Bob Blohm Oral History Transcript

Bob talks about growing up in Michigan, going to college to study zoology and switching to a wildlife major, serving in Viet Nam, and conducting his Masters’ and PhD research on gadwalls in Canada, before getting a position with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. He describes the work he did in his 32 years as he worked up the ladder within the Office of Migratory Bird Management and the people, he worked with over those years, as well as research he and his colleagues conducted estimating the number of migratory game birds which led to the refinement of hunting regulations to ensure sustainable waterfowl harvest levels. Bob also provides a history of waterfowl population surveys and how they changed over time to provide more accurate population numbers. He describes the establishment of the Population Assessment section in the Office of Migratory Bird Management, working with the Bird Banding laboratory on the Reward Banding study which updated earlier Reporting Rate studies to ensure that the methodology for estimating harvest rates was accurate. Bob also talks about the transfer of the research division of the Service to the National Biological Service and then to U.S. Geological Survey. He also talks about working with states, flyway councils, and Canadian provincial wildlife offices to coordinate migratory bird management.