked for the Outreach and Assistance center for two years as a coordinator for watershed committee’s statewide. I accepted my current position with the Environmental Services Program as Volunteer Water Quality Coordinator in 2006.

Susan Higgins

Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator

Phone: (573) 526-1002
Fax: (573) 522-9920
Email: Susan.Higgins@dnr.mo.gov

Suzy started working for DNR in the Water Quality Monitoring Program in January of 2008. Prior to that, she worked 7 years serving people with disabilities. She has a B.S. in Animal Science and an M.S. in Veterinary Science from the University of Arkansas. Growing up in Northwest Arkansas, Suzy developed a great love of the outdoors and a deep appreciation for Ozark streams where she spent hours playing as a kid.

Suzy met and married her husband Todd, an Army officer, and spent the next 25 years as a military wife. Along the way, they had two sons and she eventually added the titles “Hockey Mom” and “Eagle Scout Mom” to her resume.

Now it seems that life has come full circle. Both boys are attending college in Rolla and Suzy is out playing in the streams again. For fun, she loves to spend her free time at the lake riding her Jet Ski or just reading good books. She lives in Jefferson City with Todd and their new kid, “Murphy the Wonder Dog.”