Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Award
Nomination Deadline: April 1, 2010
Funded in 2000 by a grant provided by Richard and Laura Reichle and Advanced Telemetry Systems Inc.
Nomination Deadline: April 1, 2010
Starker Leopold, world-renowned scientist, dedicated teacher, distinguished author, outstanding naturalist, beloved angling companion to many, and an influential speaker and participant at both Wild Trout I and II died on August 23, 1983. His death occurred a year before Wild Trout III, in August of 1983, at his home near the University of California Berkeley campus where he taught and was the retired head of the Zoology Department. Many of us still miss him and his counsel.
At the suggestion of Nathaniel P. Reed, former Assistant Secretary of the Interior, the federal official that first approved these Symposiums, the Sponsoring Committee established The Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Award as a memorial to Starker in 1984.
A. Starker Leopold was born in Burlington, Iowa, the eldest son of Aldo Leopold. Following in his father's footsteps, he became one of the worlds most influential and honored authorities on wildlife ecology and management. He attended the University of Wisconsin, Yale Forestry School, received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1944 and retired there as Emeritus Professor of Biology in 1978.
Starker Leopold was heavily involved in public policy at the highest levels. In 1968 he chaired the Special Advisory Board on Wildlife Management of the Department of the Interior which led to significantly new national park and refuge policies. He was a member of the Advisory Committee on Predator Control and an international consultant on wildlife conservation policy. He served as a Director and President of the California Academy of Sciences, as a Director and Vice President of the Sierra Club and engaged in a broad range of public service activities.
Leopold addressed the negative impacts of multiple use at Wild Trout I. At Wild Trout II he spoke about degraded wild trout populations and the need to give higher priority to land use patterns and the physical condition of our lakes and streams. The following year Starker told the Federation of Fly Fishers annual convention, "For my part, I believe that the limited budget available for trout management is largely misspent on trivial activities, of no present value, such as the catchable trout program. Unless we bite the bullet and attack the habitat problem with vigor, the future of quality trout fishing in America is unpromising."
Starker's main goal was a world suited to wildlife and therefore fit for people. His personality was characterized by eminent academic and scientific achievements, love of the outdoors, positive personal warmth, and sensitivity. A. Starker Leopold was a friend to fish and wildlife, and to all of us.
As a continuing memorial the Aldo Starker Leopold Medals are given at each Symposium to a professional and a nonprofessional who over time have made significant individual contributions to the enhancement, protection, and preservation of wild trout in North American. Prior to each symposium, nominations are solicited from the sponsoring organizations, biologists, administrators, and conservationists that attend these wild trout symposiums and the wild trout community.
National Park Service Biography of A. Starker Leopold
University of California Biography of A. Starker Leopold
Past Recipients
As a continuing memorial, these awards are given at each Symposium to a professional and a nonprofessional, individuals, who over time have made significant contributions to the enhancement, protection, and preservation of wild trout in North America. Nominations are solicited from participants and the wild trout community. Recipients include:
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Nathaniel P. Reed WT-IX, 2007 Professional |
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Nick Lyons WT-IX, 2007 Nonprofessional |
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Ray J. White WT-VIII, 2004 Professional |
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R.P. Van Gytenbeek WT-VIII, 2004 Nonprofessional |
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Robert L. Hunt WT-VII, 2000 Professional |
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Bud Lilly WT-VII, 2000 Nonprofessional |
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Roger Barnhart WT-VI, 1997 Professional |
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Ernie Schwiebert WT-VI, 1997 Nonprofessional |
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Ron Jones WT-V, 1995 Professional |
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Gardner Grant WT-V, 1995 Nonprofessional |
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Frank Richardson WT-IV, 1989 Professional |
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Otto Teller WT-IV, 1989 Nonprofessional |
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Bob Behnke WT-III, 1984 Professional |
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Marty Seldon WT-III, 1984 Nonprofessional |
Biographies
2007 Professional: Nathaniel Pryor Reed
Nathaniel Pryor Reed was born in New York City, July 22, 1933 and grew up in Florida, and Greenwich, Connecticut. As he matured, he fished and discovered the mysteries of sweet water streams, estuaries, sand lakes, and in the north, trout and salmon.
Mr. Reed received a B.A. from Trinity College, Connecticut in 1955 and served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force military intelligence service, retiring in 1959 with the rank of captain. He returned to Florida and began a career as manager of the family real estate business in Hobe Sound. He is an avid trout and Atlantic salmon fly fisher.
Reed's experience and active concern with environmental matters steered him into public life. He became involved with the problems of Everglades National Park, and was invited by Governor Kirk to become Florida's first governor's environmental advisor. Reed held a number of State positions and was a major factor in the purchase of 22 new Florida parks and wilderness areas.
Reed served as Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks in the Nixon and Ford administrations (1971-1977) with responsibility for the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service. He was very concerned with fish and wildlife protection, public lands management, endangered species, and the establishment new parks and refuges. His opposition to dams, drainage ditches, and other pork barrel projects became three "60-Minutes" television segments.
Reed used his position in the Department of Interior to educate the administration and the general public on the centrality of conservation to American life. When Frank Richardson, Peter Van Gytenbeek, and John Peters first presented the concept of a Wild Trout Symposium, Nathaniel Reed enthusiastically supported the idea, provided the funding and directed Frank Richardson to coordinate and manage the event. Nathaniel was also an active participant sharing the podium with Starker Leopold.
Reed returned to Florida following President Ford's leaving office and continued to serve seven governors. Described by Bruce Babbitt, "Nat Reed is a lean, ruddy aristocratic sportsman.....a Republican in the spirit of Theodore Roosevelt, passionately committed to environmental causes." He became one of Babbitt's most trusted advisers in the 1990s.
Reed's friendship with Starker Leopold led to many trout fishing excursions throughout the west, both men preaching "wise land management and the value of clean water not only for trout but for all forces of life, including man."
Nathaniel P. Reed has been vice chairman of the National Audubon and of The Nature Conservancy Boards; member of the Natural Resources Defense Council; and on the boards of the National Geographic Society, the Everglades Foundation, Hope Rural School, American Rivers, the first chairman and founder of 1000 Friends of Florida, and advisor to many other environmental organizations. He has always been one of Wild Trout's greatest advocates and well deserving of the Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal.
2007 Nonprofessional: Nick Lyons
Nick Lyons is a trout fisher's trout fisher. His books and regular magazine articles have made his life an open story that we all have enjoyed. Nick gained fame not only as a wild trout author but as the owner of Lyons Press and the excellence of its published works. Lyons Press was sold to Globe Pequot in Guilford, CT (www.globe-pequot.com) in recent years and Nick is now enjoying life between his homes in New York City and Woodstock, New York.
Nick Lyons received a B.S., University of Pennsylvania, 1953; M.A. 1959, PhD in American Literature, 1963, University of Michigan, where the AuSable River was close enough to sandwich in between Milton and Keats. He held positions as Professor of American Literature and Writing, Hunter College, 1962-1988; Crown Publishers, Inc., 1965-1979--Executive Editor, developed the "Sportsman's Classics" series.
Mr. Lyons was founder and publisher of The Lyons Press (for a time called Lyons & Burford), where he edited and published more than 150 books on fly fishing, conservation, and natural history. His writings included the "Seasonable Angler" column for Fly Fisherman, 1977-1998, articles in Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, Harper's, The New York Times, National Geographic, Outside, and elsewhere-about 400.
He is the author or editor of more than twenty books, including In Praise of Wild Trout, The Seasonable Angler, Bright Rivers, Hemingway on Fishing, Spring Creek, and Full Creel. In Fish Tales, Nick said, "In the best stories about Fly Fishing....the words have the warm colors of earth and water, not the jargon of the specialist; we meet real people, with warts and wit and maverick gestures; big fish are caught or lost; people say wild and spontaneous words; event becomes memory and sometimes, in the hands of a master, bleeds into art." Ed Zern said of Nick that "if he fishes as skillfully as he writes about it, I'd pay to watch him."
Several years ago, Lyons Press sent me a flyer of their current releases that added to my appreciation of the contributions made by Nick Lyons. A partial list of authors he helped develop at the time was substantial: American Fly Fishing, Paul Schullery; Caddisflies, Gary LaFontaine; Brook Trout and Early Love, James Prosek; Fly Fisher's Guide to Crimes of Passion, Seth Norman; Green River Virgins, Mallory Burton; Selective Trout, Swisher and Richards; Steelhead Country, Steve Raymond; Stillwater Trout, John Merwin; The Orvis Streamside Guide to Trout Foods, Tom Rosenbauer; The Seasons of a Fisherman, Roderick L. Haig-Brown; To Know a River, A Haig-Brown Reader, Editor Valerie Haig-Brown; Trout Madness; Robert Traver; Trout Magic, Robert Traver; Streamside Guide, Art Flick; and A Modern Dry Fly Code, Vince Marino.
Nick is married to Mari Lyons, an accomplished painter who has illustrated four of Nick's Books. They have four grown children.
2004 Professional: Ray J. White
The 2004 Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal professional category awardee started his professional career as an Aquatic Biologist, Wisconsin Conservation Dept. Leader, and was a Visiting Scientist, Austrian Federal Institute of Waters Survey and Fishery Management. In 1965 he was an Instructor/Researcher, Institute of Hydrobiology and Fishery Science, Univ. of Hamburg, W. Germany, and then a Graduate Research Asst. University. of Wisconsin. Ray was a Postdoctoral Research Assoc., University of Wisconsin and then Associate Professor Fisheries and Wildlife, Mich. State University. Ray spent nearly 20 years as a research biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Conservation before finishing his own Ph.D. and becoming a professor, and developed am exceptional knowledge of trout ecology and field biology. In 1990 Ray retired as an Associate Professor of Fishery Science, Montana State Univ., Bozeman. He presently has a private consulting firm, Trout Habitat Specialists, Redmond, Washington. Ray White is a consultant's consultant with time, service, and advice that continues to guide fishery conservation groups, private landowners, and international agencies.
Ray J. While Received a B.A. 1957 and M.S. 1964, Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. He continued in graduate studies in Hydrobiology/Fishery Science 1966-68, at the University of Hamburg, Germany and received his Ph.D. Zoology on 1972, University of Wisconsin-Madison, German language study 1964, Geothe-Institut, LŸneburg, Germany.
Ray continues to make public service contributions. He is a long time technical advisor to Trout Unlimited, and a Scientific Advisor to groups such as the Yakima River Alliance and the Federation of Fly Fishers Steelhead Committee and many more. He has organized symposiums, and functioned in the capacity as expert witness, Ray still teaches and is a member of a broad range of panels, committees, peer review committees, and Boards. He has published and presented papers internationally in English and in German and has been involved in writing for a number of scientific books and articles. Ray gave papers at the first and fourth Wild Trout Symposiums and is considered expert in trout habitat and restoration disciplines and for "Telling it as it is."
Ray's graduate students have never forgotten the things he taught. nor the standards of honesty and excellence that he set. He encouraged his students to explore fluvial geomorphology, population and community ecology, animal behavior, and physiological ecology, and blend these disciplines in their work. He gave them the benefit of his broad knowledge and experience and they learned well.
In the early 1990s, Ray wrote an important series of articles on "Why Wild Fish Matter", and about the problems with hatchery trout, which had a very large impact on fisheries management and conservationists. He played an important role in causing agencies to reevaluate their programs and stocking practices, and set in motion better research into the effects of hatchery fish. Ray White has had an important impact on trout research and management for some 50 years, and is well deserving of the WT-VIII 2004 Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal.
2004 Nonprofessional: R. Peter Van Gytenbeek
The WT-VIII Nonprofessional Division Award was conferred on a gentleman who was one of the founders of these symposia and who has combined a successful business executive career with a lifetime of service to wild trout. He has worked tirelessly to preserve wild trout and the habitat that supports them. He is an important member of the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Commission and has been a board member of the ALA, AMFF, FFF, ROMCOE, TU, and many more such organizations.
R. Peter Van Gytenbeek is the only person to have served both as Executive Director of Trout Unlimited and presently as President of the Federation of Fly Fishers. Van is a graduate of Princeton University, was the publisher of Fly Fishing in Salt Waters Magazine, is the author of "Way of the Trout", and has coauthored two other books. He has served on a number of Symposium committees including the Awards Committee.
As part of a series of successful measures on behalf of wild trout, Van recently waged a very difficult campaign that resulted in a Washington State moratorium on killing wild steelhead. Van's broad accomplishments have been in keeping with the traditions established by A. Starker Leopold.
2000 Professional: Robert L. Hunt
In his paper at WT-I in 1974, Robert L Hunt , the recipient of the 2000 Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal in the professional category, called for more rational programs to manage wild trout, involvement in the biopolitical process, and the initiation of new wild trout research projects. Twenty years later at WT-V, Mr. Hunt reported on a Wild Trout Management Survey he conducted of six midwestern states. He compared his findings to Lee Wulff's advice in 1980 at WT-II, and found a considerable commitment to improved wild trout management.
Robert L. Hunt received his formal education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and served as a graduate student advisor. He was employed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for 33 years, retiring in 1992 as Leader of the Cold Water Research Group. Mr. Hunt is an American Fisheries Society Certified Fisheries Scientist and was elected to the AFS National Hall of Excellence in 1999. He has received a number of other awards including the 1982 Gulf Oil Conservation Award, served as a technical review consultant to four professional journals, and was an advisor to a Trout Unlimited scientific advisory board. His efforts generated public support for a State Inland Trout Stamp that generates $1,000,000 annually for trout habitat improvement.
Mr. Hunt promoted the use of trout stream habitat improvement as a management tool and conducted research that not only produced new instream structures, but clearly demonstrated their benefits to trout populations.
He pioneered evaluation of stream bank debrushing and the use of brush bundles and half-log structures. His wild trout research was done at a time when widespread indiscriminate stocking of hatchery trout was the major trout management thrust. His findings not only generated an awareness of the role of wild trout but resulted in the establishment of a trout stream classification system that recognized the wild trout component. Many streams were eliminated from Wisconsin's stocking roll. He spent his career researching the ecology, habitat relations, and management of wild trout populations and served as an international consultant.
In 1975, Mr. Hunt was co-chairman of the first Workshop on the Management of Brook Trout and helped organize a similar symposium on brown trout. In 1978 he organized the first North American Trout Stream Habitat Improvement Workshop, held every two years with international participation.
Robert L. Hunt published 46 papers and one stream habitat book, "Trout Stream Therapy". Two of his widely known bulletins are titled, "Production and Angler Harvest of Wild Brook Trout in Lawrence Creek, Wisconsin" and "Responses of Brook Trout to Habitat Development."
The Wild Trout Symposium was pleased to honor this outstanding fisheries scientist, Robert L. Hunt, for his long-term contributions to the cold-water fishery resource with its' Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal.
2000 Nonprofessional: Walden Francis "Bud" Lilly
Bud Lilly is a fourth-generation Montanan who became a celebrated fly fishing guide, teacher, outfitter, and fisheries conservationist. He was born in Manhattan, Montana and grew up in an era when anglers filled their creels to capacity, but as his love and success at fishing grew; he was soon returning most trout to the river. Bud saw sea duty in the Atlantic and Pacific as an Ensign in the US Navy during World War II and then returned to Montana to continue his education. He received BS from Montana State University, an MS from the University of Montana, and taught high school science for 22 years.
During the summer, he ran the Bud Lilly Fly Shop in West Yellowstone, that in 1970 became a full time operation when he retired from teaching. During his 31 years in West Yellowstone, Bud met thousands of anglers, including international dignitaries and presidents. Bud was married to Pat Bennett until her death in 1984. They raised three children. His youngest son, Greg, a speaker at Wild Trout II, is a guide and runs a fly fishing shop in Sheridan, Montana. Bud is now married to the former Esther Simon, past Executive Secretary for TU and the FFF. They reside in Bozeman, Montana with Esther's two children. Bud is once again an outfitter, running his fishing lodge in Three Forks. Montana.
Bud was among the trout anglers that began questioning management policies and laws in the mid 50's and 60's. In 1961 he was a founder and first president of the Trout Unlimited chapter in Montana and continues to be an active force in its activities. He was a charter member of the Federation of Fly Fishers in 1964 and has been a FFF National Director and Senior Advisor. In 1984, Bud was the first curator of the International Fly Fishing Center established by the Federation of Fly Fishers in West Yellowstone and that same year received the FFF's most prestigious Man of the Year award.
Bud's impact on angling was noticed when in 1985 he was appointed a Montana Ambassador by Governor Swinden and then reappointed by the two subsequent governors. He received the Montana Governor's Ambassador Award three times for his efforts to improve trout fishing policy, conservation, and law. Bud is presently a Director at Large for both American Wildlands and the Montana Land Reliance, and is a member and former director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. When whirling disease was identified in the Madison River, Bud's "Home River" he immediately got involved as a member of the Governor's Task Force on Whirling Disease. He is also a founding Director of the Whirling Disease Foundation. Recently, the American Museum of Fly Fishing presented him with their highest recognition, the AMFF Heritage Award.
Bud is recognized as an icon in his own time, as one of the most important Montana trout conservationists. He has been profiled on CNN's "Portrait of America", on ABC's "Twenty- Twenty", and in the Wall Street Journal. He has often been the subject of other writer's stories. With Paul Schullery, he has coauthored, "Bud Lilly's Guide to Western Fly Fishing", and "A Trout's Best Friend". In the Guide, he writes, "You can't catch them if they're not there. The more of them you let go, the more of them will be there for the rest of us, and for you the next time you fish."
We were pleased to award the Wild Trout VII Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal in the nonprofessional category to Bud Lilly, a living testimony to its standards.
1997 Professional: Dr. Roger A Barnhart
The Wild Trout-VI Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal, in the professional category, has been awarded to an individual who has been involved in these Wild Trout Symposia since the beginning, devoting tireless effort to our benefit. He presented a paper on Pacific Slope Steelhead Management at Wild Trout-I in 1974 and a paper on a FFF Whitlock Vibert Box hatching system project at Wild Trout-II in 1979. He was Chairman of Wild Trout-III in 1984 as well as serving on the Programs, Logistics and Editorial Committees. He was Program Chairman and on the Logistics Committee in 1989 at Wild Trout-IV and in 1994 was Symposium Cochairman of Wild Trout-V.
It was an honor to present the Symposium's Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal to Roger Barnhart former Leader of the California Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California.
Dr. Roger A. Barnhart received his BS, MS and Ph.D. in Fisheries Science from Colorado State University. For 28 years he was Leader of the California Cooperative Fishery Research Unit and Professor of Fisheries, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, retiring in December 1995. Dr. Barnhart planned and supervised research particularly emphasizing investigations of factors affecting anadromous salmonid production in coastal streams and estuaries. During his tenure at Humbolt State University, he personally supervised the research of over 50 graduate fisheries science students, the majority of whom are actively working as professional fisheries scientists today.
Dr. Barnhart was an active member of the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists, Pacific Fishery Biologists, and the American Fisheries Society. He served at President of the Humboldt Chapter of the American Fisheries Society in 1994-1995 and in 1997 received the Western Division American Fisheries Society Award of Excellence. He has presented several papers before these scientific societies and has authored over 20 published papers.
Dr. Barnhart sought to provide research with practical management applications as was his work on the Hat Creek Wild Trout Project, life history studies of the steelhead of the Klamath-Trinity River system, and research on aquatic habitat improvement and rehabilitation. He planned and co-sponsored the first national symposium on Catch and Release Fishing as a Management Tool, in 1977 and a follow-up symposium, Catch and Release Fishing - A Decade Later, in 1987.
He previously was Leader, Georgia Cooperative Fishery Unit at the University of Georgia and was a Senior Fisheries Biologist with the Colorado Department of Fish and Game. Dr. Barnhart has been an educator, a long-time consultant to the California Department of Fish and Game, and a widely sought fisheries committee member. He is presently a member of the California Advisory Committee on Salmon and Steelhead for the State of California, and is actively supporting programs to mark all hatchery steelhead, and require the release of all wild steelhead.
Dr. Barnhart has devoted his entire professional life to improvement of our wild trout fisheries and the development of exceptional graduate students to carry his efforts on into the next century. In 1991, he received the Trout Unlimited National Conservation Award for professional activities in behalf of wild trout management and conservation. He was well deserving of the 1997 Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal.
1997 Nonprofessional: Ernest Schwiebert
Ernest Schwiebert passed away on December 10, 2005 at his home in Princeton, New Jersey at age 74 from cancer. He was probably one of most famous and important modern American fly fishing writers. He was an architect, a bon vivant, our original renaissance man, and a fly fishing giant who was loved by all that were privileged to know him. During his last year, Ernie, working closely with Marty Seldon, was the artist who drew and fathered the design and the striking of the new bronze International Wild Trout Symposium's Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal, the award he received in 1997.
Ernest George Schwiebert, Jr. became a serious angler at the age of five when his first cast into a Michigan Creek surrendered a twelve-inch brook trout. Before age thirty, he fished the major rivers of Europe, South America, Canada, and the United States, and had already gained worldwide recognition as an authoritative writer-conservationist, artist, and angler.
Schwiebert received his bachelor's degree in architecture from Ohio State University in 1956. As an Air Force officer, he was a member of the architectural team that planned and built the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. He entered graduate school at Princeton University in fine arts and architecture and city planning, where he was the Lowell Palmer Fellow in Architecture from 1958 to 1962. At Princeton, he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in architecture and dual Ph.D. degrees in fine arts in architecture and planning and then in the history of architecture. He practiced architecture and city planning for 15 years in New York, Puerto Rico, Chile, Pakistan, Tibet, Malaysia, Australia, and Argentina.
His first book, Matching the Hatch published in 1955, considered a classic, was followed by many important magazine articles and books including Nymphs in 1973 and his monumental two-volume, 1,745-page Trout, in 1978. Other titles included Salmon of the World, Death of a Riverkeeper, The Traveling Angler, Remembrances of Rivers Past, A River for Christmas, and more. As further evidence of his outstanding competence and respect, Ernie was acknowledged by more than twelve references in Arnold Gingrich's book The Fishing in Print and fourteen references in Paul Schullery's, American Fly Fishing, A History. Arnold Gingrich considered Schwiebert's position impregnable as the leading angling author of our time and recognized his impressive ability to absorb entomological detail and convert it into pleasing prose for his readers. At the time of his passing, a completely rewritten Nymphs-Vol. I was completed and is now available. Ernie's wife Sarah reminded us that Ernie always had a lot to say and that Vol. II of Nymphs and other projects are in the works. His family is also collaborating on a book of his original drawings. Ernie Schwiebert still does has a lot more to say.
Ernie made a major contribution to our understanding of the genetics and habitat requirements of wild trout and salmon through his lectures to conservation and fishing groups, and to educational institutions. Combined with his research into fishing-relevant stream entomology, Ernie has given generations of anglers and fishery professionals new insights into the importance of wild salmonids.
Ernie Schwiebert was a pioneer in the fishery conservation movement and involved in the founding of Trout Unlimited (TU), Theodore Gordon Flyfishers (TGF), and the Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF). He has served as a Director of both Theodore Gordon Flyfishers and the Atlantic Salmon Federation, and was on the scientific advisory boards of TU, FFF, and The Nature Conservancy. In recognition of his contributions, a Trout Unlimited Chapter in New Jersey is named after him.
His eloquent "Elegies and Epilogues" address as the banquet speaker at Wild Trout IV, September 1989, reported in the Symposium's Proceedings (Proceedings Wild Trout IV, Page 4.) gave special meaning to scientific and management efforts for wild trout. His wonderful address ÒI Fish Because of BeautyÓ to the FFF's August 2005 Conclave in Livingston, MT can be found in Flyfisher Magazine, Winter 2006, Page. 21.
Ernie was a founding member of the Federation of Fly Fishers in 1965 and was always an important and integral part of the organization. He attended his last FFF Conclave in Livingston, MT in August 2005. Trying to act as positive as he could over drinks and deep conversation with Mel Krieger at Russ Chatham's Livingston Bar & Grill in Montana, the ravages of cancer were evident and saddened us greatly. Ernie and I were both very excited over how great his design of the Wild Trout Symposium's Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal was in bronze. We chatted with others including Russ Chatham, Mel Krieger, Ted Rogowski, and Joan Wulff for several hours, savoring old times and great adventures. Mel and Ernie where still there when the bar closed. Our friend, author, and artist Russell Chatham took Ernie on his last fishing trip that week. Russ said they had a great time and that Ernie had administered a fishing lesson by catching the largest trout.
1995 Professional: Ronald D. Jones
Ronald D. Jones has had a significant impact on wild trout that started in the Fisheries Assistance Office in North Carolina's Great Smokey National Park, and which culminated with seventeen and a half years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Yellowstone National Park. Ron was born in Lucas, Arkansas and attended Arkansas Tech and Utah State University. After a break to work on red salmon research in Alaska, he graduated from Utah State University with a B.S. in Fisheries Biology in 1964 and the Fish and Wildlife Service Marion In-Service Training School in 1967.
Mr. Jones' first position involved early striped bass research at The Edenton National Fish Hatchery, North Carolina and became Assistant Manager of the Alabama Marion Hatchery and Training Center. In 1967 he was project leader of the North Carolina Cherokee Indian Reservation fishery program and then project leader, Great Smoky National Park fish management program. He moved to Yellowstone National Park in 1976 a became the exceptional project leader of the Fishery Assistance Office.
Ron was responsible for projects that developed Lewis Lake trout for use in restoring Great Lakes populations and the investigation of wild trout impacts of the 1988 wildfires including sediment transport. He has authored a broad range of technical reports and presentations on subjects such as road construction impacts, changes in distribution of trout in the Great Smoky, and regulations and angler catch in Yellowstone National Park. He gave presentations at Wild Trout-II on the role of national parks in wild trout management and at Wild Trout-III on ten years of Catch-and-Release in Yellowstone National Park. Ron was on the Organizing Committee for Wild Trout-III and Cochair of Wild Trout-V.
Ron Jones has the ability to get along with everyone, which made it possible for him to successfully satisfy the dual-agency role of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service in Yellowstone. He was uniquely able to obtain funding for wild trout, manage a very efficient Fishery Assistance Office, and worked willingly and effectively with volunteers and conservation groups. His efforts achieved maximum benefit for the fisheries and made Yellowstone National park a national leader in wild trout management.
Mr. Jones is the recipient of several Fish and Wildlife Service awards and was the 1983 recipient of the Federation of Fly Fishers Conservation Award. Ron was honored in in 1989 at Wild Tout-IV as the professional recipient of the symposium's Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal.
Ron returned to Arkansas to retire but has been returning to Montana recently to help his son build a house. Symposium friends and park personnel were most pleased to have this respected friend with us in 2007 at Wild Trout-IX in West Yellowstone.
1995 Nonprofessional: Gardner L. Grant
Gardner L. Grant is a New Englander who is a graduate of both Yale and the Harvard Business School. He has been a fishing guide in Maine and was the creator and pioneer in the field of automated highway toll collection systems. His other varied business interests have included wine merchandising, boat distribution, and real estate investment and management. Above all, he is a superb caster and a dedicated fly fisher whose successful business ventures have allowed him to fish for trout, salmon, bass and salt water species in many parts of the world, and more importantly to be an active fishery conservationist.
Gardner is Past President of the Federation of Fly Fishers, and a former National Board member of Trout Unlimited, and is a past President of Theodore Gordon Fly Fishers. In New York State, he was a Special Assistant in the reorganization of the Department of Conservation, and Chairman of the Council on Environmental Conservation under three governors. He is a Trustee and past President of the American Museum of Fly Fishing, and an Honorary Director of the Atlantic Salmon Federation. In 1981, he was selected by a coalition of angling organizations to represent the U.S. anglers before the Congress and the Vice President in support of the Wallop/Breaux Amendment to the Dingell Johnson Act. Gardner has been a Director of the Catskill Fly Fishing Center, President of the American League of Anglers, and a member of the National Park Service Committee on Fishery Resources.
Gardner presented the final paper at Wild Trout-I in 1974 representing the American angler who wants to catch fish. He told us that although fishermen rarely agree with each other, that increasing education and affluence are developing more sophisticated trout anglers, who want quality angling experiences, and who are willing to release fish. ÒEconomics is making it increasingly clear that trout fishing can only be regarded as a sport and not as a food supplyÓ, and he challenged the professional community to provide more guidance and leadership educating anglers to show that trout fishing can only be maintained with killing regulated to foster the best quality angling a given body of water is capable of supporting.
Gardner was Cochairman of Wild Trout-II in 1979, Wild Trout-III in 1984 and of Wild Trout-IV in 1989. He also moderated the Catch-and Release Panel at Wild Trout-III, assisted in necessary fund raising , and has been an important contributor to the success of these symposia Clearly, Gardner has distinguished himself as one of the most respected conservationists and productive workers for trout and salmon in our lifetime. Gardner Grant was awarded the nonprofessional category Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal at Wild Trout-V in 1994. At the time, the awards committee suggested that Gardner might cherish this medal above his many other awards because A. Starker Leopold was among his fraternity of fishing friends.
1989 Professional: Frank Ricahrdson
If any one person can be credited with both the establishment and continued success of the Wild Trout Symposium, it has to be Frank Richardson. Frank attended Rutgers University and North Carolina State University where he received both B.S. and M.S. degrees in Fisheries. He was District Biologist for the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission and broadened his wild trout expertise when he joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1963 and was assigned to Great Smokey National Park.
Frank Richardson has held many positions of authority and responsibility with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, including a position on the fisheries staff at the agency's Washington headquarters. He was Associate Regional Director of the Rocky Mountain Region in Denver where the concept of these symposia was hatched, was Great Lakes Area Manager, and before retirement Assistant Regional Director for Fisheries at the South East Region in Atlanta. Frank has an exceptional knowledge of both fresh and salt water fisheries, and because of his ability to work well with people, represented the Service at many commissions, councils, and committees, as well was with constituent fishery conservation organizations.
Frank has devoted a considerable amount of his personal time to Trout Unlimited and the Federation of Fly Fishers as a Director of both groups. He was responsible for the successful 1988 TU-sponsored Russian-American Fly Fishing Competition and for many years chaired the Federation of Fly Fisher's annual Resource Symposium.
The original concept for these symposia was spawned in 1973 in Denver by Frank Richardson, Van Van Gytenbeek, and John Peters then with the Bureau of Reclamation. Frank worked directly with Assistant Secretary of the Interior Nathaniel P. Reed in approving, funding, and managing these symposia. YNP Superintendent Jack Anderson joined these four on the Organizing Committee at Wild Trout-I at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, Yellowstone National Park.
Frank Richardson was either Chairman or Cochairman of the wild trout symposia for fifteen years Wild Trout-I though IV from 1974 through 1989. He worked on the editorial and logistics committees and contributed hundreds of hours to bring everything together. Frank presented the opening remarks at WT-III, and WT-IV in 1989 where he was honored with the Aldo Leopold Wild Trout Medal. His efforts not only resulted in the growing number of participants, but the recognition of the importance of these events as an important forum for the key people that provide the stewardship of our wild trout and salmon resources.
Frank left Atlanta to retire in to Bozeman, Montana he continued his efforts assisting the symposium organizing committee and taking a strong role on the Awards Committee. Frank and his wife Dottie now spend half the year in Bozeman and then migrate to Naples, Florida for the winter, where he enjoys fishing with Wild Trout Medal recipients Gardner Grant and Nathaniel P. Reed.
1989 Nonprofessional: Otto Teller
Otto ÒMoseÓ Teller came from a farming background. His father once grew grapes on Lake Erie and when Teller returned to farming after a WWII stint in the Army Air Corps, he refused to join neighboring farmers in embracing the new chemical fertilizers that were sweeping the farming industry.
By the 1970's, Teller was a full fledged conservationist, bringing the Farallones Institute onto the farm to direct farming operations. He played a pivotal role in the founding of Trout Unlimited and as its 1971 President. In his desire to preserve and restore cold-water fisheries, organizations such as The Wilderness Society, The Federation of Fly Fishers, the Montana Land Alliance, and many others benefited from his assistance and leadership. He served on the board of Ducks Unlimited, and contributing to conservation efforts around the country, both large and small. Otto was a founder of the American League of Anglers and a prime advocate in California's battle to establish wild rivers. He helped found the Sonoma Land Trust, and donated a conservation easement on his Oak Hill Farm to the trust. When ÒMoseÓ passed away in 1998, the entire fisheries community mourned and his wife Anne took over 700 acre ranch in Glen Ellen, California, where she still resides.
ÒMoseÓ owned several thousand acres of land in the Bitterroot Valley in western Montana, where he set up the Teller Wildlife Refuge (TWR) and a conservation learning center. TWR is a 1,600 acre ranch in the Bitteroot near Corvallis in western Montana. Frustrated by the role of poor forest practices, he studied forest management at the University of Montana and for almost five years became a fixture at Senate and House Forest Service Hearings. Perhaps more than any other person, he made the clear-cut crisis a national issue through personal testimony and his support of a movie and a book.
Otto Teller was a passionate trout and salmon fisherman and a duck hunter. An activist at heart, during the 1960's he dedicated his considerable energies and resources toward the protection of endangered habitats and spent the rest of his life working for the cause of conservation. He was always early to champion unpopular but scientifically and morally defendable positions, and used his personal resources to contribute to the preservation of wild trout.
1984 Professional: Robert J. Behnke
Robert J. (Bob) Behnke is Professor Emeritus, Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. He received a B.A., Zoology, 1957, University of Connecticut, a M.A., Zoology, 1960, University of California , and a Ph.D., Zoology, 1964, University of California . He taught courses advanced Ichthyology, Conservation Biology, conducted Fishery Seminars, and is a recognized consultant in this field. Dr. Behnke has written a significant number of papers including a wild trout column in Trout Magazine and in other periodicals to emphasize cold water fisheries conservation and environmental issues. His most important books are: Native Trout of Western North America, American Fisheries Society, 1992; Trout and Salmon of North America, Free Press, 2002; and About Trout. Lyons Press, 2007.
Bob was Discussion Leader of the Research Panel at the second Wild Trout Symposium in 1979 and told us that he was optimistic that this symposium will be a significant step towards a more realistic assessment on the potential of wild trout and for the implementation of some of the things we have discussed. He also emphasized the need for the use of genetic resources, special regulations, and to take advantage of the opportunities for better land use management to protect and restore our aquatic resources. He also pointed to the need for professional biologists to seek ways to cultivate the trust of angler groups and finally that there were opportunities to use techniques such as the FFF Whitlock-Vibert Box to establish new species in barren waters.
At Wild Trout-III in 1984 Bob was the first professional recipient of the Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal for his outstanding long-term individual contributions to cold water fisheries.
Dr. Behnke presented a keynote address at WT-IV, 1989, that summarized the progress in wild trout management since the first wild trout symposium in 1974. He concluded importantly that a major impediment to greater emphasis on wild trout was the reliance of put-and-take catchable trout stocking. This condition must be brought into perspective through economic analysis of the value generated and including resulting habitat degradation caused by overemphasis on multiple use. The Federation of Fly Fishers honored Bob Behnke in 2004 with its Leopold Award for outstanding contributions to fisheries and land ecology, with adherence to the land ethic espoused by Aldo Leopold, and demonstrated by Aldo Leopold, Luna Leopold, and A. Starker Leopold.
Bob has continued to participate in subsequent symposia fulfilling his role as one the important professional voices in the wild trout community.
1984 Nonprofessional: Marty Seldon
Martin M. (Marty) Seldon is a retired Microwave Electron Device Engineer. Starting in the 1960's Marty wrote fishing columns for San Francisco and Central Valley fishing newspapers and was Angler Magazine Conservation Editor. He received the 1971 Field and Stream Environmental Action Award, has written extensively on Catch-and-Release, and is a fervent wild trout advocate. Marty was a Trout Unlimited chapter president, a founding director of CalTrout, and has been a Federation of Fly Fishers volunteer since 1972.
He has held positions as Conservation Vice President of the Northern California Council FFF and from 1976-1986 was on the FFF Executive Committee as Senior Vice President Conservation. He has been Chairman of the FFF International Relations and Fish and Wildlife Committees, and managed several fly fishing industry databases. He is presently a FFF Northern California/Northern Nevada Council Director, and a FFF Senior Advisor. Among other awards he received the Federation of Fly Fishers' highest honor, The Order of the Lapis Lazuli Award in 1992.
Marty joined the Wild Trout Symposium Organizing Committee and presented a paper at Wild Trout-II in 1979. He has been active on the Organizing, Photography, Awards, and Program Committees. Seldon was Chairman of the Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal Awards Committee from WT-VII in 2,000 through WT-IX in 2007.
Marty Seldon served in the U.S. Army of Occupation in Germany just after WW-II, graduated from Columbia University in 1952, and holds one patent. He and his wife Rita live in Sunnyvale, California and have two children and three grandchildren in San Francisco and Eugene, Oregon.