"All four of these individuals bring extensive biological expertise and field experience with them to Washington," Clark said. "They have been leaders in implementing landscape level conservation measures in ecosystems as diverse as the arctic tundra, the desert southwest, and the Chesapeake Bay. In their new positions, the knowledge and abilities they have developed all across America can now benefit our conservation efforts at the national level. I look forward to working closely with each of them.
Nancy Gloman
As Chief of the Division of Endangered Species, Gloman will manage Service efforts to protect endangered and threatened species and restore them to a secure status in the wild. The responsibilities of the endangered species program include listing, reclassifying, and delisting species under the Endangered Species Act; providing biological opinions to Federal agencies on their activities that may affect listed species; overseeing recovery activities for listed species; and providing protection for important habitat.
Gloman has worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1978, starting in the Bloomington, Indiana, Field Office and then moving to the Washington, DC, office where she was the national hydropower coordinator and special assistant to the assistant director. She went to the Services Western Washington Field Office in Olympia in 1989 and has been acting supervisor of that office since February 1998.
"Nancys supervisory skills along with her vast experience in Pacific Northwest endangered species issues makes her the perfect candidate for this position," Clark said.
Prior to working for the Service, she was with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Baltimore, Maryland, where she was responsible for implementing the Clean Water and Rivers and Harbors acts. She received a BA in biology from Hanover College in Indiana and an MS in environmental science from Indiana University.
Her predecessor, LaVerne Smith, will be joining the Services Regional office in Alaska as the Assistant Regional Director for Ecological Services and Fisheries.
Everett Wilson
As chief of the Division of Environmental Contaminants, Wilson will spearhead Service efforts to identify and assess the effects of contaminants on fish and wildlife so these problems can be prevented, reduced, or eliminated. Environmental contaminants program activities are integrated into all other Service activities.
Wilson has been with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1977, first as a research biologist at the Columbia National Fisheries Research Laboratory, where he worked on the effects of pesticides on aquatic ecosystems. Later he became an environmental contaminants biologist at the Juneau, Alaska, Ecological Services Office, focusing on ecosystems of Southeast Alaska. In 1988, he became the environmental contaminants coordinator for the Alaska Region. In 1996, he became the Special Assistant to the Northern Geographic Assistant Regional Director, where he worked with all of the project leaders to start the ecosystem approach for Northern Alaska. In 1998, he was named Acting Southern Geographic and Ecological Services Assistant Regional Director.
"Everetts background in ecosystem conservation and his vast expertise in contaminants provide him with a strong foundation for confronting the challenges of his new position as chief of the Division of Environmental Contaminants," Clark said.
He received his BS in fisheries from Oregon State University in 1971 and MS in toxicology from Oregon State University in 1973. Prior to joining the Service, he worked for Oregon State University as a research assistant and the Missouri Department of Conservation as a water quality research biologist. His predecessor, Frank DeLuise, has joined the Department of Interiors Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance.
Jon Andrew
As chief of the Migratory Bird Management Office, Andrew will be responsible for guiding Service efforts to conserve migratory bird populations and their habitats. Andrews office is also responsible for establishing hunting regulations for migratory game birds and for monitoring bird populations.
Andrew was previously chief of the Branch of Planning and Policy in the Division of Refuges and Wildlife. Prior to that assignment, he worked in the Services Southeast Regional Office in Atlanta implementing the Services ecosystem approach to conservation.
Andrew has extensive field experience at National Key Deer Refuge in Florida, where he was refuge manager, and at Lower Rio Grande Valley and Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuges in Texas. He has also worked in the Alaska Regional Office in the Division of Realty and conducted research at the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in Jamestown, North Dakota. Andrew has a bachelors degree in environmental science from Unity College in Maine and a masters degree in wildlife management from Frostburg State College in Maryland.
"Jon has served with distinction in a variety of field, research, and management positions. Hes the ideal person to lead our migratory bird office at a time when the Service has made bird conservation a major priority," Clark said.
His predecessor, Paul Schmidt, has been named the Services Deputy Assistant Director for Refuges and Wildlife.
Jim Kurth
As chief of the Division of National Wildlife Refuges, Kurth will lead the development and oversight of budget and policy for more than 500 national wildlife refuges nationwide. He will be in a key position to put the goals of Fulfilling the Promise, which was the subject of the historic National Wildlife Refuge System Conference in Keystone, Colorado, last October, into action. This document lays out a vision that will propel the refuge system well into the 21st Century.
Kurth, a 20-year veteran of the Service, is currently manager of the Nations largest refuge--Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. He has served at refuges in Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and also in the Alaska Regional Office as Deputy Assistant Director for Subsistence. Kurth earned a BS in wildlife management at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1978.
"We have asked our refuge system employees to step up into leadership positions, and Jims selection is a signal of the passion and dedication our refuge managers share for the system," Clark said. "I look forward to working alongside Jim in advancing the system into the next century.
His predecessor, Rick Coleman, will be joining the Services Pacific Northwest Regional staff in Portland, Oregon, as the Assistant Regional Director for External Affairs.
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.
