RIC ZARWELL

RIC ZARWELL grew up on the Mississippi River where Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa meet. He spent his summers fishing there and northern Minnesota where he caught nearly all species of Midwestern game fish. Ric earned a B.S. in wildlife biology and a M.S. in natural resources from UW-Stevens Point. While a student, Ric collected fish for the book Fishes of Wisconsin by George Becker.  Ric has worked and volunteered in several states with diverse responsibilities. He was the first to quantify and map damages in rivers following the eruption of the Mount St. Helens. Ric also led a project in Washington to assess the Deschutes River and its tributaries. In Iowa, Ric evaluated dozens of watersheds across 22 counties, writing grants for more than 13 million dollars to fund water quality protection and fish restoration. Ric worked for U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Upper Mississippi Fish Control Laboratory where he led a 6-year water quality monitoring initiative for CLEAR Project in Iowa. Since retiring from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Ric has worked with brook trout and lake sturgeon as a volunteer at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery in Wisconsin.  Ric has been involved in stream protection and restoration as a founding member of Iowa Coldwater Conservancy, and has collected fish in Minnesota and South Carolina as a member of the North American Native Fish Association.  He developed a conservation education program that won second place from National Association of Conservation Districts. Ric has explored wild habitats on 7 continents and 54 countries and looks to use his role at NFC to promote native non-game fish and game fish in Wisconsin.  He can be reached at Info@NativeFishCoalition.org