Landing a Big One with an Eastern Education

By Rachel Forrester

For the past four years, Eric Frey (BS 98) has been directly involved in a number of projects restoring and maintaining New Mexico’s fishery habitats. As the sportfish program manager for the state’s Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF), Eric works with a team of about 10 biologists to monitor sportfish populations including walleye, bass, brown trout and salmon. He also makes recommendations for the regulations and rules protecting them, writes prescriptions for stocking, and more.

Eric Frey holds a rainbow trout prior to release in Eagle Rock Lake.

Photo by Karl Moffatt of NMDGF

Named the 2015 Director’s Wildlife Conservation Professional of the Year, Eric helped to successfully complete a tight budgeted project on the Red River and at Eagle Rock Lake, coordinated the department’s response to the disastrous Gold King Mine spill, and was an integral part in restoring the population of Rio Grande cutthroat trout.

For Eric, an avid fisherman and hunter, the opportunity to improve the state’s fishing environments is more an opportunity than a job. In such an arid state, however, he and his team have their work cut out for them as they battle drought and climate change.

“I enjoy having the ability to manage species for stuff I really care about,” said Eric. “To work with them on a daily basis and have some kind of contribution to try to make them better can be extremely challenging in an arid state. Especially as drought periods have become longer and the new norm is low lake and stream levels.”

Eric releases a brown trout into the Rio Grande river near Taos, NM.

Photo courtesy of NMDGF

Even with these obstacles, before his current position Eric was hired as the northeast fisheries manager, and his time at Eastern studying wildlife and fisheries well prepared him for the industry.

“The education I got at Eastern was invaluable and made me very competitive for continuing career advancements with the Department of Game and Fish,” said Eric. “Being a relatively smaller school you get more time with professors which definitely helps you develop those interpersonal skills. In my job we deal with the public a bunch, and we always say the fish are the easy part,” he laughed. “I think spending that one-on-one time helped prepare me for the job I have now, beyond just the biology side of it.”

Eric in 1998, holding “Rover” the Burmese python that was on display for several years at ENMU’s Natural History Museum.

Currently, Eric and his team have on-going projects on the Los Pinos River, the San Juan River, and with bass populations on Elephant Butte Lake. These projects are focused on improving fish habitats and mitigating drought impacts, ultimately providing quality angling opportunity to the public.