Recovery Champions are U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff and their partners whose work is advancing the recovery of endangered and threatened species of plants and animals in the United States.
Region 1
Theodore B. Thomas
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Theodore B. Thomas is recognized as a 2016 Recovery Champion for his leadership in the conservation of the threatened golden paintbrush. Over the past 10 years, significant conservation milestones were accomplished under his leadership. Mr. Thomas recognized that golden paintbrush recovery would require ecosystem-level restoration if outplanted populations could reasonably be expected to persist. Therefore, he initiated multiple native plant propagation partnerships that benefited a suite of other rare prairie species. His foresight has ensured the long-term availability of native plants for ongoing prairie enhancement and species recovery efforts throughout western Washington and Oregon.
Nellie Sugii
Harold L. Lyon Arboretum, University of Hawaii-Manoa
Nellie Sugii is recognized as a 2016 Recovery Champion for her leadership in the recovery efforts for Hawai'i's rare plant species. As the Hawaiian Rare Plant Program Manager with the Harold L. Lyon Arboretum, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Sugii has worked tirelessly to improve the status of these endemic species. Over the past 19 years, she developed Lyon Arboretum's Hawaiian Rare Plant Program into the most active program of its kind in the United States, playing a vital role in preventing plant extinctions. Drawing upon 30 years of experience, Sugii developed methods and techniques to grow Hawai'i's unique plants via tissue culture and other propagation techniques, successfully propagating more than 500 of the over 1,300 native Hawaiian plant taxa.
Region 2
Scott Richardson
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Over the past 15 years, Scott Richardson worked tirelessly to recover the endangered lesser long-nosed bat. During his tenure as a wildlife biologist at the Arizona Ecological Services Field Office – Tucson sub-office, he accomplished significant conservation and recovery milestones including the conception and implementation of a citizen scientist monitoring program in the greater Tucson area. Under Richardson's direction, southern Arizona residents monitored night-time hummingbird feeder bat use for over a decade. He trained citizen scientists ranging from young children to retirees to conduct annual monitoring that provided the Service an understanding of the species' migration timing. Thanks in large part to his great efforts, the lesser long-nosed bat's status has improved so significantly that the species is now proposed for delisting.
City of Austin Watershed Protection Department
Nathan Bendik
Thomas Devitt
Chris Herrington
Liza Colucci
Robert Hanson
Dee Ann Chamberlain
Donelle Robinson
Lisa O' Donnell
Laurie Dries
David Johns
ver the past 20 years, members of the City of Austin's Watershed Protection Department have undertaken multiple conservation initiatives that significantly contributed toward the recovery of the endangered Barton Spring and Austin blind salamander. These efforts include habitat protection and restoration, research and monitoring, captive breeding, and community outreach and education. This team is recognized for being instrumental in the development and implementation of the Barton Springs Salamander Recovery Plan, recently amended in 2016 to include the Austin blind salamander. Further, the team discovered several previously undocumented Barton Springs salamander locations outside of the city in Travis and Hays counties, considerably expanding the species' known range.
Region 3
Angela Baran Dagendesh
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Angela Baran Dagendesh is recognized as a 2016 Recovery Champion for her work to develop successful propagation techniques to further the endangered Hine's emerald dragonfly recovery efforts. Significant conservation and recovery accomplishments were achieved through her innovative hatchery culture system designed to mimic the dragonfly's unique living conditions, cohabitating with crayfish in burrows to overwinter. Thanks to her initiative, the hatchery was able to design, procure, and construct a rearing trailer specifically for the species' larvae. The system allowed for rapid growth that more closely mimics the dragonflies in the wild. Dagendesh's innovation and commitment truly moved the needle toward Hine's emerald dragonfly recovery by forming and nurturing partnerships, and developing and refining existing facilities and methodologies to develop and enhance recovery tools for this endangered insect.
Dr. Robert Dana
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
For decades, Dr. Robert Dana's knowledge of the Dakota skipper and the Poweshiek skipperling, and his generosity in sharing this knowledge, has been critical in the Service's efforts to conserve these threatened and endangered butterfly species. His contribution to prairie butterfly conservation has been pivotal for many reasons, including his forty years of field studies of the species and his expertise with the species' tallgrass prairie habitat. Further, Dana's knowledge and insights of the life history and the potential to propagate the species have been essential in the Service's efforts to resolve key issues related to the conservation of these butterfly species. Because of his willingness to share his extensive knowledge and perspective, we will continue to benefit from his influential work for years to come.
Region 4
Chris Lucash
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Chris Lucash is recognized as a 2016 Recovery Champion for his unsurpassed dedication to species conservation during his 29-year career with the Service's Red Wolf Recovery Program. In 1987, he served an integral role on the team that first reintroduced red wolves—a species we recognized as extirpated in the wild in 1980, into eastern North Carolina. His keen field observations, passion, and commitment to achieving recovery actions on the ground greatly contributed to the comprehensive knowledge of red wolf population dynamics. Lucash was critical in the development and refinement of adaptive management techniques and his testing of field methods paved the way for other species reintroduction efforts across the country.
Rachael Hoch
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
Conservation Aquaculture Center at Marion
During her tenure at the Conservation Aquaculture Center at Marion, Rachel Hoch has been a successful advocate for the conservation and recovery of the endangered mussel species, including the federally-listed Appalachian elktoe and the Carolina heelsplitter, in North Carolina. Over the past five years, she worked tirelessly to establish a viable mussel propagation facility and her work has been instrumental in expanding the recovery opportunities for several species of endangered mussels. Through her dedicated work and vision, she was able to manage and develop the capabilities of the state's freshwater mussel hatchery program into a robust recovery tool of immeasurable value to species recovery.
Region 5
Patricia Morrison
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
During her tenure as the wildlife biologist for the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Patricia Morrison worked tirelessly to secure partnerships and funding to advance the recovery of imperiled mussel species including pink mucket, clubshell, orange-foot pimpleback, spectaclecase, purple cat's paw pearlymussel, northern riffleshell, fanshell, ring pink, white wartyback, and sheepnose. Her work led to significant conservation milestones including the establishment of new mussel populations and advances in propagation techniques such as the first ever in-vitro propagation of orange-foot pimpleback. These efforts greatly reduced extinction likelihood by addressing population decline and population fragmentation for these species.
Transportation Consultation Team for Atlantic Salmon
Joyce Taylor
Maine Department of Transportation
David Gardner
Maine Department of Transportation
Cassandra Chase
Federal Highway Administration
Judy Gates
Maine Department of Transportation
Eric Ham
Maine Department of Transportation
Cindy Callahan
Federal Highway Administration
he Transportation Consultation Team for Atlantic Salmon is recognized as 2016 Recovery Champions for its innovative contributions toward recovery of Atlantic salmon in the Gulf of Maine. As part of a team comprising the Maine Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Service, these individuals developed design standards and avoidance and minimization measures to incorporate into transportation projects to achieve both project and Atlantic salmon conservation objectives. This team's efforts have greatly improve access for Atlantic salmon to habitats essential to the recovery of this endangered species while streamlining project approval processes that will help demonstrate that construction of critical infrastructure projects can be compatible with endangered species recovery.
Region 6
Mindy Meade
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Over the past six years, Mindy Meade has demonstrated the hallmarks of a Recovery Champion through her exceptional leadership while serving on the Wyoming Toad Recovery Team. She provided strategic vision and associated prioritization of goals, objectives, and on-the-ground actions that directly contributed to the conservation of the Wyoming toad. Meade worked tirelessly and creatively to form strong, positive working relationships with key partners throughout the Laramie River Basin, thus facilitating a shift in the recovery trajectory of the Wyoming toad. Through her work, she established the unflinching trust of the local Conservation District leadership and ranching community within the Wyoming toad historical range and fostered a shared vision with key partners to bring back a species from near extinction.
Jim Cochran
Cochran Fish and Wildlife Consulting
For more than 20 years, Jim Cochran played a key leadership role in advancing Gunnison sage-grouse conservation by working with a wide variety of stakeholders. He developed an innovative habitat prioritization tool to mitigate the impacts of development to the grouse in Gunnison County. His consistent support of and involvement in research and restoration has advanced the state of the Service's knowledge of Gunnison sage-grouse science and accelerated the adoption of new restoration techniques. Most importantly, his strength of character and steadfast determination have been key to building and maintaining momentum for Gunnison sage-grouse conservation efforts in the Mountain-Prairie Region.
Region 7
Julian Fischer
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Julian Fischer is honored as a 2016 Recovery Champion for his many contributions toward the recovery of spectacled and Alaska-breeding Steller's eiders. His leadership and oversight of the Migratory Bird Management Program have been instrumental in the Service's efforts to monitor population trends, document distribution, and understand the basic ecology of these threatened species. Since 2007, Fischer has been a key member of the Spectacled and Steller's Eider Recovery Team and his leadership in efforts to evaluate detection of eiders from aircraft on the Arctic Coastal Plain and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta was key in translating aerial survey indices to abundance estimates needed to measure progress against recovery criteria.
Dr. James B. Grand
U.S. Geological Survey
Since 1991, Dr. James B. Grand Grand has contributed significantly to the Service's efforts to better understand and recover threatened spectacled and Alaska-breeding Steller's eiders. His studies on the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge have proven to be fundamental to our understanding of spectacled eiders, their population dynamics, and potential threats. The publications produced from his collaborative studies, including the comprehensive 2016 monograph in the North America Fauna series, are unquestionably the seminal work on the species and will likely remain so for decades to come. Also, the surprising finding that lead exposure may affect adult female survival and local populations has been instrumental to the management actions we have pursued for both spectacled and Steller's eiders. Beyond his research in the field, Grand has been a key member of the spectacled and Steller's Eider Recovery Team since 2006.
Region 8
Gary Falxa
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Acknowledged by many for his expertise in butterflies and moths, Gary Falxa has been front and center in the protection and conservation of both the Behren's silverspot and Oregon silverspot butterflies in coastal California. He was instrumental in the establishment and implementation of an annual monitoring program for the Oregon silverspot in Del Norte County, one of the last un-augmented, wild populations of this unique subspecies. Through this and other untiring efforts, he helped the Service achieve important recovery milestones while being very successful at partnering with others to implement on-the-ground conservation for butterflies and other native plant and pollinator species. Further, over the last two decades, Falxa has been involved with the recovery of migratory birds and led the marbled murrelet effectiveness monitoring program for ten years, coordinating interagency efforts to monitor murrelet populations and their forest nesting habitat from Washington to San Francisco.
Michael Beck
Dan Silver
Endangered Habitats League
Michael Beck and Dan Silver are honored as 2016 Recovery Champions for their leadership in promoting regional conservation planning in support of the recovery of numerous federally-listed species, including the coastal California gnatcatcher, San Diego thornmint, quino checkerspot butterfly, and least Bell's vireo. Over the last 20 years, their leadership and dedication enabled the Service, in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, to complete regional habitat conservation plans covering over 2 million acres of land and conserving approximately 700,000 acres of habitat throughout southern California. These regional plans implement the recovery strategy for the coastal California gnatcatcher, as well as contribute to the conservation and recovery of numerous other listed and sensitive species. Under the direction of Beck and Silver, the Endangered Habitats League has been instrumental in securing funding and support for the establishment of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge, as well as the Crestridge and Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserves in San Diego County. In addition, they spearheaded the negotiations for San Diego's half-cent sales tax renewal, which provides more than $1.2 billion in funding for habitat conservation, management, and monitoring for the benefit of San Diego's natural resources.
