(Missoula Current) The University of Montana on Wednesday said it has completed a $5 million fundraising campaign to endow a chair in fisheries science for its wildlife biology program.

The Siebel-Lewis Endowed Chair in Fisheries Science will bolster and expand the aquatic focus of the wildlife biology program, the university said in a statement. That will further its mission to deliver advance science-based management of fisheries in Montana and the West.

The announcement comes at a crucial time, as land managers face challenging resource management decisions for Montana’s blue-ribbon aquatic ecosystems. Declining native trout populations in the state’s cold-water rivers and streams have alarmed biologists, fishing outfitters and anglers alike.

“Our job is certainly to address present needs, but we’re always looking to manage the needs of tomorrow,” said Chad Bishop, director of the wildlife biology program. “Adding this chair in fisheries will increase our capacity in aquatic undergraduate and graduate education while helping us better meet the very real research needs on conserving native fisheries and supporting recreational fisheries in Western Montana.”

The chair gives the school's wildlife biology program an opportunity to build on its cutting-edge fisheries research, including work done by Associate Professor Andrew Whiteley. Whiteley earned a prestigious $800,000 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation in 2017 for his work on the effectiveness of gene rescue on trout populations.

“An endowed chair in fisheries gives the University of Montana even greater ability to advance our well-established track record of outstanding research, education and conservation,” said UM President Seth Bodnar. “UM has been a leader in the field of wildlife biology for decades and this addition only furthers that reputation.”

More than 50 donors joined together to establish the new chair during a 26-month campaign led by the University of Montana Foundation. Significant contributors include investment manager Ken Siebel, musician Huey Lewis, the late Gordon Moore, the Tykeson Family Foundation and the Trailsend Foundation.

Recruiting the fisheries expert who will hold the Siebel-Lewis Chair in Fisheries Science and lead UM’s fisheries work will begin with the creation of an interdisciplinary hiring committee to conduct a nationwide search for candidates, with hopes of filling the position by the beginning of the 2025-26 academic year.