Native Fish Bloggers

Will Atlas, NFS North Puget Sound Steward, Osprey Steelhead News
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. In addition to contributing to the Journal, as Vice Chair of Communications, 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 Executive Director, Home Waters and Wild Fish
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.

Russell Bassett, NFS River Steward Coordinator, WildFish4Every1
Russell's passion for salmon, steelhead and trout brought him to the Native Fish Society from a career in journalism, where at one time or another he worked as a newspaper reporter, photographer, designer and editor. The more Russell has researched fisheries in Oregon, the more he is appalled by the emphasis placed on harvest and hatcheries. Russell is an ardent supporter of natural production to produce sustainable fisheries and is committed to stopping the threats to wild salmonid recovery in the Pacific Northwest. Russell serves as the NFS Steward coordinator, grant writer and newsletter editor, and assists with administration and development duties.

Mia Sheppard, NFS John Day Steward, MetalHeads
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.

Matt Stansberry, NFS McKenzie Steward, Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

Matt 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, Stansberry is also the outreach coordinator of Trout Unlimited Chapter 678 in Eugene, Oregon. Matt is a technology journalist by day, rabid native fish volunteer in his spare time. His home water is the McKenzie River, where he chases native redside rainbow trout. Most recently, Matt has fallen in love with one of Oregon's true wilderness areas -- the wide open Pacific. Matt spends as much time as the weather (and wife) permit, fly fishing for the wild and beautiful fish off the Oregon coast with his brother, Captain Nate Stansberry. Matt's ambitious goal is to rid Oregon of the harmful effects of hatchery fish, through education, political action, and fillet knife.

Shane Stewart, NFS Sea-run Cutthroat Steward, The Quiet Pool
Shane is a strong advocate for wild fish and especially wild coastal cutthroat trout. He is a native northwestern who has fly fished for over 35 years and served with various conservation groups in the region. He feels we are obligated as sportsmen to care for and conserve whatever wild coldwater resources there are in this region and has dedicated himself to that end.After retirement hemade a commitment to help restore the wild salmon and trout populations on the north coast of Oregon. The steelhead broodstock programs on the north coast are especially troubling to Shane as it involves what boils down to "strip mining" wild eggs and turning them into hatchery fish.Shane is not necessarily the most "genteel" person when it comes to wild fish issues he believe wild salmonids are the heritage we must pass onto future generation