Matt Chouinard - Staff Biologist

Matt Chouinard (r) met with Iowa DNR staff in December to finalize plans to install 100 Hen Houses in northern Iowa. Pictured here (from left to right) are DNR staffers Al Hancock, Todd Bishop and Guy Zenner along with Delta's Matt Chouinard. They had just installed the first Hen House on a DNR project site south of the town of Clear Lake, IA. Delta is excited to be working in Iowa with the dedicated staff of the the state to help enhance mallard production. Matt and Delta's Jim Fisher were both impressed with the state's progress on numerous wetland habitat projects in the area. Hen Houses are a good tool in the state's overall management efforts on behalf of duck hunters. Funding for this effort are shared between the DNR, Delta and the federal government through a NAWCA grant.

Matt grew up hunting and fishing in southeast Missouri and credits family for his love for the outdoors. Watching with his dad as mallards threw their wings back and dropped into flooded timber by the thousand, Matt knew he wanted to spend his life hunting, fishing, and working with wildlife.

Matt attended the University of Missouri, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries and Wildlife. He began working wildlife field jobs including his first waterfowl research experience as a field assistant for Delta Waterfowl in 1999. After a second year working as a field assistant, Matt’s graduate research proposal was funded by Delta and he began evaluating nest structure placement and efficiency in the prairie parklands. In 2003, Matt received his Master’s degree in Wildlife Science from Mississippi State University.

After completion of his graduate degree, Matt was employed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an Assistant Refuge Manager at a National Wildlife Refuge. Now with Delta Waterfowl, he is currently based in Morris, Minnesota with his wife Michelle and son Max, and working on a cooperative project with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The goal of this project is to evaluate and improve the hen house program in southwestern Minnesota as part of the Working Lands Initiative.