We at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are pleased to share that Midwest Regional Director Charlie Wooley was awarded the George Bird Grinnell Memorial Award for Distinguished Service to Natural Resource Conservation by the Wildlife Management Institute at the 87th North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Spokane, Washington.
This award, named after George Bird Grinnell, is the highest individual honor in natural resource management. It honors a person who has dedicated their career to professional science, management and natural resources conservation without fanfare or search for personal recognition. Presenting the award to Wooley was Wildlife Management Institute President Steve Williams.
“From the beginning of his 44-year career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Charlie earned a reputation for his tenacious priority of others and penchant for servant leadership; always deferring credit and accolades for accomplishments and never asking others to do what he would not do himself,” noted Williams during the award presentation.
“We have a solid team in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. While I’m honored to accept this award, these achievements would not be possible without our wider Service family and the thousands of instrumental people, organizations and tribes who I’ve worked with throughout my career. Collaborations like these are built upon honest and trusted relationships. I am deeply thankful and honored to receive the Grinnell Award,” said Wooley.
Upon graduating from University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, Wooley started his U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service career in 1978. With an established reputation as a collaborator and devoted advocate of conservation partnership, Wooley served through the professional ladder for the agency: fishery biologist, field supervisor, program analyst, assistant regional director, deputy regional director and, in his current role, regional director for the Midwest Region. His work transported Wooley to Alaska, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and Washington, D.C. Wooley is the author of 15 technical papers on the biology and life history of the striped bass, sturgeon and ecosystem restoration.
Over the course of his career, Wooley has brokered agreements with diverse and sometimes even divisive groups, establishing effective partnerships across a huge geography. Wooley continues to play pivotal leadership roles in addressing national and regional issues through the Invasive Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the Binational U.S. - Canada Great Lakes Executive Committee, the National Fish Habitat Initiative and as the federal commissioner representing the United States on the Great Lakes Fishery Commission by Presidential appointment in 2018.
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