DNR Fish & Wildlife director takes job with Feds

Glen Salmon, director of the DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife for the past seven years, has announced he is retiring after 32 years with the state agency to accept a position with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington, D.C.

“This is really exciting,” said Salmon, who will become deputy director for the federal Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program. “This is a chance to do some stuff on the national level, to continue a great relationship between the states and the Service on this program, and hopefully just make that even stronger.”

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program provides oversight and administrative support for 10 federal grant programs that cover wildlife, sport fish, boating, coastal wetlands conservation, landowner conservation incentives, and tribal activities.
“It’s going to be different,” said Salmon, who will remain with DNR through June. “They have a great culture in the Service, but we have an incredible culture here (in DNR).”

Salmon managed a staff of 230 DNR employees that includes biologists, property managers, staff specialists, and natural resource educators. The division oversees 21 fish and wildlife areas, eight fish hatcheries, numerous other conservation areas, and hundreds of public access boat ramps.
The division also is responsible for the management of wild animal populations on both public land and private property.

“Glen is a positive, upbeat, consummate public servant who never sought to gloss over difficult circumstances,” DNR Director Robert E. Carter Jr. said.
Salmon joined the DNR in 1977. His first position was at Cikana State Fish Hatchery near Martinsville. He later worked at Mixsawbah State Fish Hatchery near Walkerton before returning to Cikana to become assistant hatchery manager in 1980. He moved to the DNR central office in Indianapolis in 1980 as a staff specialist and was promoted to assistant division director in 1998 before becoming division director in 2002.

Salmon cited the acquisition of Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area and a land-use agreement for Fairbanks Landing Fish and Wildlife Area as two of the highlights of his tenure.