Earlier this year, Shannon A. Estenoz, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, presented a Department of the Interior Meritorious Service Award to Holly Blalock-Herod for her leadership in the Spill Response and Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) program for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The award’s citation recognizes Holly’s contributions in “developing and implementing national policy, best management practices, and fiscal and operational integrity” in the program. Some of the accomplishments listed include acting as a leader in the response to the catastrophic 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, as she helped guide the Service’s spill response logistics, personnel management, and environmental compliance. She ensured Federal partners used the best available science to avoid and minimize impacts to species protected under the Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Marine Mammal Protection Act during NRDAR restoration. Her attention to Service goals for listed species recovery and “at-risk” species conservation ensured environmental compliance and inclusion of conservation measures for those species.
Holly’s path to this level of achievement was long, varied, and productive. In 2001, Holly took a full-time permanent position with the Service as a fisheries biologist in the Panama City Field Office. The education she received while earning her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees at Murray State University and the University of Florida, respectively, and her experience as a student in the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP), prepared Holly well prepared for this position.
As her career progressed, Holly consistently sought out new areas of interest and unique experiences. For that reason, through her 23 years with the Service, she has worked at three additional field offices (in Florida, California, and Hawaii), the Southeastern Regional Office in Atlanta, and at Headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia
In an interview about the Merit Award and career, Holly explained that she learned from her own experience as a young field biologist, that a great way to achieve our conservation goals is to “clone ourselves” and “work through others, lead them from behind”. She learned this from her first supervisor in the Service, Gail Carmody. “I tried to put this lesson into practice in every position I held,” Holly explained.
Holly has done field work, including research on mussels and fish, recovery planning, regulatory compliance, permitting, spill response/Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration policy, and she has enjoyed them all. Each time, she has sought out opportunities to work with staff who were interested in expanding their professional careers. She explained, “I wanted to help them explore their strengths and the opportunities they had while working for the Service.”
One of the pivotal points in Holly’s career occurred when Project Leader Gail Carmody, suggested Holly look into some communication training to develop tools for working with difficult people. Carmody suggested the well-known Dale Carnegie course How to Win Friends and Influence People. For Holly, that experience, when combined with working with Pacific Islanders, taught her to focus more on how to speak with different people, including those who differ culturally from her, and how different people might receive the messages she is sending.
Speaking of her role as a responder to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, Holly describes that job as quite eye-opening. “I learned I can work well under pressure, and I can make decisions quickly, even if I know I don’t have all the information I would like. I like to be deliberate, but I have confidence now that I can work in a high-pressure environment and that I’ll do well.”
While Holly has had a full and varied work experience, she has also had a personal life full of love and adventure. Married to Jeff Herod for 25 years, a former Service employee, both have a love of dogs and cats (currently, one of each - a bridled, boxer/pointer mix named Boudica and a calico named Cleopatra) and a passion for travel. Fostering a good work-life balance is important to Holly and she works hard to achieve that balance. Jeff and Holly have visited more than 20 countries and U.S. Territories (including the British Isles, those along the Danube and Rhine Rivers, Tahiti, and Japan).
It’s probably safe to say that both Holly’s career as well as her world travel will have unexpected future twists and turns. Holly explains, “I’m looking for exciting, and challenging work. The same is true for my leisure time. I’m always looking for new travel adventures – I’d love to get to Antarctica and any location where ancient stone monuments still exist today, such as Egypt, Machu Picchu, and Easter Island.
