FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] Gary Myers -- 'Dean of Wildlife Directors'

[Wallace Coffey <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

                   Gary Myers, executive director of the Tennessee 
Wildlife Resources Agency at Nashville and a major
contributor to both Tennessee and North American bird
conservation,  was recently named the 2002  C.W. Wataon
Award winner for conservation..
                  The C.W. Watson Award is the highest honor and most 
prestigious award presented by the southeastern conservation
community.  It was presented during the banquet at the Southeastern
Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies annual conference in
Baltimore, MD, 26-30 OCT. 
                   In the 1990's Gary Myers  broadened his leadership role
to the
benefit of the newly established non-game bird initiative, Partners
In Flight.  He served on the National Partners In Flight Steering
Committee and chaired the International Association of Fish and
Wildlife Agencies' Partners In Flight Committee.  He subsequently
provided substantial impetus for the development of the U.S.
Shorebird Conservation Plan.
        With the emergence of national and international plans
 for shorebirds, landbirds, waterbirds, and waterfowl, he has
 provided continual leadership and guidance to the emergence
 of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative.  Today he
 sits on the U.S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative
 Committee, the Partners In Flight Steering Committee, and
 the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 
Migratory Wildlife Committee, providing invaluable knowledge, 
institutional memory, insight, and more importantly vision to
 the dynamic work of bird conservation.
                  For years he has stood in the center of leadership
 in the bird conservation community.  He is a true visionary, 
one of those rare individuals who can see the big picture and 
what the possibilities are.  Combined with his ability to act on
 that vision, he inspires others to act as well, and that is perhaps
 his greatest contribution to conservation, the ability to inspire
 others to accomplish more than they believe possible.
        His greatest influence in wildlife conservation
 has been in the arena of bird conservation.  One of his crowning
 achievements was his leadership in the development of the
 North American Waterfowl Management Plan, which was
 signed in 1986.  The North American Waterfowl Management
 Plan ushered in a new era of private, state and federal cooperation
 in the conservation and management of North America's migratory
 waterfowl.
        Shortly after the signing of this plan, the International
 Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies established a North
 American Waterfowl Management Plan Committee and placed
 him in charge of the committee.  In that capacity he provided
 leadership in the formation of joint ventures and more importantly 
established the mechanisms and the partnerships that resulted
 in state game and fish funds being transferred to Canada as a
 good faith effort to establish a more lasting funding arrangement. 
 Owing greatly to his vision and leadership, that more lasting
 arrangement was manifest in congress passing the North
 American Wetlands Conservation Act in 1989.  He was appointed
 as one of the charter members of the North American Wetlands
 Conservation Council and provided leadership in the development
 of the Council's grant program.  Since 1986, the North American
 Waterfowl Management Plan and the North American Wetlands
 Conservation Act have generated more than $1.5 billion in grant
 and partner funding for habitat acquisition, restoration, and
 enhancement, impacting nearly 5 billion acres of habitat for
 watefowl and other wetland-associated birds, and waterfowl
 populations in North America have been recovered to their
 historic 1970's level.
        Gary Myers  distinguished himself with a
 career that spans nearly 40 years as a wildlife biologist and
 administrator.  He grew up in Texas, and began his formal
 education at West Texas State Teachers College.  In 1956 he
 enlisted in the Marines and was admitted to the U.S. Naval
 Academy, but after two years, he married, began a family, and
 enrolled in Wildlife Conservation at Colorado State University.
 He earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Wildlife Management
 in 1961 and achieved  a Master's Degree in Wildlife in 1963.
        His professional career began as a Wild turkey Research
 biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, but he soon
 advanced to Big Game Supervisor.  After nine years working with 
the Colorado Division of Wildlife, he moved to the Tennessee
 Wildlife Resources Agency as Assistant Director.  In 1978 he
 became Executive Director of the Agency.
        As Executive Director, he shepherded the Tennessee
 Wildlife Resources Agency through some tough financial times
 in the late 1970's and early 1980's  and since then has directed
 the Agency's growth, both in terms of number of employees and
 their professionalism.
        His influence in conservation has been felt in many
 arenas.  In fisheries, he was a key player and provided critical
 leadership  in the effort to expand the Dingell-Johnson fund for
 the restoration of sport fishing.  As chairman of the D-J Expansion 
Committee for the International Association of Fish and Wildlife
 Agencies, he helped spearhead a campaign to gain support for
 this expansion from the public, the fishery profession, the fishing
 and boating industries, and the U.S. Congress.
        His leadership, diligence, and hard work resulted in the 
1986 passage of the Wallop-Breaux expansion of the D-J sport
fish restoration program.
                  Most of the above comments were taken from the
presentation statment by  David Waller, Director, Georgia DNR,
Wildlife Resources Division in presenting the C.W. Watson
Award to Gary.
                 Waller finished the presentation by introducing Myers
 as the "Dean of Wildlife Directors." 

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN

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    TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN
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