During 1995, Alaska employees of the Service contributed more volunteer hours to the Girl Scouts than any of the Services other regions. Hales work for the Council, in southeast Alaska, accounts for a large portion of those hours.
Hales dedication to the Girl scouts started as soon as her daughter was old enough to appreciate the experience of being in Girl Scouts. She began as a Brownie co-leader and a Junior co-leader. Since that time, she has contributed more than 14 hours per week during the school year to enable her daughters to grow up receiving the benefit of the Girl Scout experience.
Recently, the Girl Scout Council requested that Hale be their representative to Linking Girls to the Land: Building Partnerships Between Girl Scouts and Federal Resource Agencies held in California. A partnership between Girl Scouts, her office, and her own resources provided the opportunity to bring information back from this experience in the San Jacinto Mountains training center operated by the Orange County Girl Scout Council. The workshop brought many Girl Scout Representatives together to learn about working with different federal agencies on environmental education, outdoor recreation projects and career opportunities.
Following graduation from Texas A & M University with a B.S. degree in wildlife management, Hale worked in Dallas, teaching the public how to control rodents on their property. She then joined a pioneering group - the first Eagle Trapping Team in the Service - in the Animal Damage Control Section seeking the best ways to prevent eagle/livestock conflicts on ranches in New Mexico and Texas. That duty was followed by refuge work at the Arkansas National Wildlife Refuge - famous for whooping crane winter habitat - and at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (New Mexico). Leaving the wetlands of Texas and New Mexico, she migrated to Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge (Tennessee), where she served as Assistant Refuge Manager, working to improve waterfowl habitat.
In 1991, Hale accepted a position in the southeast Alaska Ecological Services Field Office. Since then, she has been the Services principal liaison with the U.S. Forest Service, Tongass National Forest.
During the past several years other Service biologists have joined Hale in her efforts to ensure that the protection of public trust resources is made a part of Forest Service planning and operational activities. Her leadership, dedication and technical expertise are abundantly displayed throughout the spectrum of her official duties and community involvement with the Girl Scouts.
FWS
