Visionary former Michigan DNR director who transformed Great Lakes with a bold salmon experiment died at 102

Howard A. Tanner, the former Michigan Department of Natural Resources director who helped reshape Great Lakes fishing with a Pacific salmon stocking plan, died Aug. 16 at age 102. Tanner is credited with responding to a 1960s ecological crisis when alewife, an invasive species, washed ashore in large numbers, causing die-offs, beach closures, and ecosystem imbalance. As Fisheries Division chief, he acquired surplus coho salmon eggs from Oregon and stocked the Platte River and its tributaries in 1966, kick-starting a world-class recreational salmon fishery that persists today. He later led Michigan State University’s Natural Resources program and returned to the DNR as director in 1975.