August 20th, 2018

August Monthly Meeting: Kevin Kubach will be our Speaker

Kevin Kubach is a fisheries biologist with the SCDNR statewide research program. He has worked on stream and river studies and conservation throughout SC since 2004. Kevin has been a TU member since 1998. Kevin Kubach is originally from New York and grew up in Ellicott City, Maryland and Alpharetta, Georgia. His interests in nature and aquatic life were sparked by annual trips to visit his grandparents in the "mountains" of New Jersey and Maine, saltwater fishing excursions along the mid-Atlantic coast and, above all else, forays into the neighborhood woods which usually involved a stream teeming with minnows and water striders. Kevin earned his B.A. in Biology and M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from Clemson University; his thesis focused on the reintroduction of the Turquoise Darter to a South Carolina Piedmont stream. He joined the SCDNR Freshwater Fisheries Research group in 2004 and has worked on projects including the Reedy River watershed and oil spill recovery study, the South Carolina Stream Assessment, the Broad River Sediment Management Study and the Small River Assessment. His research interests include freshwater fish biodiversity and conservation, relationships among watershed factors and stream and river integrity, and recovery of aquatic assemblages from disturbance.

Kevin will be discussing the Environmental DNA (eDNA) as a tool for fish conservation and management, with applications in coldwater.