Michael: Bryan, good afternoon. Thanks for
Bryan: Thank you Michael.
Good afternoon to you, too.
When you were asked to get involved
with the (Refuge Vision) process
why did you sign up?
This is a great opportunity to influence
how the vision for the Refuge system
is going to be crafted. And it's important
that we all engaged in that.
The opportunity to co-lead, co-chair
this group that is the Conservation Delivery group,
it is a great opportunity to learn from
our practioners in the field at all levels
in the agency about what we need to be
doing to conserve our resources and then
turn the corner into conservation for the 21st century.
Now, in our work in the FWS, we work with
partners are just as critical.
What do you think their role is in the future
of the Refuge system and in this process
going on right now.
Conservation 21st century is going to be
all about partnerships. And involving our
partners and stakeholders from all kinds of
beyond our typical partners. That is the
power of this (vision) effort. That we are
reaching out so broad that we are really
going to have all the perspectives
of all the different sectors of this country
to really make this vision a true, meaningful
vision and really turn the corner
to that 21st century of conservation
that is going to be based upon
a lot of partnerships.
And another thing that's a big part of that
vision is the need to work at the landscape
scale and landscape level. In the work that you all are
doing in Fisheries and Habitat Conservation
how are we moving towards a
landscape scale way of doing conservation business ?
Let me share with you a little bit about
how we in the Fisheries and Habitat
Conservation work through that.
at first, avoiding impacts and reducing
those impacts. And in order to do that,
we have to plan. And to plan correctly,
you have to work with partners.
We also, then, look into how do we
support other programs. We work very closely
with the Endangered Species program,
very closely with the Migratory Bird program,
very closely with the Refuge program.
And so, we really have that component
as a part of our core mission in the
Fisheries and Habitat Conservation program.
And then lastly, but not least,
is our restoration efforts.
As we restore habitats, we are looking at a
landscape conservation approach. We have in our
on conservation genetics--genetics for
population-level analysis. So when you put all
that together, and harness it around
the core of conservation around our refuges,
then from there you spun up to the landscape
conservation. That's how we see the future
of conservation.
In the draft vision, there's a whole section that
talks about communicating and leveraging
around the benefits that nature provides--
--often times, "ecosystem services" as
like to call it. Why is the work we do so
important that benefits people directly.
Well, absolutely. We are here for the
American people. We connect people to the
outdoors. And there's fishing opportunities
hunting opportunties. And I'm a fisherman,
I love going to fish on refuges.
There's over 270 refuges that offer
(fishing) opportunities for the American people.
And not only that, it's just the ability to bring
those local communities into the conservation
effort. It's important. And as we look into the
future, more and more the public is realizing
is that we need these spaces. We need the
ability to conserve them. And they also want
to recreate on them.
We're making new opportunties for the
American people to enjoy those resources
that we have available for them.
So Bryan, do you have a particular favorite
fishing spot within the Refuge system,
I feared you were going to ask me that.
And so to not be partial, I have fished at a
number of refuges. But I do have a soft spot
for Ding Darling and snook fishing.
It's a great place to go, and snook fishing
is one of my favorite kinds of fishing to do.
that I enjoy personally. Like birdwatching and
out outdoor photography which I do a
little bit of. And I place like Bosque del Apache
is just magical. You just cannot
talk about fishing because refuges have
so many different kinds of opportunties for
people. And I'd like to make sure that we
don't miss the point that there's many
things to enjoy on refuges.
Well, Bryan, thank you so much for your
time here in the studio. Before we leave
I was wondering--we're trying to get to know
What drives you ? What do you do outside of work?
Well, I do a lot of things. As I mentioned
earlier, I like to fish any time I have an
opportunity to go out there and wet a line.
I also do a lot of nature photography.
I like to go out and take pictures of birds and
I do some social media for those of you who
keep in touch with people, share some of my
pictures through Facebook.
And you know I do like to read a lot, too.
good reading out there. And so I do a lot
of a variety of things. The energy I get
I think, me personally, comes from my
true commitment to our people.
And giving everything I have every day
to help support the right things our people
are doing. And the right things for the
environment and our mission.
And I enjoy my job. I come every morning
jazzed up, and ready to go. And Fridays
it's a been a long week but I'm ready to go do
I come back on Monday ready to go again.
So, that's the great thing about this agency.
It's a family and we all care for each other.
And , what a better place to work than the
FWS. This is a great place.
Bryan, thanks so much.
that you want to share with the world
go to americaswildlife.org. Get involved in
the Vision. Post your photo to your personal
profile on the Social Network . Or follow us
on Twitter, or join the Facebook group.
Again, it's all at americaswildlife.org.