Howard A. Tanner received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan State University (MSU) in the Department of Zoology. He taught and conducted research at Colorado State University and led the Colorado Department of Game, Fish, and Parks Fisheries Research program from 1952-64. In the mid-1960s, Tanner became Chief of the Fisheries Division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), where he initiated the successful introduction of Pacific coho salmon in the Great Lakes. He returned to MSU as Director of Natural Resources for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and led in developing the campus water plan. Governor William Milliken appointed him first chair of the Michigan Environmental Review Board, then Director of the MDNR from 1975-83. Following his “retirement” from that post, he served another 10 years as a professor at MSU. To this day, Tanner’s work to populate the Great Lakes with salmon is considered one of the largest, most successful biomanipulation programs in the history of North American fisheries management.
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