Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Director Honored by The Wildlife Society

May 11, 2010

MAINE DEPARTMENT OF INLAND FISHERIES & WILDLIFE 284 State St., SHS 41, Augusta, ME 04333 www.mefishwildlife.com Main Number: 287-8000

For more information, contact IF&W spokesperson Deborah Turcotte at 287-6008 or 592-1164

Dr. Kenneth Elowe Honored by The Wildlife Society

AUGUSTA – Dr. Kenneth Elowe, Director of the Bureau of Resource Management of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, recently was honored by the Northeast Section of The Wildlife Society for his outstanding professional accomplishments in landscape-level habitat conservation benefiting wildlife in Maine and the Northeast.

Dr. Elowe received a Certificate of Recognition during the annual Northeast Fish & Wildlife Conference that was held late April in Newton, Mass.

The Wildlife Society, based in Bethesda, Maryland, is a non-profit organization of professional wildlife biologists worldwide that guide and promote education, policy, and performance of wildlife biologists in their professional interactions and contributions.

Landscape-level habitat conservation helps ensure that people and fish and wildlife can harmoniously co-exist by communities intentionally planning a landscape that includes people as well as necessary habitat in the right amounts and configuration. To ensure the future of habitat for fish and wildlife means working cooperatively with, and rewarding with financial incentives private landowners that provide these public benefits. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has been leading this effort on the national level for more than 10 years, with initiatives such as the Beginning with Habitat program.

Dr. Elowe’s leadership in landscape conservation has advanced the profession’s knowledge of how to better implement landscape conservation by using techniques such as programmatic administration of landscape conservation efforts, and professional and public education and outreach to gain support for its application.

MDIFW Commissioner Roland “Danny” Martin congratulated Dr. Elowe on this honor.

“Dr. Elowe has an excellent relationship with our counterparts nationwide, and the success of landscape-level habitat conservation in Maine has other state agencies seeking information from him about our programs and how to implement them,” said Commissioner Martin. “Because of these landscape-level habitat conservation efforts, we hope that Mainers will reside in neighborhoods that complement the nearby fish and wildlife habitats that they love. Dr. Elowe and his staff serve us all very well.”

Dr. Elowe has been active with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and other organizations on national fish and wildlife policy issues, such as the implementation of the Endangered Species Act, the management of migratory bird programs, and the advancement of landscape-level approaches to conservation for more than 20 years.

“Dr. Elowe recently was successful in working with a coalition of the Northeast Governors to adopt a policy statement that will facilitate the availability of better landscape-level, range-wide and regional fish, wildlife and habitat information to the Governors to inform their decisions in their respective states,” said Shelley Spohr, Chairwoman of the Northeast Section of The Wildlife Society.

Dr. Elowe continues to lead an effort by fish and wildlife agencies in the Northeastern states to accomplish this goal.

“Landscape-level conservation helps ensure that fish and wildlife have a place to live within a landscape that our grandchildren’s children will be able to enjoy as much as we do today,” according to Dr. Elowe. “Our biologists should be proud of bringing landscape-level habitat conservation to such a high standard that others recognize its importance for future generations and see it as the new future for conservation.”

DEPARTMENT INFORMATION

Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Director Honored by The Wildlife Society