Steve Rideout Oral History Transcript

Steve grew up in Maine, and after the Service and graduate school at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, he was hired by Mass Fish and Wildlife in 1974 and did fisheries work in the Quabbin Reservoir.  He was hired into the US Fish and Wildlife Service by George Pushee, working in Federal Aid at a time when they administered the Endangered Species Program. As the Connecticut River Coordinator for almost ten years, Steve worked with New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut on the restoration of Atlantic salmon in the Connecticut River including overseeing the construction of fish ladders.  He also worked with engineers to design modifications to existing fish ladders that would allow the passage of shad on the Connecticut River.  As a participant in the Upper Level Management Development Program, he had a nine-month assignment to the Appropriations Committee, where he worked with Congressman Silvio O. Conte and his staff to appropriate funds for fish hatchery or other fish related projects in the Connecticut River watershed. Steve wrote the first draft of legislation creating what ultimately came to be known as the Conte Fish and Wildlife Refuge while on his Capitol Hill assignment.  Steve served as the supervisor in Region 5 of fish hatcheries and fisheries assistance offices in the southern part of the region.  While there, he served on a national fisheries program review panel.  Steve transferred to Region 7 to be the Assistant Regional Director (ARD) for Fisheries at a time when Geographic (GARD) and Programmatic (PARD) positions were being developed.  He then went to Washington to help implement the new ecosystem approach as the first national ecosystems approach coordinator and oversaw the national evaluation of the program by a contractor.  After a brief stint back in the Regional Office in Hadley, MA, Steve left the FWS and joined the U.S. Geological Survey as the director of the Conte Anadromous Fish Laboratory in Turners Falls, MA.  He worked there for six years before he retired in 2005.