The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) Endangered Species Program recognizes outstanding employees on an annual basis through Recovery Champions Awards. This award highlights the contributions of Service personnel and partner organizations for the recovery of endangered and threatened species. This national recognition is awarded for efforts such as working to prevent species’ extinction, conserving and restoring habitat and resources critical to a species’ survival and recovery, scientific research, and public education and outreach. Nominations were solicited from Ecological Services, Refuges, Fisheries and partner groups, and were based on leadership competencies, length of time working on the issues, scope and significance of efforts, and measurable results.
The Southwest Region’s 2014 Recovery Champion recipients are Cyndee Watson, Recovery Lead for endangered karst invertebrates, Austin Ecological Services Field Office; and Anthony (Tony) Amos, Director of the Animal Rehabilitation Keep (ARK), University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) a partner organization.
Cyndee Watson’s work has been invaluable to recovery efforts for 16 karst invertebrate species. She is instrumental in innovative recovery planning for these species and for the past ten years collaborated with local communities, researchers, and a wide variety of stakeholders to promote its conservation. Her efforts helped raise awareness of the importance of their habitats and led to the protection of several significant karst preserves. From hosting meetings and workshops for cave and karst experts, to attending and participating in national conferences, Cyndee lead the way in sharing information and encouraging collaboration among all who are interested in karst conservation.
The Region’s second recipient, Tony Amos, has been a major contributor as a partner to our knowledge of shorebirds, sea turtles, and manatees and invaluable to recovery efforts for various species. For more than 30 years, he compiled an incredible long-term data set of bird and sea turtle observations for the Central Texas coast. This data set contains information on species of special interest to the Service, including the federally-listed piping plover, red knot, and five sea turtle species. These surveys provided key information about winter piping plover natural history necessary to recovery planning efforts of the Service. Through these surveys numerous Kemp’s ridley sea turtle nests have also been detected and protected, helping to facilitate the recovery of this species as well. His tireless efforts to rescue and rehabilitate sea turtles and birds, including piping plovers, red knots, brown pelicans, and even bald eagles has made Tony an outstanding spokesman for wildlife conservation in the Texas Coastal Bend region.
Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, the Southwest Regional Director, expressed his appreciation to the recipients, “For all that you have accomplished on behalf of threatened and endangered species, and for the encouraging future ahead, I applaud you and I join the rest of the Service in best wishes for your continuing success.”
Congratulations to the recipients of the Service’s 2014 Recovery Champion Awards!
