A man with an unrelenting passion for catching salmon -- and for assuring there will always be Columbia River basin salmon to catch -- last month joined an elite list that includes Izaak Walton, Ernest Hemingway, Ted Williams and Ole Evinrude.

Oregon's John Palensky, who died Aug. 3 after a battle with cancer, was enshrined early this year in the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame. He and two others enshrined in the 2008 class brought to 102 the number of fish and fishing advocates in the hall.

One of the Hayward, Wisc.,-based organization's primary missions is to recognize those men and women who have made significant and lasting contributions to the sport of fresh water fishing.

Palensky, 63, was nominated for enshrinement by one of his college professors. He was chosen for a life's worked aimed at bettering the lot of Columbia basin salmon and steelhead affected by hydro electric and other human development.

After earning a bachelor's degree in wildlife technology from the University of Montana in 1968 and a master's degree in fisheries in 1973, Palensky worked for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, reviewing hydro licensing applications for the potential impacts on fish and wildlife.

In 1976 he went to the Bonneville Power Administration, working initially as a fisheries biologist and later as environmental coordinator in its power sales division.

The goal at BPA, according to Palensky's enshrinement biography, was to "minimize power generation impacts to salmon and wildlife. In particular, he strived to improve survival of anadromous fish runs and to promote broader understanding of the highly complex interactions of salmon and hydropower in the Pacific Northwest."

Following the adoption of 1980's Northwest Power Act, he was asked to develop a BPA fish and wildlife department to implement the Northwest Power Planning Council's Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. The act called for the creation of the Council and charged it with development of a program to protect mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife affected by the federal hydro system. It directed BPA to provide funding for the program.

Palensky was BPA Fisheries Program manager from 1981-1986, director of the Division of Fish and Wildlife from 1986-1993 and special assistant to the BPA administrator from 1993-1996.

Palensky retired from BPA in 1996 and opened a consulting business. Under contract to the NOAA Fisheries Service he chaired the Anadromous Fish Committee of the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority, and most recently worked as NOAA's liaison to various salmon management forums across the Pacific Northwest.

The Fresh Water Hall of Fame and Museum is a public service organization founded in 1960 for the purpose of developing an attraction and a museum to collect, preserve and display the artifacts of the sport of fresh water angling.

The organization also conducts a public service program for qualifying, compiling, publishing and updating record fresh water fish catches.

It also aims to recognize people and organizations for outstanding achievement and accomplishment in the realm of fresh water fishing.

Palensky is now one of the few representatives of the Northwest enshrined in the hall. John L. Fryer and James T. Martin are the only other Oregonians listed. Hemingway is the lone Idahoan.

The organization's web page can be located at: http://www.freshwater-fishing.org/