Contacts
Elizabeth Slown 505-248-6909 or 363-9592
Victoria Fox 505-248-6455
Dr. John R. Morgart, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), has been selected as the coordinator of the high-profile Mexican gray wolf recovery program. The Service began reintroducing wolves into southwestern New Mexico and eastern Arizona in 1998 under an experimental and non-essential population designation, allowed under the Endangered Species Act. There are now approximately 50 wolves in the wild.
The Mexican Wolf Recovery Coordinator serves as the Service's lead scientist in the endangered wolf's recovery and reintroduction and recommends and interprets policy at the federal level. The wolf program is a collaborative partnership among several state and federal agencies, Native American tribes and county governments. Arizona Game and Fish Department, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and White Mountain Apache Tribe have the lead for on-the-ground management in their respective states and tribal land; the Service is the lead for initiating, conducting, and supporting programs for the recovery of threatened and endangered species.
"John is the quintessential research scientist and an accomplished leader who has successfully overseen a multi-agency, international recovery effort that involves state, federal, university, and Mexican partners," said H. Dale Hall, Director of the Service's Southwest Region. "These are skills that will serve the wolf program well."
Dr. Morgart moved from southwestern Arizona where he was the wildlife biologist at the Service's Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge for five years. Cabeza Prieta is the third-largest national wildlife refuge in the contiguous United States at 860,000 acres and plays a central role in recovery efforts for the endangered Sonoran pronghorn. As the Sonoran Pronghorn Recovery Coordinator, Morgart headed a collaborative team that included scientists from nearly a dozen entities spanning both sides of the border. The team took an aggressive approach to avert pronghorn population declines. Pronghorn have been transplanted from Mexico, more water access areas were constructed, enhanced foraging plots were expanded, areas were closed to visitors during the fawning season, and a semi-captive breeding program was established on the refuge. Managing natural resources and recovering such a highly sensitive animal alongside an international border has been compounded by drought and increasing levels of drug smuggling and illegal cross-border traffic.
Morgart holds a Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Arizona, and a M.S. in Zoology and a B.S. in Wildlife Biology, both from Arizona State University. He is active in The Wildlife Society and several ornithological professional societies. He is the author of numerous wildlife research reports and is a frequent presenter at professional conferences. Morgart joined the Service in August 1987 to work as the Supervisory Wildlife Biologist at the 19 million acre Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska after spending several years working as a biologist in the southwest.
Morgart and his wife, Liz, have one girl named Jonnie, aged 13, and a ten year old boy named William.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
-http://southwest.fws.gov
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