Nat Gillespie’s love of rivers started in urban fishing spots around Alexandria, Virginia. Whether it was golf course ponds or bass and catfish in the Potomac, he found every opportunity he could to be on the water. Two summers at Bud Lilly’s Fly Shop in West Yellowstone deepened his passion for trout and reinforced the importance of thoughtful fisheries management. That foundation led a young Nat to Trout Unlimited as a project manager. He helped lead the early Home Rivers Initiative on New York’s Beaverkill, where he surveyed streams, assessed habitat, and worked with communities on flood and infrastructure challenges. After graduate studies at the University of Michigan and seven more years on TU’s science team, he joined the U.S. Forest Service. Today, in a leadership role at the Forest Service’s fisheries program, Nat helps steward fisheries across 193 million acres of National Forest lands, including 220,000 miles of streams and rivers that represent roughly half of the salmon ...