Photo by David Baker

Jack Williams retired from Trout Unlimited in October 2017. But the honors and recognition for his science leadership keep rolling in.

At the 9^th annual Native and Wild Trout Conference in Phoenix on April 12, Trout Unlimited’s longtime senior scientist was awarded the Gila Trout Award for his work developing research tools for recovering native trout species in the Southwest.

The award is presented each year by the Arizona Game and Fish Commission and the Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited to an outstanding individual who has “made exceptional contributions to the conservation, protection and restoration of native and wild trout and their habitat in the Southwest.”

Prior to retiring, Jack led Trout Unlimited’s Science Team since 2005, working on salmon and trout recovery, climate change adaptation and other habitat challenges. Under Jack’s leadership, TU Science developed several science-based planning tools, including the Conservation Success Index and Conservation Portfolio, that have proved critical to efforts to restore Southwest native trout species.

Among his many accomplishments, Jack helped to pioneer the concept of native fish refuges—a concept vital to establishing self-sustaining meta-populations of imperiled Southwest native trout. The recent Apache Trout monitoring plan and Gila Trout wildfire vulnerability assessment were also developed under Jack’s guidance. These science-based tools and approaches to Southwest native trout management would not have happened without Jack’s big picture vision for Southwest native trout conservation.

The award also cited Jack’s development of an Angler Science program across Trout Unlimited’s geographic reach. In Arizona, he worked with the TU state council to implement a stream temperature monitoring program that employed angler volunteers. New stream temperature data on Apache and Gila trout streams collected by anglers are helping scientists understand the thermal profiles of streams and their suitability for native trout, as well as prioritize locations for recovery. The data also sets the stage for long-term monitoring to track temperature changes in a warming climate.

John Jordan of Arizona TU, in presenting the award, said, “More than any other individual, Jack helped many of us, and our organization, to better understand that in the face of more intense fires, flooding, and drought, our southern-most trout species are not simply ‘write-off’ populations, and that it is imperative to protect and restore the genetics of these remarkable fish that have allowed them to persist where other trout species would perish. He also helped us to better understand that maintaining isolated populations of genetically pure populations is not success. To be successful, we need to recover these fish and their various life-histories by protecting and restoring connected riverine systems.”

Congratulations, Jack!