Idaho AFS 2026 annual meeting—Idaho’s working fishscapes: The intersection of fish, water, and societal needs

The 64th annual Idaho Chapter of AFS (ICAFS) meeting was held March 3–6, 2026 at the Snake River Event Center and Shilo Inn in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The theme for this year’s meeting was “Idaho’s working fishscapes: The Intersection of Fish, Water, and Societal Needs” (Figure 1). There was a total of 218 people in attendance, including 54 students from 5 universities and 2 colleges (College of Southern Idaho and College of Western Idaho). As in previous years, the Idaho Chapter was proud to offer free registration to all students in attendance, which was made possible by our amazing 19 sponsors! The Chapter also continued to assist professional members whose organization could not provide full support by offering a financial assistance category, which discounted registration by more than 60%. This category allowed nine additional professionals to attend the meeting who would not have otherwise had the opportunity. To help promote the development of fisheries professionals the meeting started with four well-attended workshops covering a variety of topics that were organized by the Continuing Education Committee with help from the Aquatic Habitat, Aquaculture, and Recruitment and Retention committees. The workshops included a remote sensing techniques and applications; aquaculture for biologists; tools for career success in a changing hiring landscape; and a very popular hands-on boat maintenance 101 workshop (Figure 2) that was held off-site at a regional Idaho Fish and Game office. There were 72 unique workshop attendees and 25 qualified professionals who assisted in teaching the workshops.