My thoughts on the new acting commissioner of fish and game

As you may have recently read, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced a new acting commissioner, subject to Joint Boards recommendations and legislative approval. Doug Vincent-Lang is a long-time Fish and Game employee who worked his way up through the ranks and ended his active career as the Director of the Division of Wildlife Conservation.

The bulk of Vincent-Lang’s career was spent in the Division of Sport Fish, where he started working on the Susitna Hydro Project. Over the years, he has worked in the Commissioner’s office on special projects and with national and international fisheries agencies, such as representing Alaska in treaty negotiations with Canada.

Over the course of his work, Vincent-Lang also dealt with issues involving land-based wildlife in Alaska as well. He served as the Acting Director of the Wildlife Conservation Division prior to his leaving state service. Governor Dunleavy tagged him to be the new ADF&G Commissioner.

The commissioner of Fish and Game needs to have more than just the governor’s favor. By law, the Joint Boards must interview and forward names of potential commissioners to the governor, who then selects the person he wants. After being picked, the potential commissioner must be approved by the legislature prior to becoming the permanent department commissioner.

I heard that Vincent-Lang was the only candidate interviewed by the Joint Boards and was unanimously approved and recommended to the Governor. The only hurdle left is the legislative approval process and I know of no reason Vincent-Lang would not be seated as the new commissioner.

I know Doug personally – he was one of the three different supervisors I had while I was working in the Sport Fish Division Access Program. I initially didn’t know how to take Vincent-Lang. He was, arguably, the most intelligent person I ever met during my time with the department. He liked to kid around but, oftentimes, his jabs and jokes could have a sting embedded in the words. We clashed a couple of times over work items.

My annual evaluation was coming due and I didn’t have a clue where I stood with him. The fateful day arrived, and I was called into his office to read, discuss, and sign my evaluation. I began reading with more than a little trepidation. To my surprise, he was very complimentary and gave me an outstanding overall rating. I was really confused then!

We had a serious, heart-to-heart discussion and cleared the air. I then understood him much better and he, likewise, me. From then on, until I was assigned to another supervisor because Vincent-Land was being tabbed for other projects, we got along fabulously. In fact, to this day when asked, I tell people he was the best supervisor I had during my time in the Sport Fish Division.

With his vast and varied experience in all aspects of fish and wildlife and his ability to learn quickly, plus his background in dealing with people, I feel the State of Alaska and ADF&G will be very well served by having Vincent-Lang as commissioner. I look forward to seeing him at both Board of Fisheries and Board of Game meetings and reminding him of a sign joke I was able to pull off on him while he was in Colorado working with the feds. That story requires a whole column itself!

Oh, and Doug, you still owe me that beer from our Denver—Green Bay Super Bowl bet!

Mr. Pike, Dave Rutz, was selected as the Director of Sport Fish under Vincent-Lang. I replaced Dave in the Sport Fish Access Program when Dave expressed an interest in returning to biology field work. Dave went on to be the Palmer Office Area Biologist for Sport Fish and was the lead researcher for almost all the state’s pike research in the Northern District as the area biologist. After retiring from Fish and Game, Dave worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service as the Sport Fish federal aid person. Preferring field work to meetings, Dave left federal service and came back as a seasonal to run the Alexander Lake pike eradication work.

Sam Ivey is the current Palmer Sport Fish Area Biologist. He was Dave’s assistant when Dave was the area manager. When Dave left, Sam got the job and became Dave’s supervisor when Dave came back to run the Alexander Lake pike project. Now Dave is Sam’s boss once again. “It’s a small world!”

Dave knows the daily problems faced by sport fish managers in conserving our fisheries resources. I look forward to his strong leadership here.