Willapa wildlife refuge adds manager
Thursday, April 1, 2004 7:26 AM PST
By Staff
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service hired a new manager of the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge without losing the former one.
David Gonzales has joined the refuge staff after former manager Terri Butler late last year was promoted to deputy project leader for the Willapa Refuge Complex. Both report to Project Leader Charlie Stenvall.
Gonzales will oversee programs and supervise operations on the refuge, which includes more than 15,000 acres at Willapa Bay. His assignments will include eradication of invasive spartina grass, habitat restoration, wildlife management and public use. He also will work to save threatened or endangered species, such as the western snowy plover.
Gonzales most recently was manager at the Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge in east-central Washington, but he also has worked at refuges in Ridgefield and the Hanford Reach in Washington and at San Francisco Bay.
Butler had been the refuge manager at Willapa since May 2000.
Besides the Willapa refuge, the complex includes the Julia Butler Hansen Refuge for the White-tailed Deer near Cathlamet and the Lewis & Clark National Wildlife Refuge, which protects island habitat in the lower Columbia River.
Past Month's Most Commented Stories