President Obama announced on Tuesday in a Whitehouse press release his intention to reappoint Geoffrey L. Haskett, Regional Director for the Alaska Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as the United State Commissioner and Gary Frazer, Assistant Director for Ecological Services at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as the United States Alternate Commissioner for the U.S.–Russia Polar Bear Commission.
The Whitehouse press release described Geoff’s and Gary’s qualifications as follows:
Geoffrey L. Haskett is the Regional Director for the Alaska Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a position he has held since 2008. Previously, Mr. Haskett served as Chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System from 2006 to 2008 in Washington, D.C. He has served as Deputy Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Southwest Region, Chief of Realty and Secretary to the Department of the Interior’s Migratory Bird Commission. He was an Alaskan Supervisory Realty Officer and Deputy for the National Park Service Alaska Lands Program. In 2003, he received the Secretary of the Interior’s Meritorious Service Honor Award. Mr. Haskett served as Commissioner on the U.S. – Russia Polar Bear Commission from 2009 to 2013. Mr. Haskett received a B.A. from San Francisco State University and an M.P.A. from Portland State University.
Gary Frazer is Assistant Director for Endangered Species at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a position he has held since 2009. From 2008 to 2009, he was the Assistant Director for Fisheries and Habitat Conservation, and from 2004 to 2007, he served as the liaison to the U.S. Geological Survey. Mr. Frazer began his career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1984 as a field biologist in the Ecological Services field office in Virginia. He served as United States Alternate Commissioner on the U.S. – Russia Polar Bear Commission from 2010 to 2013. Mr. Frazer received a B.S. from Iowa State University and an M.S. from Purdue University.
In 2000, the United States and the Russian Federation concluded an Agreement on the Conservation and Management of the Alaska-Chukotka Polar Bear Population. The agreement establishes a Bilateral Commission, comprised of Federal and Native representation, which is responsible for the conservation and management of the Alaska-Chukotka population of polar bears, including establishing sustainable harvest levels for subsistence purposes. The Agreement’s identified goals work to improve polar bear conservation and safeguard the cultural and traditional use of polar bears by Native peoples in the United States and the Russian Federation.
For more information about the treaty and Commission, please visit: http://alaska.fws.gov/fisheries/mmm/polarbear/bilateral.htm
For the Whitehouse press release, visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pressoffice/2013/09/03/president-obama-announces-more-key-administration-posts
