Roger Wilson is not one to brag, even though he is an avid fisherman. When the Strawberry Reservoir fisheries restoration project, an innovative program that Wilson directed, was named project of the year by the American Fisheries Society earlier this year, the unassuming Coalville resident accepted the prestigious award with his customary humility. He credited the success of the project to his team.
Wilson developed, implemented and refined the program over a 10-year period as chief biologist at the sprawling reservoir 30 miles east of Park City. Today, Strawberry Reservoir is an internationally recognized trophy trout fishery. The award marked the pinnacle of his distinguished career in the sport fisheries section of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. It was a career he seemed destined to pursue.
Wilson, who describes himself as curious and reflective, grew up in Salt Lake City with two sisters and a brother. As a kid, he played little league baseball and basketball with neighborhood friends. In high school he took up golf and tennis.
His attraction to the outdoors began early. As a teenager, he enjoyed fishing at Strawberry Reservoir, backpacking in the Uinta Mountains and spending summer vacations on the Russian River in California and at Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada.
After graduating from Skyline High School in Salt Lake City, Wilson was off to attend Utah State University in Logan. He worked his way through school, eventually taking a bachelor’s degree in wildlife sciences, with an emphasis in fisheries management.
Wilson began his career with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources as a seasonal fisheries aide while still in college. Not long after earning his degree, he was tapped to join a crew of biologists conducting surveys of the lakes of the High Uinta Mountains east of Kamas. For Wilson, it was a dream come true.
The following three years saw Wilson spending summers on horseback, crisscrossing the Uinta Mountains to study remote mountain lakes. Winters brought the crew indoors to analyze data and write reports on the lakes they had surveyed.
When not in the mountains, Wilson roomed with another biologist in Coalville. It was there, on a blind date, that he met his wife, LuAnn. “She was a small-town girl with interests similar to mine and she liked rock ‘n’ roll. She was just my type,” Wilson recalls. After a two-year courtship, they were married in early 1982. They settled in Coalville and have three children, Ashley, age 23, Chad, 21 and Wade, 12.
In the early 1990s, Wilson transferred to Strawberry Reservoir as project leader. The huge reservoir had recently been chemically treated with rotenone to remove aggressive non-game fish in what remains the largest chemical treatment of a reservoir in world history.
It was there that Wilson developed and refined a management strategy that has resulted in one of the premiere trout fisheries in North America. Anglers from across the country, and many from Park City, come to Strawberry to tussle with trophy-sized, pure-strain Bear Lake cutthroat trout.
Wilson called for a “slot limit” to protect these unique fish until they reach breeding maturity and become effective predators. The result has been an amazing trophy fishery that is sustained, in part, by natural reproduction.
Last year, Wilson was named Utah Sport Fish Program Coordinator and now applies his extensive fisheries management knowledge to lakes, rivers and streams statewide. The only downside to the promotion for Wilson was that he had to leave his beloved Strawberry and move to an office in Salt Lake City.
Wilson is passionate about his family, the outdoors and environmental issues, in that order. “Public lands are often taken for granted in Utah and not highly valued by some,” he says. “I think public lands are our greatest asset and we need to be firm in our commitment to maintain the quantity and quality of these resources.”
The long-time Coalville resident has seen many changes in Summit County. “This is still a great place to live,” he says. “The opportunities for alpine recreation abound and there is no better place to hike and backpack than the Uinta Mountains.” Wilson expresses concern that the eastern end of the county is changing. “I really enjoy living in a small community and hope we can maintain the small-town flavor here,” he says. Wilson is strongly committed to the Boy Scout program and has been active as a leader in scouting for many years.
“I do like the atmosphere in Park City and drive over often to shop, go to the gym, have dinner or attend concerts,” he continues. His pet peeve about the area is shared by many Parkites. “The sprawl and transportation problems are pretty bad. It’s getting harder to drive into town from either direction,” says Wilson.
Wilson plans to stay in Coalville and remain active in the community after he retires in a few more years. Until then, he’ll be busy working to maintain and improve fishing opportunities in Utah. “It’s an important part of our heritage and our economy,” says Wilson, noting that fishing recreation brings millions of dollar into private businesses and state coffers every year. He says he plans to do more fishing at Strawberry and other waters over the next few years and wants to make sure there are plenty of fish to catch.