Four Score and Forever Young

Photo by Guido Rahr

Hats Off, Glasses Up, to Pete Soverel

As I write from the Portland outpost of The Conservation Angler, the fisheries management challenges bedeviling the Pacific Northwest’s wild steelhead seem to be ever mounting.  But stepping back a tiny bit, I realize that I wouldn’t be here fighting (and even occasionally winning!) these battles if it weren’t for Pete Soverel, The Conservation Angler’s founder, board chairman and driving spirit.

By any measure, Pete has led an incredibly rich life, dotted with many great accomplishments.   He served in the U.S. Navy as a commissioned officer, earning a lapel full of medals; he also served in a number of high-level staff and policy positions in Washington D.C and with NATO. He later worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Washington’s Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.  When many might have begun winding down their responsibilities to focus on more fishing and hunting (two activities Pete loves), Soverel jumped into conservation activities, helping Flyfishers International lift the Osprey Journal to prominence, founding the Wild Salmon Center and Kamchatka Steelhead Project in 1994, and of course, The Conservation Angler in 2003.

Pete on the North Umpqua, likely fishing the Sunray Shadow - Photo by Dave Moskowitz

On a personal level, it’s hard to encapsulate how important Pete’s work ethic and conservation principles have been to me.  I have always admired Pete’s fearlessness and directness.  Since meeting him during the formation of the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, to my time at Wild Salmon Center, I have believed in his leadership style, his ability to trust the expertise of his staff, and the regard and deference he has given me since we started working together at TCA.

As Pete’s 81st birthday arrives (on January 21), I hope that everyone that cares about conservation – especially steelhead conservation – doffs her/his cap and - while abiding by his two-martini rule - lifts a glass to his many achievements.  Though he’s taken another step into his ninth decade, you may rest assured that Pete Soverel is still going strong to protect wild fish around the North Pacific.

Pete on the Skeena. Photo by Jeff Mishler

 Read a wonderful profile of Pete written by Skagit Master Jeff Mishler and published in the March 2018 issue of The Drake.