WI DNR losing its senior fisheries biologist

Note item #10 on the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board agenda for the upcoming August meeting.

The legendary Will Wawrzyn is retiring. 

Sounds like the public had landed - - but is losing - - a good one:

On this day, though, the river was largely left to the wild things. Only a trio of human anglers worked a mile of river near Miller Park, in search of one of the Menomonee's other gems: steelhead. 

"Can't help but be out on a day like this," said Nick Nowak, 22, of Milwaukee, flipping a spinner into the clear, amber-tinted water... 

As incongruous as it may seem, even urban, graffiti-lined stretches of river host robust runs of migrating trout. 

"You give fish a chance, give them the right habitat, and they will often surprise people," said Will Wawrzyn, a DNR fisheries biologist in Milwaukee.

Fine writer, too. He co-authored this nice piece about dam removal and river restoration. 

Life of all kinds has returned to the Milwaukee River. © Robert Queen

April 2005 River on the rebound Restoring the lifeblood that flows through the heart of Milwaukee. Kathleen Wolski and William Wawrzyn