"Thousands of Americans dedicate their lives to ensuring that our Nations wildlife heritage thrives for all of us to enjoy now and in the future," said Service Director Jamie Rappaport Clark. "This awards ceremony offers the Service a way to recognize the lasting contributions made by seasoned professionals and experienced volunteers to our conservation heritage.
Migratory Bird Hunting Law Expert Honored
Service Special Agent Joseph Oliveros, who works in the agencys law enforcement office in Jacksonville, Florida, received the National Fish and Wildlife Foundations 1999 Guy Bradley Award for his contributions to the protection of the Nations wildlife resources. The award, named after the first wildlife law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty, was presented to Oliveros by Whitney Tilt, the Foundations director of conservation programs.
"Joe and his fellow wildlife law enforcement officers represent the thin green line dedicated to conserving this Nations fish, wildlife and plant resources for future generations," noted Tilt. "Successful wildlife conservation cannot occur without effective law enforcement.
Oliveros, a 24-year Service employee, is recognized as one of the agencys experts on enforcement issues involving migratory game bird hunting.
Working in Louisiana in the 1980s, he became a scourge to "outlaw" hunters, taking on a well-entrenched subculture built around the illegal take of migratory waterfowl. In 1994, Oliveros transferred to Florida where he was similarly successful. He also spearheaded special enforcement details aimed at protecting endangered manatees from boat collisions in Florida coastal waters.
Oliveros has served as an instructor in more than 35 "basic schools" for new special agents and refuge officers, introducing class after class to the fundamentals of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Refuge Administration Act. He helped mold more than half of the Services current agent force as well as more than 440 refuge officers.
National Wildlife Refuge System Employees, Volunteers Lauded for Dedication, Innovation
Six individuals and a community partner were recognized for their exceptional contributions to the National Wildlife Refuge System, the worlds premier network of lands dedicated to wildlife. Each year, the National Wildlife Refuge Association and National Audubon Society sponsor awards for the Refuge Manager of the Year, Employee of the Year, and Volunteer of the Year, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation joins these organizations in sponsoring a Friends Group of the Year Award. The awards are widely considered the most prestigious honors in the refuge system.
Dean Rundle, manager of San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex in California, was chosen Refuge Manager of the Year. Under Rundles leadership during the last 3 years, this group of five refuges in the heart of a major metropolitan area has tripled in size to more than 8,000 acres. In addition to managing dwindling habitats in one of the most developed parts of the country, Rundles challenges include fostering public understanding and support for endangered species conservation, the complexities of urban refuge planning, and coordinating with diverse interest groups and government entities. Most recently, Rundle led negotiations among the Port of San Diego, five surrounding cities, and the business community to acquire 1,300 acres of prime wetlands for which the environmental community had advocated protection for decades.
Matthew Magoffin, a welder and collateral-duty refuge law enforcement officer at San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge in Douglas, Arizona, was given the Refuge Employee of the Year Award. In addition to his welding and especially challenging law enforcement responsibilities on this 5,000-acre refuge on the Arizona-Mexico border, Magoffin also finds time to enlist community support for efforts to protect the rare Chiricahua leopard frog and endangered desert fisheries. He jump-started a program with local special education students to care for the frogs from egg-stage to adult in outdoor classroom rearing ponds at the high school. With Magoffins help, these students have expanded the program to several other schools, where they have created lesson plans and outdoor classrooms for both the frog and endangered fisheries. Raised frogs have been reintroduced on the refuge as well as local ranches, including Magoffins own.
Bill Milling, Harold and Susan Nugent, and Elaine Wilmers, volunteers at the 8,300-acre National Key Deer Refuge and three other Florida Keys refuges, each received the Refuge Volunteer of the Year Award. Milling began his full-time volunteer service through visitor services at National Key Deer Refuge headquarters and now leads public education programs at a popular visitor site where he has earned respect for his extensive knowledge of the cultural and ecological history of the Florida Keys. When the sites main attraction--a pair of alligators--fell victim to poachers, Milling raised $3,000 in reward money for information about the crime. The Nugents volunteer service is distinguished by their extraordinary public education efforts, including guided tours of unique and fragile habitats of the Keys and organizing special events to showcase these special refuges. In 1997, the Nugents also helped establish and lead a citizen support group for all four Keys refuges. Wilmers has been instrumental in improving conservation efforts for the endangered Key deer, several endangered sea turtles, and migratory birds. She is best known for her efforts to survey Key deer and care for deer injured by automobiles, and her sea turtle surveys and research, which has helped improve conservation programs and earned her wide acclaim. She also has organized efforts to remove exotic invasive plants from 10 refuge islands and beach clean-ups to improve sea turtle habitat.
The 1,000-member J.N. "Ding" Darling Wildlife Society, which supports the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Floridas West Coast, received the Friends Group of the Year award for outstanding community service. Since its founding in 1982, the society has donated more than $250,000 to this paradisial refuge to support the volunteer program and a wide variety of projects, including habitat restoration, birdwatching and other visitor programs, and a new education center. With a primary focus on public education in the community and with the 800,000 annual refuge visitors, the society sponsors special events and develops videos, refuge maps, leaflets, nature guides, and other interpretive and educational materials for the refuge. Members also serve as volunteers in the visitor center and as interpretive guides on the refuge. Pete Ingham and Dick Hulit, president and vice-president of the society, accepted the award.
Another refuge system-related award presented at the conference was the Wildlife Management Institutes first-ever Presidents Award, given to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Division of Refuges in Washington, DC. The award honors a North American Federal, state, or provincial agencys exceptional creativity and tenacity in affecting a particular program. The Division of Refuges was selected for advancing the application of scientific resource management and fostering public understanding of the need to enhance biological programs in this manner. The award also noted the Division of Refuges collective sense of purpose and dedication in implementing the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997. Rick Coleman, chief of the Division of Refuges, accepted the award.
Partnerships and Individual Efforts Are Key to Migratory Bird Conservation
Seven individuals and two groups whose contributions help conserve migratory birds received Partners In Flight (PIF) Awards at the March 27 ceremony. PIF is a consortium of hundreds of organizations, natural resource agencies, businesses, industry associations, private landowners, foundations, universities, and individual citizens dedicated to maintaining healthy bird populations in the United States and throughout the Western Hemisphere. Award recipients are:
Dr. Sidney Gauthreaux of Clemson University, who received a PIF Investigations Award for his groundbreaking work in bird migration. Gauthreauxs presentation of radar data at the Woods Hole Symposium in December 1989 confirmed a general decline of neotropical migrants. This radar data corresponded closely with data from the Breeding Bird Survey. Gauthreauxs single presentation propelled PIF to become the focus of wide-ranging efforts today.
Mississippi Alluvial Valley Researchers and Planners Group, which received a PIF Investigations Award for its publication of A Land Managers Guide to Point Counts of Birds in the Southeast by Paul Hamel et al. Work by the Mississippi Alluvial Valley group has helped restore thousands of acres of forests for songbirds and early fall water for shorebirds.
The Saskatchewan Wetland Conservation Corporation (SWCC), which received a Stewardship Award for its three major programs dedicated to conserving native prairie, streambank, and prairie shores habitat in the Province. The SWCC has secured 186 native prairie landowner voluntary stewardship agreements, representing 70,000 acres. They have conducted inventories of 574 riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian sites in 16 watersheds. They have acquired and improved 28,000 acres of native grassland and wetlands around Quill Lakes while still supporting cattle grazing and the endangered piping plover.
Ronnie Shell, manager of the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia, received a PIF Stewardship award for his efforts to integrate the needs of vulnerable nongame birds and traditional management. Shell aggressively managed the largest population of red-cockaded woodpeckers in the Southern Piedmont while encouraging studies on the entire pine-associated wildlife community. He also worked closely with the Trust for Public Land to develop the Ocmulgee Greenway to maintain a continuous mature forest structure in an increasingly fragmented landscape.
Rhonda Millikin of the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) received a PIF Public Awareness award. She worked with local community groups, schools, and colleges to increase public awareness of songbirds both in Canada and internationally. Millikin has been able to link ongoing research projects such as the Breeding Bird Survey with new community-based monitoring. In recent years, she has spearheaded the CWS landbird monitoring program in British Columbia.
Mark Johns, State Partners in Flight Coordinator for North Carolina, also received a PIF Public Awareness award. Johns workshops, articles, and consultations across the state have led to the training of 202 individuals in conducting point counts, Breeding Bird Survey routes, migration monitoring, and Christmas Bird Counts. He has established collaborative projects between the North Carolina PIF program and the forest products industry; both Weyerhaeuser and Champion have been partners in these education efforts and in management of forested riparian buffers on industrial forest land.
Robert Ford received a PIF Leadership award. Ford and the Tennessee Conservation League led the effort to establish the "Tri-State Songbird Initiative." This became the Interior Low Plateaus PIF Bird Conservation Plan, one of the first PIF plans written. He was a leading force in developing the Mississippi Alluvial Plain Bird Conservation Plan, integrating objectives for waterfowl, shorebirds, and songbirds, as well as stepping the objectives down for implementation within West Tennessee. Through Fords efforts, many thousands of acres of land have been identified for cooperative management to benefit migratory birds. Ford is the Southeast Regional Coordinator for Partners in Flight. He also works for The Nature Conservancy in Memphis, Tennessee.
Terrell Rich, the Bureau of Land Managements Partners in Flight coordinator in Boise, Idaho, also received a PIF Leadership award. Rich has guided PIFs Western Working Group for about 5 years and led the Management Steering Committee for nearly 3 years. As the Bureau of Land Managements bird program coordinator, he has been a leader in shrub-steppe bird research, developed education material, priority species publications, as well as been a technical advisor to managers. Rich has built linkages with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the National Audubon Society, the Cooper Ornithological Society, the American Birding Association, the Wildlife Society and the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.
Eduardo Santana and the Sierra de Manantlan Biosphere Reserve Group received a PIF Leadership and Stewardship award. Santana was instrumental in establishing the Sierra de Manantlan Biosphere Reserve and has spent countless hours helping the people of the area understand the importance of this reserve as a conservation centerpiece, a valuable source of drinking water and a biological reserve for endemic and migratory wildlife. Under his guidance, the Sierra de Manantlan Biosphere Reserve group has conducted numerous studies on the flora, fauna, ecology, ethnobotany, physiography, ecology, and sociology of this reserve.
The Partners in Flight awards were sponsored by Greg Butcher, editor of Birders World Magazine.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprised of more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
