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Welcome to the inaugural internal newsletter of the Wildlife Resources Division.
 WRD Director Rusty Garrison
WOW, WHAT A FIRST MONTH
I am honored to have taken over as director and have hit the ground running. It is my goal to see all of our associates at every location in my first couple of months. If you haven’t seen me yet, I’ll be there shortly. I want your feedback on opportunities and challenges that we face in our day-to-day work, and I want to know what you do to serve Georgia each day.
My philosophy as director is simple: Focus on the mission. Our mission is to conserve, enhance and promote Georgia’s fish and wildlife resources and outdoor heritage through science-driven research, management, regulation and education. That is a big mission and in order to accomplish it we need to focus on customer service – internal and external – and communication.
Who are our customers? We certainly serve hunters and anglers in Georgia, but I challenge you to see every Georgia citizen as our customer. Anyone who enjoys watching wildlife in their backyard is our customer. Wildlife is a resource for all Georgians and we have the distinct honor of managing that resource.
In this newsletter, we will be highlighting messages from myself and all of the sections, as well as telling stories from the field about some of the outstanding work that goes on each and every day. We are also going to let you know who joined the DNR team, whose roles have changed and who has retired.
If you have ideas for the newsletter, please let Marketing Communications Manager Jenifer Wisniewski know.
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Traditional awards programs have their place. However, WRD is starting a non-traditional program. “We Are DNR” awards allow you to recognize someone in the division for the outstanding work done every single day across our state.
Do you have a colleague who created something to make your work unit more efficient? Do you know someone who has done something heroic? How about an employee who initiated a change or a program to make your office work more smoothly? Has someone gone above and beyond?
That person deserves an award!
Who can make a nomination and who can be a nominee? Anyone – as long as you are both WRD employees. You can nominate a co-worker, a supervisor or a person in another region or section, and vice versa.
How do you nominate someone? It's simple. Just click the button below and take a few minutes to fill out the survey.
What will "We Are DNR" award recipients receive? It's a surprise!
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 Learn more about one of your co-workers in this video.
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 Young angler with a Chattooga River trout. (Jeff Durniak/DNR)
FISHERIES MANAGEMENT: JOHN BIAGI
The Fisheries Section has a recurrent theme when it comes to philosophy. I really liked the expression “It’s the fishing” when I started as chief of Fisheries. It was simple and to the point. Our focus would be on all things fishing, whether it was fish habitat, fish population management, improving fishing access, improving information for our anglers or recruiting anglers.
Simple statement but it embodied our focus.
From there, our efforts evolved into the Go Fish Georgia initiative. Again, this initiative was about focusing efforts on fish and fishing, but it expanded the focus to recognize the economic impact that fishing has on our economy. The last national survey of fishing, hunting and wildlife-associated recreation showed that anglers spent $1.3 billion to fish in Georgia, with an economic impact of more than $2.1 billion.
Fishing as an economic engine provides rural areas with as many opportunities as urban areas, which is a huge selling point for the tourism industry. Of course, the Go Fish Initiative was funded at $19 million to build our Go Fish Education Center and hatchery and high-capacity boat ramps across the state.
All of these philosophies continue to evolve as we have entered the digital age in society and our agency. Now my philosophy is that “We should do everything we can to make it as easy as possible for someone to decide to go fishing today.” This expands our team to include the Public Affairs staff that works to reduce lapsed licensed angler rates and publish a weekly fishing blog so folks have current information on what fish are biting and on what baits.
These efforts combined with Facebook posts and Twitter tweets and traditional newspaper articles keep fishing opportunities in front of people constantly.
None of this, however, is possible without our professional staff who use good science every day to assess fish populations, produce fish in our hatcheries and manage some of the best fisheries in the country.
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 Three generations of the Parnell family at Di-Lane WMA adult/child dove hunt.
GAME MANAGEMENT: JOHN BOWERS
Hunting season is upon us! Although we are still waiting to feel fall in the air, we have certainly gotten out there and started to Go Hunt Georgia. I wanted to take this opportunity to fill you in on some of the customer-service focused items that WRD has in place.
Georgia Game Check: As we continue through our inaugural year of Georgia Game Check, we need to keep reminding folks of how valuable the data these reports are giving us is. We will be able to better serve the hunting public, and hunters will be able to see their data in real time. With more than 200,000 downloads of the Outdoors GA app and 70 percent of harvested turkeys checked during this year’s season we have certainly gotten the word out to our hunters.
We need to keep hammering that message, though. Put up your posters and talk about it with every hunter every opportunity you get.
Duck stamp available through GO system: You can now purchase a federal duck stamp through gooutdoorsgeorgia.com. This is a great service that our License and Boat Registration Unit made happen. We also have waterfowl hunting packages that include the duck stamp, a truly one-stop shop for folks looking to hunt waterfowl in Georgia.
Great opening weekend for dove: We certainly had an awesome opening weekend for dove, holding dozens of hunts all over the state. The Voluntary Public Access program continues to expand access to hunting opportunities. In one example, an Appling County dove field that had a great opener last season saw about a 50-percent increase in participation and harvest this year, with 132 youth and 106 accompanying adults taking 1,275 birds in the afternoon hunt.
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NONGAME CONSERVATION: JON AMBROSE
 Hello to all WRD staff members! I am happy to share some good news on a couple of fronts. First, the agency received official notification this week that our revised State Wildlife Action Plan has been approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This strategic plan also known as SWAP serves as the guidance document for comprehensive wildlife conservation in our state. Having an approved plan allows Georgia to remain eligible to receive federal funds through the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants program.
As with other states, the work that has been identified in the Georgia SWAP requires financial resources well in excess of the amount we receive annually through State Wildlife Grants. In recognition of this, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies convened a Blue Ribbon Panel in 2014 to recommend a new mechanism to sustainably fund wildlife conservation. This March, the panel issued its recommendation that Congress dedicate up to $1.3 billion annually in existing revenue from the development of energy and mineral resources on federal lands and waters to the Wildlife Conservation Restoration Program (16 U.S.C. 669b(a)).
This recommendation has been incorporated into the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (H.R. 5650), introduced on July 6 by U.S. Reps. Don Young, R-Ark., and Debbie Dingell, D-Mich. We are hopeful this bill will be taken up in the next congressional session, eventually providing a significant increase in funding for comprehensive wildlife conservation in Georgia and throughout the nation. You can follow the legislation here.
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For this first issue of the newsletter, we have listed changes from June 1 through early September. (Note: These do not include hourly positions.)
NEW TO WRD
- Tina Marie Bennett, Nongame, administrative assistant 3
- Chalisa Nestell Fabillar, Central Region II Operations, fisheries technician 2
- Grant Joseph Graham, Fisheries, construction specialist
- Jessica Lee Holbrook, Southeast Region III Operation, fisheries technician 2
- Jessie Brion Kriner, Southeast Region III Operation, fisheries technician 2
- David Ross Morgan, Sapelo Island Game Management, wildlife technician 3
- Jacob Kevin Reese, Sapelo Island Game Management, wildlife technician 2
- Brett Daniel Tyler, Calhoun Game Management, wildlife technician 2
RE-HIRES
- Alvin Lonnie Crews III, Gainesville Game Management, natural resources program worker
- Justin Allen Rectenwald, Thomson Game Management, natural resources program worker
- Alexander Hendrix Kiser, North Region 1 Operations, natural resources program worker
- Steve D. Young, Calhoun Game Management, natural resources program worker
POSITION CHANGES
- Rusty Garrison, WRD administration, director
- R. Clay George, Nongame, wildlife biologist 2
- Andrew D. Meadows, Ossabaw Island Operations, wildlife technician 3
- Johnny Robert Williams Jr., DJ Expansion, fisheries technician 2
- Jesse Ryan Boles, DJ Expansion, fisheries technician 3
- Joel A. Payne, Gainesville Game Management, wildlife technician 3
- John A. Vescuso, Di-Lane Plantation WMA, wildlife technician 3
- Sue Ellen Cahill, Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, administrative support 2
- Joanne Marie Hessick, Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, food service specialist 1
- Brandy Lee Porter, Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, food service specialist 1
NO LONGER WITH WRD
- Rachel Lee Kramer, Central Region II Operations, administrative assistant 1
- John William Mitchell, Game Management Administration, communications specialist 2
RETIRED
- Dan Forster, director (retirement celebration Sept. 20, Charlie Elliot Wildlife Center)
- Ronald C. Holcomb, Calhoun Game Management, wildlife technician 3
- Jo Ann S. Forrester, Gainesville Game Management, administrative support 1
- Charles Franklin Crews, Albany Game Management, wildlife technician 3
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