Charles M. Wooley, a Columbus, Ohio, native and a 26-year employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has been selected as Deputy Regional Director for the Service’s eight-state Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, headquartered in Fort Snelling, Minn.
Regional Director Robyn Thorson announced Wooley’s appointment, which will take effect January 26. Since 1998, Wooley has been the Assistant Regional Director for Ecological Services in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, responsible for the Service’s endangered species, contaminants and wetland protection programs, and various Great Lakes, Mississippi and Missouri River activities.
“ The challenges and opportunities in conservation are large, and I place foremost value on partnerships in order to succeed in our mutual goals,” Thorson said. “I selected Charlie for his proven and practiced commitment to natural resources and for his outstanding record in working well with others, even on the most contentious issues.”
In his new position, Wooley will work closely with Fish and Wildlife Service program managers and staff to oversee Service activities in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. The Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region manages 1.2 million acres of lands and waters on 55 national wildlife refuges and 12 wetland management districts, including more than 240,000 acres in waterfowl production areas. The region also manages 6 national fish hatcheries, 9 fisheries stations, 10 ecological services field offices and 18 law enforcement field offices.
He will also focus on advancing partnerships between the Service and state agencies, Native American tribes and private conservation organizations.
Wooley replaces Marvin Moriarty, who served as Deputy Regional Director for 15 years before being named Regional Director for the Service’s Northeast Region last year.
Wooley has been with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1978. He worked as a fishery biologist in Alaska, Florida and Maryland, and served as a program analyst in Washington, D.C., where he worked with the President’s Domestic Policy Council’s Interagency Task Force on Wetlands and the House of Representatives’ Merchant Marine Fisheries Committee, and participated in the Department of the Interiors Manager Development Program.
Wooley was the field supervisor at the Service’s East Lansing, Michigan, Field Office for eight years. He has served as the Department of the Interior’s Trustee to the Great Lakes Fishery Trust since 1997.
An American Fisheries Society-certified fisheries scientist, Wooley is the author of 15 technical papers on the biology and life history of the striped bass, sturgeon and ecosystem restoration. He has given numerous professional presentations on endangered species and fishery management issues. He was named by the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as one of ten Unusually Outstanding Employees in the Service in 1989 and 1992, and was honored by Interior Secretary Gale Norton in July 2001 with the Department’s Meritorious Service Award. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Wooley is married with two daughters, and lives in Lakeville, Minn.
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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 542 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 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, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
