Lee C. Redmond inducted into the Conservation Hall of Fame
Lee C. Redmond, a 1963 graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife, and longtime employee of the Fisheries Division of the Missouri Department of Conservation, was recently inducted into the Missouri Department of Conservation's Hall of Fame.
Lee worked for the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) for 37 years as a fishery research biologist, fisheries management supervisor, and as an assistant fisheries division chief, before his retirement in 2000. He was widely recognized as an expert in the art and science of warm water fisheries management.
He implemented size limits on lakes throughout Missouri and played a major role in establishing one of the first urban fishing programs in the nation. He also drafted the original Municipal Lakes Program for the state of Missouri, which evolved into the highly successful Community Assistance Program. He worked successfully to provide additional federal funds to states for sport fishing and used those funds for Missouri to initiate a new stream program that became known as Streams for the Future.
Lee authored and co-authored several papers as well as organizing national symposia on the subject, and contributed a chapter in a book entitled, “Reservoir Fisheries Management – Strategies for the 80’s,” a summary of a National Symposium on the Managing of Reservoir Fishery Resources.
Meanwhile, he practiced what he preached--and went fishing.
Lee was also a leader in the American Fisheries Society (AFS). He joined the Society in 1962, became a certified Fisheries Scientist in 1972, and a Lifetime member in 1981. He was a founding member of the Missouri Chapter of AFS, President of the North Central Division of AFS from 1989-1990, and then President of AFS from 1994-1995.
Lee Charles Redmond, of Lohman, Missouri, passed away at the age of 83 due to heart failure on September 20, 2022.
Compiled by Joe G. Dillard, Historian Emeritus of MOAFS