Dr. Benjamin N. Tuggle has been named as the new Regional Director of the Southwest Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Region encompasses the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Dr. Tuggle has served as the Regions Acting Regional Director since January and has served in leadership positions throughout the organization for the past 25 years. His prior assignments included serving as the Acting Special Assistant to the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service H. Dale Hall and prior to that as Chief of the Division of Habitat and Resource Conservation, a position he held since 1997.
"Benjamin began his career researching wildlife diseases," said Dale Hall, Director of the Service. "He still has that same curiosity and desire for answers. These are attributes that make for a great leader. Im partial to the southwest having served as its Regional Director myself so I took great care with this appointment."
Dr. Tuggle brings an exceptional range of skills to the realm of environmental management, including water issues, resource development and associated wetland and upland habitat protection and mitigation, habitat conservation and restoration, transportation, energy development, marine mammal protection and other related conservation issues that impact fish and wildlife resources.
"Im looking forward to continuing the great work already being accomplished throughout this Region, especially in collaboration and partnership with other federal, state and local resource agencies, tribal members, landowners and the non-governmental environmental groups," said Tuggle. "These partnerships will benefit everyone in the Southwest and will secure the conservation of fish, wildlife and their habitats for the future."
Dr. Tuggle holds advanced degrees in Zoology from The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (Ph.D., 1982 and M.S., 1977) and a B.S. in Biology from Fort Valley State College in Ga. (1975). As a result of Dr. Tuggles academic pursuits, he has written a total of 16 publications in eight referred scientific journals and three chapters in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service resource publication.
Visit the Services website at http://www.fws.gov.
http://www.fws.gov/southwest/
