"Special Agent Goessman and his federal and state colleagues risk their lives every day to uphold wildlife protection laws in this country," said Service Director Jamie Rappaport Clark. "Were proud that one of our agents has won this prestigious award and join the Foundation in applauding the contributions that Federal and State wildlife law enforcement officers make to wildlife conservation throughout this country and the world.
Goessman, who works for the Services Division of Law Enforcement in Bozeman, Montana, was recognized for his accomplishments both as a criminal investigator and wildlife law enforcement instructor. His 22-year career in wildlife law enforcement includes eight years as a wildlife conservation officer with the state of Illinois; service as a federal Fish and Wildlife special agent in Georgia, Minnesota, and Montana; and a four- year tour of duty as a senior Service instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia.
As an Illinois wildlife conservation officer from 1978 to 1986, Goessman conducted complex covert investigations targeting the illegal commercialization of game fish and waterfowl. He was one of the states first wildlife officers to work undercover cases and was honored as Office of the Year in 1983.
Goessman continued his successful investigative work after joining the Service in 1986. While stationed in Minnesota, he orchestrated joint U.S./State/Canadian investigations to combat the unlawful commercial exploitation of North American wildlife. Crimes documented included the sale of bear gallbladders for use as Asian medicinals; illegal guiding services that resulted in the unlawful take and sale of waterfowl, deer, bear, and walleye; and illegal sale of fish and caviar. Goessmans recent investigative work helped uncover the activities of an organized wildlife crime syndicate operating out of Kenya; wildlife enforcement officers there seized a collection of contraband wildlife items valued at as much as $3 million and have charged the main suspect in the case with multiple counts of wildlife trafficking.
Goessman is credited with improving basic training programs for Service law enforcement officers while he was stationed at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center from 1993 to 1997. He also planned and taught in "undercover schools" for federal and state wildlife officers, providing students a solid grounding in this complex, but increasingly important investigative technique.
Although Goessman returned to investigative work in 1997, he served as senior instructor and team leader for a U.S. Agency for International Development-sponsored program that provided hands-on law enforcement training for park rangers and wildlife officers in Kenya in 1998 and 1999. He is also an instructor for the Services Native American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Training program, an effort that has provided instruction to more than 350 conservation officers from 120 tribes over the last three years.
Beatty, a 28-year law enforcement veteran who moved to Alaska early in his career with the goal of becoming a "flying game warden," was honored for his contributions to protecting wildlife resources in that State. He joined the Alaska Department of Public Safetys Division of Fish and Wildlife Protection in 1982, after working for the San Diego Sheriffs Department and Juneau City Police.
At his first post on Kodiak Island, Beatty improved enforcement operations by securing a plane and using it to patrol the as well as hundreds of miles of the Alaska peninsula
