MDIFW NEWS: Matt Scott receives the 2026 Fly Rod Crosby Outdoor Lifetime Achievement Award

Matt Scott of Belgrade is the 2026 recipient of the Fly Rod Crosby Outdoor Lifetime Achievement Award

Matt has hunted and fished in Maine since childhood and has been a Registered Maine Guide for decades. For him, guiding has always been about teaching. Generations of Scouts, students, anglers, and families have learned from Matt how to canoe, fish, camp, and care for Maine’s natural resources.

His work has also helped protect the waters where those experiences happen. Matt helped create Maine’s volunteer lake-monitoring program, training people to collect and report water-quality data. That effort grew into Lake Stewards of Maine, which now has more than 700 volunteers across the state. He has supported salmon restoration, advocated for public access, and donated a conservation easement on his 100-acre farm.

Matt began his professional career with the Atlantic Salmon Commission in 1959. He went on to serve as a fisheries biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, became the first biologist at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, and later served as Deputy Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Now in his 90s, he continues to hunt, fish, teach, write, and mentor.