Ernest Mayer Oral History Transcript

Ernest was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1947. After moving to a small town in Southern California, at the age of 9, he describes the camping trips with his father, where they would sleep on old army cots in an old army tent and credits his parents for his love of the outdoors. His grandfather had been a state forester in Pennsylvania and taught forestry at the University of Pennsylvania. Ernest attended Chaffey College in Alta Loma, California and graduated with a degree in Liberal Arts Lithography with a minor in Natural Resources. 

In 1969, he enlisted in the Air Force and would later become assigned to the 21^st Security Police Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska as a law enforcement officer and later as a Military Wildlife Agent. After three years in Alaska, he was transferred to March Air Force Base in Southern California and was made a Security Police Investigator. After leaving the Air Force, he became a park ranger at the Joshua Tree National Monument in the Mojave Desert in Southern California. The National Park Service would later send him for training at FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center) and, upon completion of training, he transferred to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona. 

He was hired by the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1977, as a Visitor Protection Specialist at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. While there, he was selected to work on the Assateague Island Management Plan and would later receive a Special Achievement Award for his work on that program. It was there that he would become acquainted with and work alongside some of the special agents from the Fish and Wildlife Service. This would lead to his being hired as a special agent in January of 1979. His year-long training station would be in Springfield, Illinois where he had the opportunity to be mentored by Special Agent Rick Leach. His first duty station was in Grand Rapids, Michigan (dearly loved). He speaks about a number of projects he worked on jointly with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Canadian Wildlife Service involving numerous Lacey Act cases. Ernest participated in a covert investigation involving illegal bear hunting, specifically baiting, in and around Seney National Wildlife Refuge. 

Later, he was recruited to assist the Branch of Special Operations during the takedown phase of Operation Friendship. In 1983, he applied for and became the SRA (Senior Resident Agent) in Madison, Wisconsin. While stationed in Wisconsin, he was asked to assist the Branch of Special Operations in several other covert operations such as the Mesabi Fur Company, Operation Falcon and Operation Trophy Kill. Ernest relates how much he enjoyed living and working in Michigan, so in 1988 he became the SRA in Ann Arbor, where he supervised operations in Michigan and Ohio and worked frequently with the Canadian Wildlife Service and Ontario Department of Natural Resources.  He was supervising a Wildlife Inspector Program for the first time and really enjoyed that. 

Desiring a change from waterfowl work, he applied and was accepted for an SRA position in Hawaii in 1992. While there, he describes his participation in the Hawaiian Alien Species Advisory Committee and regional planning for the Pacific Islands. In 1995, he applied and was accepted for a position with the Branch of Special Operations in Arlington and, in 1998, became the SAC (Special Agent in Charge) of that branch. He describes his involvement in the development of an Intelligence Branch within the Branch of Special Operations and as a liaison with law enforcement agencies and travels to Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Netherlands, South Africa and Madagascar. From 2002 to 2004, Ernest worked full-time with the U.S. Department of Justice's U.S. National Central Bureau of Interpol. He retired in December 2004, having spent 35 years in government service with 27 of that being within the Fish and Wildlife Service. Since retiring, he and his wife, Monica have travelled to many wildlife refuges and national parks throughout the country and to numerous foreign countries.