Virginia Carter Oral History Transcript

In the beginning of the recording, Virginia Carter talks about her childhood in Rhode Island and her schooling. She recalls taking a biology course in college which made her fall in love with environmental careers. She then talks about her family, and her return to academics in Washington D.C., where she earned her Master’s degree and was offered a job at the U.S. Geological Survey as a biologist ecologist with a specialty in wetlands. She also identified and mapped wetlands using color infrared aerial photographs and satellite imagery. While doing this work, she discovered that the maps of wetlands were often inaccurate and mentioned this problem to the Fish and Wildlife Service. She was then asked to co-author the Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States which she worked on with Lew Cowardin, Frank Golet, and Ted LaRoe. Half-way through this interview, Frank Golet and Bill Wilen talk about how the National Classification System is important to most Federal Agencies today and how the maps of the wetlands are helpful to contractors and other users.