In Memoriam

Bradley B. Shepard June 12, 1952 – September 23, 2021 Brad Shepard died suddenly and unexpectedly on September 23, 2021, while going fishing on his island on the Yellowstone River with his favorite fishing partner, his son Ben, by his side. Bradley Bernard Shepard was born June 12, 1952, in Dayton, Ohio. He found his passion very early in life; fishing with his grandfather at the age of 2 years. He headed west as soon as he was out of high school, settling in Bozeman, Montana. Shepard earned a BS in fish and wildlife management from Montana State University (MSU) in 1975, an MS in fisheries resources from the University of Idaho in 1981, and PhD in fish and wildlife biology from MSU in 2010. Shepard was a legendary fisheries biologist who devoted his 40+ year career to research, management, and conservation of native fish in Montana and beyond. He worked as a fisheries biologist, manager, researcher, and professor, taking him from the largest Montana rivers with Bull Trout Salvelinus confluentus and sturgeon Acipenser spp., to the smallest mountain streams with Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii and Arctic Grayling Thymallus arcticus. He worked over 30 years as a fisheries biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, 4 years as a senior aquatic scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, and 6 years as a private consultant and adjunct professor at MSU. Shepard contributed his time and expertise to numerous agencies, tribes, and conservation organizations throughout the western United States and Canada. He relished working with colleagues in the field where numerous fisheries projects were conceived through endless discussions while sampling fish or sitting around a campfire at night. Shepard championed all native fish and habitat conservation, but there is no doubt that his tireless efforts working on issues facing Cutthroat Trout stand out as a career highlight. This work started in the mid 1980s on small populations in southwestern Montana, and by the early 1990s Shepard was guiding the development of a multilevel approach to conserve Cutthroat Trout in Montana and range-wide. Shepard was chair of a multiagency technical committee that developed guidelines for conservation and recovery efforts for native Cutthroat Trout in Montana that were adopted and carried out by state and federal agencies, tribes, and NGOs, as well as agricultural and timber industries. He led or assisted other biologists on conservation efforts that ranged from securing aboriginal Cutthroat Trout populations of fewer than 100 fish, to removing nonnative trout and introducing Westslope Cutthroat Trout O. clarkii lewisi into 60 miles of Cherry Creek. Shepard’s research and conservation efforts helped in the development and implementation of dozens of completed and ongoing Cutthroat Trout projects in Montana and across the western USA in hundreds of stream miles and dozens of lakes. Cutthroat Trout have no better friend than Brad Shepard; he loved his “cuttie buddies.” Shepard had an insatiable curiosity, and a need to learn and make a difference, which translated into cutting-edge science, impactful management collaborations, mentorship of biologists young and old, and memorable fishing trips. He particularly enjoyed interacting with students and worked closely with the Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit at MSU, where he exhibited boundless generosity and energy in helping, advising, and mentoring graduate students and technicians, most of whom are still carrying on his important work. Shepard had an enormous “biologist tree” and many of us are privileged to be branches on that tree—now the next generation will put down their roots in the shade of his legacy. During his career, Shepard published a long list of papers on his research, many of which are considered seminal papers in fisheries science and native trout conservation. He was an active member of the American Fisheries Society, serving as President of the Montana Chapter in 1995, sharing numerous stimulating presentations at AFS meetings, earning the prestigious Career Achievement Award in 2009, and leading efforts to bring science to policy and management on many fish and habitat conservation issues across the West. Shepard leaves his wife Mary Lennon of Livingston, Montana, and two children, Ben Shepard of Bozeman and Madison Shepard of Rohnert Park, California.

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