Gary Hagedorn Oral History Transcript

Gary Hagedorn was born and raised in North Clark County Washington in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. His family was involved with hunting, fishing, logging, and outdoor interests. He went to Washington State University during the Vietnam War era. While he was in college, he got his first job with the Fish and Wildlife Service between his sophomore and junior years of college and was a manager trainee (GS3) under Bob Prather at Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge. The second year he was a refuge manager trainee (GS4) at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge under John Scharff. He graduated from college in 1970 and joined the National Guard. He was offered a job at Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge but could not accept it because of Army training. In 1971, after his Army training, he was again offered the position of assistant refuge manager at Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge. His next position with the Service was as wetland manager and assistant at the National Bison Range in 1974. In 1979, he applied for and was offered a position as assistant complex manager at Lower Columbia River Refuge Complex where he also managed the Columbian White-Tailed Deer and Lewis and Clark Refuges. As his career continued, he worked at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Klamath Basin Refuges, and finally at Mid-Columbia Refuges as Project Leader until he retired in January 2007. He received two DOI awards from the Service, the Superior Service award, and the Unsung Hero award.