A keen fisherman, Mr. Reed was among the first to recognize that the commercial fishery for wild Atlantic salmon that migrate to Greenland was devastating the runs of salmon to North American rivers. Rick Warren, Chairman of ASF (U.S.) said, "Nat has been a Board member of ASF since 1996 and his interest and concern were very influential in getting increasingly strict controls on this fishery. Today ASF has an agreement with the Greenland fishermen that suspends their commercial fishery until 2013. Since joining the Board, Nat has been very involved in the effort to improve the science upon which ASF's restoration efforts in Maine and throughout eastern Canada are based."
"His efforts on behalf of the environment go well beyond the protection of wild Atlantic salmon and their habitat and are truly amazing," continued Mr. Warren. During the 1960s, Mr. Reed became involved with the problems in Florida's Everglades and is still working to reverse decades of destruction and protect this area from further damage and pollution in what has been called the planet's largest environmental restoration project.
* "Salmon conservation and the environment generally have hugely benefited from the involvement of Nat Reed" |
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Rick Warren, Chairman of ASF
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He served as Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish, Wildlife and National Parks from 1971 - 77. He assembled the brightest people in Washington to make substantial changes in the protection of animals and birds during this period. He formed a team that banned the use of DDT, and supported the creation of new national parks and wildlife refuges. He opposed environmentally destructive projects from coast to coast. He is perhaps best known in the highly visible role of Chairman of the Commission on Florida's Environmental Future, which recommended a three billion dollar investment in the remaining best wild land in Florida. Two million acres later, the program continues to have the support of the Florida Governor and Legislature. In 1973, as Assistant Secretary, he negotiated with representatives of the Danish government the first substantial reduction in the Greenland Atlantic salmon catch.
Born in New York City, Mr. Reed was raised in Greenwich, CT and Jupiter Island, Florida. He received a B.A. from Trinity College, CT and served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force military intelligence system in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from 1955 to 1959. Following military service, he became Vice President and then President of the Hobe Sound Company, a real estate and holding company, which owned the world famous Jupiter Island Club. Jupiter Island was developed slowly and wisely with hundreds of acres of wilderness preserved on the Island and maintained. Mr. Reed was very involved in the land issues that led to the extraordinary range of land donations that created the Nature Conservancy's Blowing Rocks Preserve and the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge.
"Salmon conservation and the environment generally have hugely benefited from the involvement of Nat Reed," concluded Mr. Warren.
ASF presents the Lee Wulff Conservation Award annually for outstanding, long-term efforts to conserve threatened wild Atlantic salmon. Mr. Wulff, an angler, artist, author, and filmmaker, dedicated 60 years to conserving the species and advocating catch and release angling to help safeguard its future.