Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program:
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Hayden grew up learning how to hunt and fish from a young age in the woods of Mora, Minnesota which led him to pursue a double major in Biology and Fisheries in Aquatic Sciences from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Upon graduation, he worked as a research technician for the Wisconsin Cooperative Fishery Research Unit where he assisted with a wide variety of research projects and species including: Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, Lake Sturgeon, Lake Whitefish, and Yellow Perch. Hayden also spent a summer working with invasive carps in the Upper Mississippi River with Iowa State University. Hayden is now a master’s student at Mississippi State University where he studies state-operated fishing lakes. The goal of his research is to help advance current management programs, identify alternative opportunities for management, and suggest a framework for efficiently managing state-operated fishing lakes in the future.