Cynthia Dohner Chosen as Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Southeast Region
Cynthia Dohner. Credit: USFWS
ATLANTA, Ga. – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Sam Hamilton announced today the selection of Cynthia K. Dohner as regional director for the Southeast Region.
“Cindy is an outstanding choice with a proven track record when it comes to solution-oriented conservation in the Southeast region,” Hamilton said. “She has built a rich career in fish and wildlife conservation with experience that cuts across both the public and private sectors that will benefit us greatly.”
Dohner, who has been with the Service for 16 years, has served as the deputy regional director since 2004 providing leadership in the daily operations of Service activities in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This includes overseeing the management of 128 national wildlife refuges covering more than 3.2 million acres, 14 national fish hatcheries, five fishery assistance offices, and 17 ecological services field offices.
Rising to the Challenge -- Strategic Plan for Responding to Accelerating Climate Change
Rising to the Challenge -- Strategic Plan for Responding to Accelerating Climate Change
ATLANTA, Ga. -- On coastal North Carolina's federal wildlife refuges, shorelines are receding and barrier islands are narrowing.
In the Florida Keys, the sooty tern, a sea bird, is showing up to breed three to four months earlier than usual.
Inland, invasive plants such as Alligator Weed are crowding out more desireable food for ducks and geese on refuges in Tennessee and northern Alabama.
These signs, and many others, are consistent with the science on global warming. And the climate models predict far worse, including the extinction of 20 to 30 percent of the world's species by the end of this century.
As part of the Interior Department’s commitment to building a coordinated strategy to respond to the impacts of accelerating climate change on the nation’s natural resources and safeguard the nation’s fish and wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is today releasing a draft strategic plan that will guide its efforts to respond to the unprecedented threat posed by global warming.
When finalized, the plan will guide the Service’s response to impacts such as changing wildlife migration patterns, the spread of invasive species, changing precipitation patterns and rising sea levels. It is a key part of the Interior Department’s commitment to building a coordinated response.
To comment on the Service's strategy click here...
Tackling climate change in Tennessee’s State Wildlife Action Plan
Cover of Tennessee's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. Credit: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
Tackling climate change may seem like an impossible feat, like trying to find a tiny needle in an enormous hay stack. But, if you take a small handful of hay and begin sifting through it, suddenly the challenge seems less monstrous. This is exactly how our Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency planning team felt as we attempted to incorporate climate change in Tennessee’s State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP). As part of the State Wildlife Grants Program (SWG), each state had to complete a plan that identified species and habitats of greatest conservation need and outlined the steps to conserve them.
Early in January of 2005, Our SWG planning team met to begin discussions on species and habitat threats for inclusion in Tennessee’s SWAP. Our team was quite diverse and possessed the knowledge and years of experience needed to accomplish the task at hand. However, when it came to the topic of climate change, we scratched our heads. Climate change was beginning to get headlines in the national media and, to be honest, that was about the extent of our knowledge. We agreed climate change was a potential threat to Tennessee’s wildlife, but we also realized the enormity of the issue and decided to tackle this topic some other day.
