Document Actions
Board of Directors - Biographies
Beaty, Les - Les' entire Federal career has been with the Fish and Wildlife Service. He served on National Wildlife Refuges in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. He served in the Twin Cities, MN, Regional Office as Chief of Refuge Operations. Later, he served a 5 ½ year tour in the Washington Office as Chief of the Branch of Resource Management, Division of Wildlife Refuges. Finally, he served 8 ½ years in the Albuquerque Regional Office, the first 3+ years as Chief of Program Support and Staff Services, Wildlife Resources, and the remaining 5 ½ years as Deputy Assistant Regional Director for Wildlife Resources (which included Wildlife Refuges). Les completed his career in the Albuquerque Regional Office as Chief of Federal Aid (Deputy Assistant Regional Director for Federal Aid) for 4 ½ years. Les retired in 1994 with 33 years of Federal Service. He and his wife make their home in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area and remain very interested in the future growth and stature of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Crozier, Ed - Ed and his family have been involved with wildlife management for hundreds of years. His ancestors served as gamekeepers/foresters for the Count Nostiz family in Austria-Hungary starting in the late 1700s and were involved in that vocation until about 1937. Ed recommenced the family tradition 20 years later. Ed was born and raised in a small town on the prairies of western Minnesota. After obtaining a BS degree in wildlife management from SD State University, he began a career of nearly 38 years as manager of national wildlife refuges in WI, ND, IA, IL, MO, and MN. During that time he had a tour of foreign duty with a US Army marksmanship detachment. At the time of his retirement he was a regional supervisor of national wildlife refuges in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. He also served as Chief of the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) National Planning Team and worked throughout the United States. He has been awarded the US Dept. of Interior's Meritorious Service and the Distinguished Service Awards and has an auditorium named in his honor in Bloomington, Minnesota. He assisted in the establishment of the National Wildlife Refuge Association and is a former vice chairman of the Association. He was the founder of Wildlife Refuge Reform, a predecessor to the Blue Goose Alliance. He helped organize the first refuge friends group in the nation, the Friends of MN Valley, which was the first recipient of the National Friends Group of the Year award and he is the past president of the Friends. He is currently the president of the Minnesota Valley Trust, Inc., a nonprofit organization that manages a multimillion dollar refuge mitigation trust fund. He has served as a mentor to fledgling refuge friends groups throughout the nation.
He and his wife, Caryl, live in the woods on a small lake in Minnesota and also enjoy the family retreat on a northern Wisconsin lake. Ed's hobbies include fishing, hunting, canoeing/boating, reading and traveling. He and Caryl have published seven family history books and have found ancestral homes or sites in England, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Poland, Holland and France
Danner, Chuck - Chuck was born and raised in the mid-west, where his involvement with wildlife began early, as a result of a long association with boy scouting. He earned a BS in wildlife management/conservation from Purdue University in 1967 and an MS, also in wildlife management/conservation, from Ohio State University in 1969. He began his career in 1969 as a District Wildlife Biologist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and for a brief while was the State Quail Research Biologist with them before leaving to take a federal position with the Fish and Wildlife Service. He began his federal career as the Assistant District Supervisor for Kentucky and Tennessee in the old Wildlife Services program and worked there from 1974 through 1977. He held positions with the Division of Animal Damage Control, the Division of Wildlife Assistance (later Wildlife Management), and the Program Development Office - Wildlife, all in the Washington Office of the FWS from 1977 through 1986. While in the Division of Wildlife Management he did a 120-day detail with the Division of Refuges to get his first "real" taste of refuges. In 1986 he transferred to the Atlanta Regional office as the Assistant to the Chief, Division of Wildlife Management. Then in 1987, he became the Chief, Branch of Project Development in the Division of Realty, where he was responsible for all refuge land acquisition planning in the southeast. He spent over 17 years in Atlanta as the planning chief and this eventually also included managing the Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Planning process for the region. He retired in January of 2003 after a combined 33 years in State and Federal government. He now makes his home in Buford, Georgia with his wife, Barbara, and eight very spoiled cats.
Glenn is currently the Alaska State Director for The Conservation Fund, a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to habitat protection. He and his wife, Denice, reside in Anchorage. They are the proud parents of two grown children, Heather and Travis. They are avid Alaska wilderness travelers. Glenn continues to indulge his life long passion for fishing, hunting, hiking and river rafting.
Fishman, Gail - Gail Tener Fishman is a second generation Floridian and sixth generation Southerner. She has worked as a bartender, a driver, a credit application specialist, a research analyst for the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, and half-owner of a retail business before she came to her senses and began working for conservation. Since 1987 she has worked for the Florida Defenders of the Environment, The Nature Conservancy, and the Audubon Society. Gail has been volunteering at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge since 1984 and helped form St. Marks Refuge Association, Inc. In addition, Gail has published several articles and a book, "Journeys Through Paradise, Pioneering Naturalists in the Southeast." When not writing and volunteering, Gail is currently the National Data Training Coordinator for the Association for Institutional Research in Tallahassee.
Grabill, Bill - Bill began his career with the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Wildlife Refuge System while a wildlife management student at Arkansas Tech University when he worked as a student trainee at the White River National Wildlife Refuge in 1969. His entire 35 years of federal service was with the National Wildlife Refuge System in a variety of positions in the southeastern region of the Fish and Wildlife Service. After earning his B.S. in wildlife management, Bill worked as assistant refuge manager at Chassahowitzka NWR, Pungo NWR, and St. Marks NWR. He served as Refuge Manaager at Wapannoca NWR and the Mississippi Sandhill Crane NWR Complex (including Bon Secour, Bogue Chitto, Delta, and Breton NWRs). Bill completed his federal career in the Atlanta Regional Office as a Refuge Supervisor. He supervised refuges in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Caribbean during his 20 year tenure as a Refuge Supervisor. During his career Bill was involved with the establishment of many new refuges, worked with refuge managers and others to protect refuges from outside threats, and worked to improve management of habitat and public use programs on refuges.
Bill retired in 2004 and lives in Peachtree City, Georgia with his wife Linda were he volunteers with his church and spends time golfing, fishing, and gardening.
LaRiviere, Florence - Florence is a native Californian. She obtained her B.S. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1945. She has been an advocate since 1960 for the preservation of San Francisco Bay and its marshlands. Only a National Wildlife Refuge seemed adequate to protect those priceless lands, and she belonged to the group that lobbied Congress repeatedly until the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1972. Since wetland losses in that highly urbanized area continued, in 1985 she co-founded and has chaired since, the Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge, which again lobbied for legislation, enacted in 1988, that expanded the authorized size of the Refuge, doubling it to 43,000 acres. Since that time, she has continued her volunteer efforts for the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge protecting lands until they can be acquired. Her committee has been the recipient of state and local awards as well as several from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service presented in Washington D.C.: The National Wetlands Conservation Award 1991, Outstanding Contribution Award for Dedication to the Principles of Conservation and Wise Resource Stewardship, 1993, and Special Commendation in Recognition of Exceptional Contributions to the Service, 1997.
McLaughlin, Eileen -
Morgan, Phil - Phil was born and raised in rural NW Missouri. He graduated from Colorado State University with a BS degree in Game Management in 1958. During his college years he worked summers as a student trainee at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge. After a brief stint in the Army he started his permanent federal career in 1959 at Wichita Mountains NWR in Oklahoma as a refuge manager trainee. Phil then transferred to Aransas as Assistant Manager and on to the regional office in Albuquerque during the mid-1960s as an ascertainment biologist and master planner. He returned to Aransas as manager in 1967. His career then took him to Minneapolis as supervisor for the southern district of that region and on to the Portland regional office as associate supervisor for refuges. From there he transferred to Atlanta as Associate Regional Director. After a brief assignment in the Washington Office as Chief of Program Development for Wildlife Resources, Phil returned to Atlanta in 1978 and remained there in various assignments until his retirement in 1994 after 36 years service, primarily associated with the refuge system. Since retirement he has served as SE regional representative for the National Wildlife Refuge Association along with other volunteer activities.
Neely, Burkett - Burkett worked for an oil exploration company in the Rocky Mountain States and Alaska for 6 years. The seismograph work was sometimes performed on and around National Wildlife Refuges. One significant job was on the Kenai NWR in 1958, which was the beginning of the oil boom on the Kenai Peninsula. This was his first experience in dealing with NWR regulations and special permits. Burkett also served a two year tour of duty in the U. S. Navy. In 1963, he returned to college at the University of Southern Mississippi where he earned a BS degree in Biology and graduated in May 1965. He immediately went to work for the FWS as a Refuge Manager Trainee at Savannah NWR on June 1, 1965. In June 1967, Burkett was promoted and transferred to Mattamuskeet NWR as Assistant Refuge Manager. During his time at Mattamuskeet, he also served as the Coordinator for an intensive, 10 week basic training course for Summer Trainees for two summers. In February 1971, Burkett was transferred to the position of Refuge Manager at Cape Romain NWR. During his time at this refuge, he was involved in a sea turtle egg transplant program which was an effort to reestablish Loggerhead Turtle nesting on Chincoteague, Back Bay and Pea Island NWRs. Burkett also was a member of the Eastern Brown Pelican Recovery Team. In August 1974, he was reassigned to Pee Dee NWR to begin initiation of the development phase of the relativity new refuge. In October 1976, Burkett was transferred to the Washington office and was assigned to the Branch of Planning. One of his duties there was to finalize justification packages for proposed wilderness areas on refuges for presentation to Congress for consideration. In October 1978, he was reassigned to the Alaska Native Claims Office as Deputy Chief. Burkett served as Acting Chief of that office from May 1980 until March 1981, during which time the Alaska National Interest Lands Act was passed. In March 1981, he transferred to Loxahatchee NWR as Project Leader. During this period, he was involved in the Everglades Water Quality lawsuit in which the United States sued the State of Florida for allowing water to enter Loxahatchee NWR and Everglades NP in violation of State water quality standards. He received the Meritorious Service and the Distinguished Service awards for his role in this issue. Burkett remained at Loxahatchee until his retirement in 1998, after 33 years of service in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Redfearn, Don - Don started his career with Refuges on June 30, 1950, as a Clerk-typist at Bitter Lake NWR. His "friends and neighbors?" selected him to spend a two-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps from March 1952 - Feb. 1954. A transfer to Bear River Refuge as Clerk-typist kept him busy until September 1954, when he enrolled at Utah State University. He received his BS degree in wildlife management in March 1958. He kept his foot in the door during college by spending summer of 1955 with Research (Botulism studies) at Bear River, student trainee at Bosque del Apache in 1956, and student trainee at Monte Vista NWR in 1957. He also kept bread on the table by working fall weekends on the hunter check station at Bear River, 1954-57.
Don was reinstated as permanent employee on March 10, 1958, as Refuge Manager Trainee at Monte Vista NWR. He transferred to Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in April 1960 as Assistant Refuge Manager. From there he transferred to Ouray NWR, Vernal, Utah in 1961 as Refuge Manager. He went to Albuquerque Regional Office in January 1964 as Chief of Master Planning - Region 2, then became Asst. Regional Supervisor early in 1965. The next transfer was to Refuge Manager, National Elk Refuge, in Feb. 1966. His next post was Regional Supervisor, Alaska Refuges, in June 1977, and retired on September 30, 1982. Don has been a Volunteer for Refuges at Togiak, and resident volunteer at Arctic, Bosque del Apache, and Midway Atoll.
Reffalt, Bill - Bill served on National Wildlife Refuges in Nevada, Idaho, Utah, and New Mexico before working as a wildlife biologist in the Albuquerque Regional Office of the Fish and Wildlife Service. After transferring to the Washington, DC office in 1973, he supervised the FWS staff that helped design and plan new and expanded refuges in Alaska, and assisted the Department's legislative support that led to the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, adding 54 million acres of prime wildlife habitats to the Refuge System. He then served two years as the Chief of Refuges and two years as Chief of the Division of Wildlife Management prior to leaving the FWS in 1984, after 26 years of federal service. Bill then served as the Program Director for National Wildlife Refuge System programs at The Wilderness Society in Washington, DC. Following nine years in that role, he served another four years with the Society as the Program Director for National Parks and Alaska Lands. All of these positions involved extensive legislative work with the Congress, and networking and coalition building among key wildlife conservation organizations and the grassroots. He retired in 1999, after nearly 40 years of work associated with wildlife conservation and the National Wildlife Refuge System. Bill remains actively involved in those important issues even in retirement.
White, Joe - After graduating from Mississippi Southern College in 1961 with a BS degree in biology and an MS in Limnology, Joe began his career in the National Wildlife System as the Assistant Manager of Chassahowitzka NWR (Fla.). Following his Chassahowitzka tour, he served as Assistant Manager on Reelfoot NWR (Tenn.)-1963-64 and White River (Ark.)-1965-67 before taking over as Refuge Manager of Wapanocca NWR (Ark.) 1968-69. In 1970 he transferred to Delta/Gulf Islands NWR (Miss./La.) as Refuge Manager where he spent the better part of three and one half years rebuilding that complex after Hurricane Camille had destroyed it. In 1973 he took over as Refuge Manager of St. Marks NWR (Fla.), a place and position he occupied for the next twenty three and one half years. Retiring in 1996 after a 35 year career in the National Wildlife System plus an additional three years military time with the 82nd Airborne Division, Joe and wife Anne reside in Tallahassee, Fla. where his time is divided between fishing, writing, reading, travel, hiking, yard/home maintenance and volunteering at St. Marks NWR.
