Dr. Rick N. Williams

Rick Williams is a fisheries ecologist and Affiliated Scholar in the Department of Biology at The College of Idaho. His research and consulting activities focus on the conservation of native steelhead, redband, and cutthroat trout in western North America. Rick has been active in Columbia River salmon recovery issues since 1987. Rick and colleagues published a book on Pacific salmon recovery (Return to the River 2006) that describes the century-long decline of Columbia River salmon and steelhead and proposes a new approach to their restoration Rick is a Life member of Fly Fishers International (FFI) and Trout Unlimited (TU). He serves as the Senior Conservation Advisor for FFI and is a certified Master Casting Instructor (1998) and a Two-Hand (Spey) Casting Instructor (2007). Rick is also active in Scouting, serving as Eagle Advisor in a Boise troop, as the Western Region Conservation Representative, and as a member of the National Hornaday Committee and National Conservation Task Force. Rick and his family (Shauna, 20-year old Christopher, and a black Labrador) live in Eagle, Idaho. Family interests include hiking, river rafting, and trout fishing in the summer, steelhead fishing and bird hunting in the fall, and skiing and bonefishing in the winter months.

In November 2024, Rick and colleagues published a new book 'Managed Extinction: The Decline and Loss of Wild Salmon and Steelhead in the Pacific Northwest'.