Wooley, of Okemos, Michigan, has been a field supervisor at the Services Ecological Services Field Office in East Lansing, Michigan, since 1991. In his new role, Wooley will be an advocate for the Regions ecological services issues and policy which include: Natural Resource Damage Assessments; threatened and endangered species listings and delistings; consultations and recovery; Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act evaluation for federal projects; spill response and contaminant investigations; wetland protection through Clean Water Act Section 404 permit review; and license development for hydroelectric power. Ecological Services in Region 3 includes 8 field offices, 2 sub-offices and an annual budget of approximately $12 million.
Wooley also will temporarily assume the duties of the Program Assistant Regional Director for Fisheries, which includes six fish hatcheries, eight fishery resource offices, two biological stations, and one fish health center.
Charlie Wooley began his career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1978 and has worked as a fishery biologist with anadromous fish in Alaska, Florida, and Maryland. He also served as a Program Analyst in Washington, D.C., where he worked with the Presidents Domestic Policy Councils Interagency Task Force on Wetlands and the House of Representatives Merchant Marine Fisheries Committee.
Region 3, the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, includes the midwest states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices 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. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
