Native Fish Society Bloggers
Will Atlas, North Puget Sound River Steward, Osprey Steelhead News
www.ospreysteelheadnews.blogspot.com
Will Atlas graduated in 2008 from the University of Washington’s school of Aquatics and Fisheries Sciences. Starting in the fall of 2009 he will be starting graduate work in the department of Biology at Simon Fraser University. A life-long angler, he is passionate about the conservation and recovery of wild trout and salmon throughout the northwest, and in 2006 he joined the FFF steelhead committee which publishes The Osprey: The Conservation Journal of Wild Salmonids. In 2008 he became a member of The Ospreys editorial committee. Currently as co-President, he regularly updates the Osprey blog in hopes of sharing relevant news regarding the management, science and politics surrounding steelhead and salmon in the Pacific Northwest.
Bill Bakke, NFS Director of Science & Conservation, Home Waters and Wild Fish
www.bakke-nativefish.blogspot.com
Bill grew up fly fishing rivers and streams throughout Oregon and Washington. Early on, he noticed a difference between hatchery steelhead and their native counterparts. Bill soon began studying the science behind that observation – specifically, the damaging effects of hatchery fish on wild populations. He continues that work to this day, more than 30 years after he began it. Whether the topic is fishing regulations, dam removal, salmon farms, hatchery controversies, drought, water quality concerns or endangered species listings – Bill Bakke is the local authority on fish issues.
Chris Daughters, McKenzie River Steward, Oregon Fly Fishing Blog
www.oregonflyfishingblog.com
Chris is the co-founder of The Caddis Fly’s Oregon Fly Fishing Blog and the McKenzie River Two-Fly Tournament. Along with his NFS River Steward duties, Chris is also the owner and operator of the Caddis Fly Shop in Eugene, Oregon. His home water is the McKenzie River, where he chases native redside rainbow trout.
Mia Sheppard, John Day River Steward, MetalHeads
www.oregonsteelhead.blogspot.com
Mia grew up in the mountains, rock hopping along the river banks and spending hours with her sisters playing in the mud, catching crawdads, and hooking trout with line and worms.Mia ventured to Alaska and spent three years commercial fishing for crab and salmon in the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay. She started fly fishing in 1997. On a fishing trip in Alaska, she caught her first glimpse of Marty spey casting a double handed rod; she admits that this is what won her heart, with her (soon to be) husband and the dance of spey casting. Since then, Mia has become a proficient spey caster and been fly fishing anywhere from Oregon to BC and back up to their cabin in Alaska. She now resides in Oregon with her husband Marty, daughter Tegan, and her versatile bird hunting dog Cedar; together they own and operate Little Creek Outfitters a year around guide service.
Mission Statement
Guided by the best available science, Native Fish Society advocates for the recovery of wild, native fish and promotes the stewardship of the habitats that sustain them.