Staff Report - Fall 2008
Changes in Member Agencies
Steve Ferrell has been named Director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Gordon Myers has been named Executive Director of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.
Association Staff Updates
The Association hired Mark Humpert as Wildlife Diversity Director. With more than 20 years of experience in the wildlife conservation field, Mark's most recent position was as the Wildlife Diversity Program Manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Mark has been involved with the Teaming with Wildlife coalition at the state and national levels for many years and has represented Nebraska on the Association’s Teaming with Wildlife Committee. Notably, he coordinated the Nebraska Teaming with Wildlife coalition, which grew from 49 to more than 270 organizations within five years during his tenure. Mark also led outreach efforts for Nebraska’s Wildlife Action Plan, State Wildlife Grants Program, Nongame Check-off Program, Nebraska Partnership for All-Bird Conservation, and the Healthy Families Play Outside Network. Mark started work at the Association on August 11.
Len Ugarenko accepted the position of President of Wildlife Habitat Canada effective July 1, 2008. Len will continue to assist the Association though the annual meeting and transition to his replacement as North American Waterfowl Management Plan Coordinator.
Dr. Arpita Choudhury has been hired as the Association's new Science and Research Liaison. She began on August 4. Arpita joins the Association from her most recent position as a National Research Council Post Doctoral fellow at NOAA’s Coastal Center of Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research in Charleston, South Carolina. Arpita received her PhD at the University of Rhode Island in Environmental Science with a focus on population genetics and fisheries science. She received a BS at the University of Miami in Biology and Marine Science with a minor in Chemistry.
Brian Bohnsack from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Sport Fish Restoration Program has begun a two-year detail with the Association to serve as the coordinator of the Industry-Agency Summit. In addition to his work at the FWS, Brian has worked for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Details with the Association are a great benefit to the Association and its staff and a great opportunity for the detailee to get a first hand look at the work of the Association and state fish and wildlife agencies. If you have someone who might be interested in doing a detail with the Association, please email info@fishwildlife.org.
Jacob Faibisch accepted the position as a Training Specialist with the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the Department of Agriculture. Jake’s last day with the Association was September 19.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee met by conference call on June 19 and took the following actions: 1) approved continued discussions between AFWA and the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) in an effort to reach a consensus position on reauthorization of the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund; 2) approved AFWA becoming an interim founding member of the American Wind and Wildlife Institute (AWWI) contingent on approval of the full AFWA membership in September so that AFWA can participate in the initial meeting of AWWI in July; and 3) approved sending revisions to the AFWA by-laws to all AFWA members in anticipation of consideration of these changes at the AFWA Business Committee meeting in September.
The Executive Committee met by conference call on July 28 and approved a “Statement of Consensus Principles for Reauthorization of the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund” that was developed jointly by the Association and NASBLA. These consensus principles will be presented to the Association’s membership for approval during the Business Committee meeting at the Association’s annual meeting.
The Executive Committee met in Executive Session by conference call on August 18 to discuss a personnel matter.
Industry-Agency Summit
The initial meeting of the Industry-Agency Steering Committee took place on May 29 at the AFWA offices in Washington, DC. At that meeting, Doug Painter of the National Shooting Sports Foundation and Glen Salmon, Director of the Indiana Division of Wildlife, were elected co-chairs of the group. The Steering Committee is made up of two representatives from each of the four major industry groups (fishing, shooting, archery, and boating), four representatives from state fish and wildlife agencies (John Frampton (SC), Jeff Vonk (SD), Glen Salmon (IN) and Carol Bambery (AFWA) as well as Dale Hall (USFWS). The committee discussed and set goals in the areas of outreach, partner communications, state agency funding, and recruitment and retention. In addition, the committee scheduled the next full Industry-Agency Summit meeting for the week of December 15, 2008 in Washington, DC.
National Fish Habitat Action Plan Board
The Board of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan met in Arlington, VA on May 13-14, 2008. At that meeting, the board elected Kelly Hepler from Alaska as the new Chairman. Kelly replaced John Cooper (SD) who stepped down following the board meeting. In addition, the board approved the Southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat Partnership as a Fish Habitat Partnership (FHP) and had considerable discussions on the guidance on the structure and function of FHPs. For more information about the National Fish Habitat Action Plan, please see that section in this report.
White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy
In August, 2007, President Bush signed Executive Order # 13443: Facilitation of Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation that calls for a comprehensive ten year Recreational Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Plan and directs the federal agencies to convene a White House Conference on North American Wildlife Policy to facilitate the exchange of information and advice needed to fulfill the purposes of the Order.
Two meetings have been held to lay the groundwork for the Conference: 1) a technical workshop in April that brought together top practitioners in the federal, state, tribal, industrial and academic fields to develop eight white papers with members of the Sporting Conservation Council and 2) a Policy workshop in June that brought together federal, state and tribal decision makers, along with leadership from the Sporting Conservation Council and the wildlife conservation community, to consider response options to issues and ideas discussed in the white papers. The White House Conference itself will take place October 1-3, 2008 in Reno, Nevada. The conference will begin with registration on October 1. The morning of October 2 will open with a large plenary session featuring keynote speakers, followed by break-out sessions to discuss the Conservation Plan development. Lunch with a speaker will be followed by additional break-out sessions to further discuss the development of the Conservation Plan. The morning of October 3 will continue with a general session and closing speaker ending around noon.
There are eight core issues of discussion for the October conference. They are: Funding for Wildlife Conservation; Management of Wildlife Habitat; Maintaining Access to Public and Private Land; Education, Recruitment and Retention; the North American Model; Federal, State and Tribal Coordination; Climate Change Impacts; and Energy Development.
All state fish and wildlife agencies directors will receive an invitation to the conference. Initial details, including information regarding hotel reservations, were sent to directors on August 27.
National Conservation Leadership Institute (NCLI)
The Board of the National Conservation Leadership Institute met in July to approve the fellows for the 3rd cohort of the NCLI. The 3rd Cohort will have 34 fellows, including 22 from state fish and wildlife agencies; six from federal agencies; two tribal representatives and four fellows from NGO’s.
The new cohort of fellows will begin the program in September with electronic pre-work followed by an 11-day highly, interactive residency in October at the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia. After returning home, Fellows work for five months on individual leadership projects focused on a challenge facing their organizations, and the program culminates in the spring with a long-weekend session at Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri.
The NCLI is an outstanding opportunity for a select group of conservation professionals – including someone from your organization. Fellows must be nominated by their agency director. Please visit www.conservationleadership.org for further information.
To view the report in its entirety, click to download the Fall 2008 Report in pdf. If you're looking for a previous issue, contact us at 202/624-7890 or info@fishwildlife.org.
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