Joe McCauley Oral History Transcript

Joe was born in Washington, DC, and grew up just outside the District in Falls Church, Virginia.  He describes an idyllic neighborhood, where he had many friends who he keeps in touch with to this day. He talks about his detour from academics into a career as a surveyor, before deciding to resume his education at West Virginia University in 1981. While there, he was hired as a co-op student, beginning his career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1983 at the Cortland, New York, Ecological Services Field Office. His second co-op appointment at Great Dismal Swamp NWR was the beginning of his love for the national wildlife refuge national wildlife refuge
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Joe highlights his career path through the FWS including on several refuges, working on the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. He started his career in the Northeast Region's (Region 5) Division of Realty working as an ascertainment biologist where he was responsible preparing information for Land Acquisition Review Committee meetings and writing NEPA compliance documents, including the EA for the boundary expansion of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). He ended his career as the chief of the Region 5 Realty Division. Joe talks about his work at Supawna Meadows NWR in southern New Jersey as Assistant Refuge Manager. He recalls that not much in the way of management had ever been done at Supawna Meadows, so everything he did was new.  He rejuvenated the land management program but noted that one of the major undertakings was the deer hunt. He goes on to describe the lengthy process involved in getting the deer hunt approved, including writing the EA for the hunt plan. 

His next career move was to Back Bay NWR in Virginia Beach, where with Tony Léger as his mentor, he was involved with two very controversial projects- seasonal closure of the dikes to visitor access and the rerouting of a proposed sanitary sewer line - in which the Service prevailed, protecting refuge habitat and wildlife. Joe talks about the total rehab of the 900-acre impoundment system, building new dikes, putting in structures, actively buying land, and dealing with wild ponies. Joe then talks about his relocation back to the Region 5 Regional Office as the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, where he interacted with State fish and game/fish and wildlife directors and non-governmental organizations to achieve waterfowl conservation in a 17-state region. Joe ramped up the use of North American Waterfowl Conservation Act monies for waterfowl conservation, particularly land acquisition, and he laid the groundwork for this joint venture to expand its partnership to protect all birds, not just waterfowl. 

Joe goes on to describe why he left a job he loved to move to Rappahannock River Valley NWR as the refuge manager there. He describes writing and implementing a CCP, expanding the refuge, working with a Friends group which he established, doing grassland management and developing wildlife-dependent public use programs. Joe wraps up the interview by talking about his work and accomplishments as the Region 5 Chief of Realty and his very successful post-retirement work with the Chesapeake Conservancy which resulted in more land acquisition for the Rappahannock River Valley NWR and more importantly returning native lands to the federally recognized Rappahannock tribe.