RUSSELL STUART
Inducted 1983
Stuart, a Bismarck native, was a North Dakota Game and Fish Department commissioner. He is recognized for his leadership in the modernization of the state’s sportfishing program. He hired many professionally trained biologists and changed the direction of the department to create fisheries programs based on solid scientific knowledge and research. It was under Stuart’s administration that a number of major programs were implemented that would have far-reaching effects and would benefit generations of anglers. These included the trout and salmon programs, and the extremely successful introduction of the rainbow smelt into the Missouri River system.
Stuart also set aside part of the department’s budget to aid in the construction and repair of a number of small watershed dams, including Sweetbriar, Crown Butte, Camels Hump, Lake LaMoure, and Arroda Lakes. More than 30 dams were either built or repaired during Stuart’s eighteen years as Commissioner. These dams and the lakes they created provided fishing and associated recreation in areas of the state with little or no opportunities available previously.
Inducted 1983
Stuart, a Bismarck native, was a North Dakota Game and Fish Department commissioner. He is recognized for his leadership in the modernization of the state’s sportfishing program. He hired many professionally trained biologists and changed the direction of the department to create fisheries programs based on solid scientific knowledge and research. It was under Stuart’s administration that a number of major programs were implemented that would have far-reaching effects and would benefit generations of anglers. These included the trout and salmon programs, and the extremely successful introduction of the rainbow smelt into the Missouri River system.
Stuart also set aside part of the department’s budget to aid in the construction and repair of a number of small watershed dams, including Sweetbriar, Crown Butte, Camels Hump, Lake LaMoure, and Arroda Lakes. More than 30 dams were either built or repaired during Stuart’s eighteen years as Commissioner. These dams and the lakes they created provided fishing and associated recreation in areas of the state with little or no opportunities available previously.