Brian Ickes Bio | The Nature Conservancy

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Freshwater: Brian Ickes

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Brian Ickes

Research Ecologist, USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Fellow, Great Rivers Partnership

Brief Biography

“I think Ted Turner said that, ‘If you travel the world looking for enemies, you’ll find lots. If you look for friends, you will find lots of them too. Look for friends.’ As for counting fishes among your friends, I said that.”

To the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Brian Ickes is a research ecologist and statistician. Not to mention the principal investigator for the fisheries component of the Long Term Resources Monitoring Program (LTRMP) on the Upper Mississippi River, the largest river monitoring program in the country. To The Nature Conservancy, he is a connection to China as well.

As Yangtze fellow for the Conservancy’s Great Rivers Partnership (GRP), Ickes works closely with Chinese colleagues to develop large-scale field programs aimed at assessing the ecological health of the Yangtze River. Successful fish sampling methods modeled through the LTRMP guide these efforts and exemplify the way partnerships can effectively advance science.

For USGS, Brian also conducts research in many areas including community, population, life history and invasive species ecology; effects of impoundment upon migratory aquatic fauna; effects of flood control measures on ecosystem patterns and processes; and changes in flood risks associated with two centuries of river engineering.

He received a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences with an emphasis on fisheries from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, a master’s degree in fisheries science with a minor in biostatistics from University of Minnesota, and was a doctor of philosophy candidate focusing on environmental resources and policy at Southern Illinois University. Brian has published many scientific studies and is currently working through the GRP to co-author a standardized sampling protocol for the Yangtze River.