Kiap-TU-Wish will elect board members at our chapter business meeting in April. At this year’s meeting there will be two, 3-year terms open: Perry Palin and Maria Manion have decided to step down from the board. Two chapter members have been nominated for election to the open positions: Dustin Wing and Scot Stewart. See their bios below if you aren’t already familiar with Dustin and Scot. You can vote for candidates at the April 1st chapter meeting, so we hope to see you then. Background Information: Positions on the board are three-year terms elected by the general membership at the chapter business meeting and board members may be re-elected. Officer positions are one-year terms elected by the new board of directors at the first April board meeting. The only limit on officer re-election is a maximum of three years for the treasurer and president.
Dustin Wing: Dustin grew up near the Redwood River in Minnesota. He saw the impact that human activities—such as the surrounding agricultural land—had on the river and it influenced his academic pursuits.
Following high school Dustin joined the U.S. Marine Corps and became an avionics technician on Harriers. While on deployment he enrolled at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and received a Bachelor of Science in Biology. He was active with undergraduate research and — while assisting a PhD candidate by trying to capture wild mysis to feed trout in the lab—had a near death experience while crossing an ice heave alone on Lake Superior.
After graduating from UMD, Dustin worked as a North Pacific Groundfish Observer in the Bering Sea before going back to school at Texas A&M in Corpus Christi to study aquaculture and shrimp nutrition.
While in Corpus Christi Dustin met his wife Abbey, moved to Austin, Texas, and had their son Galen. For many reasons Dustin and his family decided to move north via a three-month road trip out West, suffering through heat waves and dodging wild fires. That experience made Dustin even more grateful to be settling in Wisconsin.
Scot Stewart: Scot was born in Michigan and raised there and in Wisconsin. He attended the University of Minnesota for his Bachelor of Science in Fisheries Biology and Ohio State University for his Masters of Science in Fisheries Management. Scot began his career with the WIDNR in Baldwin and covered St. Croix and Pierce counties as a Fisheries Manager. Scot then moved to Madison where he served as an area fisheries supervisor, then a district supervisor until his retirement in 2016. Scot served on the statewide trout and muskie committees for most of his career, led the most recent trout regulation review, and conducted extensive habitat improvement on many coldwater streams.
Scot is married to Jo and has two sons and daughters-in-law and four grandsons. He loves to fish for trout and muskie, train retrievers and hunt ducks. In his retirement, he is running an animal control business and is doing some guiding for trout and muskie. He is an active member of TU, served as a State Council Representative, and taught fly tying for TU for twentyfive years. He is a member of Muskies Inc., Ducks Unlimited, Wisconsin Trappers, and the Wisconsin Wildlife Control Operators Association.
Scot resides in Somerset, Wisconsin, on the St. Croix River with his wife Jo and Labrador retriever, Rosie.
