Congratulations to Our 2015 Recovery Champions!

Paul Meyers
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Paul Meyers is recognized as a 2015 Recovery Champion for his leadership in the recovery efforts for the endangered Columbian white-tailed deer. As a wildlife biologist at the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for Columbian White-tailed Deer, Meyers has worked tirelessly to establish a new viable and secure subpopulation of the deer on Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge – a part of their historical range from which the species was once extirpated. These efforts greatly improved prospects for the species to the extent that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed upgrading its legal status from endangered to threatened. The conservation success of the Columbian white-tailed deer has been a model for and an inspiration to our partners in conservation throughout Oregon and Washington.

Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project

Dr. André F. Raine
Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project
PCSU/DOFAW

Marc Travers
Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project
PCSU/DOFAW

Megan Vynne
Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project
PCSU/DOFAW

Mike McFarlin
Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project
PCSU/DOFAW

David Golden
Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project
PCSU/DOFAW

Adam Elzinga
Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project
PCSU/DOFAW

Angela Stamen
Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project
PCSU/DOFAW

For more than 10 years, members of the Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project have demonstrated their dedication, technical expertise, and willingness to forge new partnerships to achieve recovery progress for the federally threatened Newell’s shearwater and endangered Hawaiian petrel.  The team has led innovative studies that have greatly improved our knowledge of seabird behavior and species distribution.  Further, they have developed new monitoring methods to obtain data on seabird flight heights, concentrations of new breeding areas, and seabird interactions with man-made structures.  This information has been vital in helping the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refine seabird recovery criteria, improve population viability models for these species, and inform decision-making related to habitat conservation plans.  Working cooperatively with numerous organizations and stakeholder groups, the team will continue to help these extraordinary species progress toward recovery. 

Paige Najvar

For the past 11 years, Paige Najvar has worked collaboratively with Texas counties, state agencies, researchers, and a wide variety of stakeholders to promote the conservation and recovery of the federally endangered Houston toad.  Najvar has been instrumental in developing innovative recovery methods and her efforts have paved the way to greatly expanding our knowledge base of this species.  Her work with local communities in response to catastrophic wild fires in 2011 and 2015 has helped restore a critically imperiled Houston toad population that was at risk of becoming extinct in the wild. 

Dr. Robert Dudley
American Southwest Ichthyological Researchers

Steven Platania
American Southwest Ichthyological Researchers

Dr. Gary White
American Southwest Ichthyological Researchers

Over the last 30 years, Dr. Robert Dudley, Dr. Gary White, and Mr. Steven Platania have made significant contributions to the recovery of the Rio Grande silvery minnow in New Mexico.  Their development and implementation of Rio Grande silvery minnow population monitoring methods, rigorous study design, and innovative analytical techniques have provided a high-level of precision and accuracy in managing this endangered fish.  Their efforts have also provided the scientific foundation necessary to assess Rio Grande silvery minnow population trends in response to environmental phenomena and management actions in the Middle Rio Grande. The development of informative statistical models has allowed managers to identify the environmental factors that most influence population-level changes to help promote the species’ recovery.

Robert J. Hess
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Retired

Through his role as the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Karner blue butterfly recovery coordinator for the past nine years, Robert Hess has been a successful advocate for the conservation and recovery of the endangered Karner blue butterfly.  The work Hess has conducted in butterfly research and habitat restoration has directly contributed to an increase in available habitat and has led to increased populations and distribution of the Karner blue butterfly.  He has developed numerous partnerships and his extensive outreach efforts have been instrumental in promoting interest in the Karner blue and its conservation throughout the State of Wisconsin, a highlight of which is his involvement with the annual Karner Blue Butterfly Festival in Black River Falls.

Neosho National Fish Hatchery Staff
Over the past 12 years, the work and leadership of the Neosho National Fish Hatchery staff have contributed greatly to pallid sturgeon and Topeka shiner recovery.  By developing new spring-fed raceway techniques, the team successfully created artificial spawning beds that allowed Topeka shiners to spawn naturally in an otherwise controlled environment.  The combined experience and expertise of staff in capturing wild broodstock; holding, maintaining, and spawning wild brood fish; and intensively rearing these endangered species has allowed for stocking efforts to bolster wild populations.  To date, the team has stocked 56,926 pallid sturgeon and 2,200 Topeka shiners in the Missouri and Mississippi river systems.  The leadership and staff at the hatchery possess the invaluable ability to build and nurture relationships with a wide array of partners both within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and externally with state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academia.  These partnerships have aided in the recovery and assurance of the long-term future of pallid sturgeon and Topeka shiner. 

Michael Legare
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

As the Supervisory Refuge Biologist at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Michael Legare used comprehensive, landscape-based management actions and partnerships to develop and implement recovery efforts for the federally threatened Florida scrub jay and southeastern beach mouse across public lands in east-central Florida. Under Legare’s leadership, habitat restoration work resulted in a significant increase in optimal scrub-jay habitat on the Refuge. Additionally, he worked with multiple partners on a 50-mile coastal landscape to develop a comprehensive approach for monitoring southeastern beach mouse population trends and habitat occupancy.  This work improved our understanding of southeastern beach mouse population status and trends and the construction of a one-mile artificial beach dune on the Refuge that increased available beach mouse habitat while reducing beach erosion and the resulting loss of coastal scrub habitat.

Louisiana Black Bear Recovery Team

Deborah Fuller
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

David Soileau
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Maria Davidson
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

The Louisiana Black Bear Recovery Team is recognized for their contributions to the recovery of the Louisiana black bear and the conservation of the habitat on which the species depends.  Their long history of working in partnership with federal, state, academic, non-governmental organizations, and the public to ensure long-term population viability have proven invaluable to the recovery of this species.  The recovery team worked to manage human-bear conflict, organized educational programs for the public, and restored the subspecies to unoccupied portions of its historical range, thus contributing to population connectivity and the establishment of a new breeding population. These efforts improved the bear’s status, and ultimately led to its removal from federal protection in March 2016. 

Wendy Walsh
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

As an endangered species biologist, Wendy Walsh is recognized for her leadership in advancing the recovery of the piping plover, swamp pink, seabeach amaranth, and, most notably, the red knot.  Her role as a species lead for the red knot, taken on midway through a contentious listing process, underscores her ability to coordinate effectively with various interests while navigating the complexities of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Walsh’s efforts led to a final rule that was widely acclaimed for its critical analysis, particularly with regard to the projected effects of climate change on this wide-ranging shorebird.  Her emphasis on the collaborative conservation intent of the ESA has resulted in a higher level of security for the piping plover, swamp pink, seabeach amaranth, and red knot. She has filled in critical gaps in our knowledge of these species and made important contributions toward their recovery.

Christopher A. Dobony
Fort Drum Military Installation

Christopher A. Dobony is recognized as a 2015 Recovery Champion for his leadership in the conservation of federally protected bat species.  Of particular note are Dobony’s contributions to research and monitoring of the Indiana bat as well as his efforts to identify and understand the short- and long-term impacts of white-nose syndrome (WNS) on bat communities.  His insights into this devastating disease have garnered national attention and contribute to our hope that affected bat species may be successfully conserved.  His efforts have helped filled critical gaps in our knowledge of the endangered Indiana bat and other species, as well as our understanding of WNS.  This will, in no small part, advance efforts to conserve the nation’s bats. 

Gina Glenne
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Gina Glenne is recognized for her leadership in preventing the extinction and working toward the recovery of Colorado's listed plant species.  Glenne has worked tirelessly to better our understanding of 16 plant species occurring in the Centennial State and improve the status of these species.  Under her leadership, the recovery team located new populations of the Colorado hookless cactus and Penland alpine fen mustard, established state of the art monitoring for North Park phacelia, and secured on-the-ground protection for Pagosa skyrocket and parachute beardtongue.  Glenne was also instrumental in forming and strengthening partnerships to advance inventory, monitoring, taxonomic research, and conservation goals.

Alex Diekmann
The Trust for Public Land

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is privileged to honor Alex Diekmann posthumously as a 2015 Recovery Champion for his leadership in protecting and conserving threatened and endangered species and their habitats in the State of Montana.  As senior project manager for The Trust for Public Land, Diekmann spearheaded efforts to protect this unique ecosystem from development, aiding in the recovery of species while ensuring public access to these great lands.  His work represents an extraordinary contribution to species recovery as he led multi­partner, landscape-level efforts to protect more than 100,000 acres of critical habitat for species including grizzly bear, bull trout, and Canada lynx throughout the Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone ecosystems in western Montana, with a particular focus on lands providing key wildlife linkage zones.

David Safine
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

David Safine is recognized as a 2015 Recovery Champion for his contributions to the recovery of Alaska-breeding Steller’s eiders.  Over the last seven years, Safine has brought dedication and creativity to his work on Alaska’s North Slope, resulting in numerous improvements to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s collaborative Steller’s eider recovery program at Barrow.  Under his leadership, the program has integrated field biology, management actions, and the hiring of local high school students from Barrow and nearby villages.  By engaging local students, he has built community support and cultivated emissaries for co-management that will pay dividends for conservation well into the future.  Safine has ensured that large and diverse crews have gathered high-quality data, year after year, while also building bridges among partners. 

Co-Chairs of the Recovery Team for the Polar Bear Conservation Management Plan

Jenifer Kohout                                                         
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Michael Runge, PhD
USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Jenifer Kohout and Dr. Michael Runge are recognized for their leadership and persistence as co-chairs of the Recovery Team for the Polar Bear Conservation Management Plan.  Kohout and Runge worked diligently from 2013 to 2015 to bring together key stakeholders to develop a practical guide to implementation of polar bear conservation in the United States.  Together they pioneered a new approach to the development of conservation management plans that addresses the mandates of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and meets the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s international obligations under the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears.  Uniting a diverse group of stakeholders to draft a practical, meaningful plan that will guide recovery on a high-profile species is a tremendous accomplishment. 

Cay Goude
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Over the past 25 years, Cay Goude has worked tirelessly to improve the status of many federally protected species in California.  Throughout her career, Goude served as a leader in promoting the importance of recovery planning as an underpinning for the day-to-day conservation activities both within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office and externally with conservation partners.  Her involvement in the development of the 1998 Recovery Plan for Upland Species of the San Joaquin Valley, California, was critical to the recovery of these species and was ahead of its time as a multi-species, ecosystem-based recovery strategy based on the protection of keystone species.  Later in her career, she ensured the ongoing commitment to both recovery plan development and implementation for 126 species and continued to emphasize the involvement of partners and the public in the development of recovery goals and objectives.

Island fox land managers for the Northern Channel Islands:

Tim Coonan
National Park Service

Kate Faulkner
National Park Service

Russell Galipeau
National Park Service

Christie Boser
The Nature Conservancy

Scott Morrison
The Nature Conservancy

Eamon O’Byrne
The Nature Conservancy

Lotus Vermeer
The Nature Conservancy

David Garcelon
Institute for Wildlife Studies

The Island fox land managers for the Northern Channel Islands are recognized as 2015 Recovery Champions for their leadership in the recovery of three subspecies of island fox: San Miguel Island fox, Santa Rosa Island fox, and Santa Cruz Island fox. Collectively, as the land managers of San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz Islands, the team has demonstrated true leadership by working tirelessly to improve the status of these subspecies.  In the late 1990s, these island fox subspecies experienced precipitous declines as a result of predation by non-native golden eagles and were estimated to have a 50 percent chance of extinction within 10 years. Working with state and federal agencies, the academic community, and non-profit organizations, the team was able to successfully identify and ameliorate threats to the island fox. Recovery efforts included: captive breeding, relocation of golden eagles, removal of golden eagle prey base, habitat restoration, monitoring, and vaccinating against canid disease.