The National Wildlife Refuge Association is pleased to welcome Jon Andrew as our new Florida Refuge Liaison. Jon will represent the Refuge Association to facilitate communication with refuge managers,  staff, Friends Groups, and local stakeholders about issues affecting refuges in Florida. He has an extensive background working as a refuge manager in Florida and as the Southeast Regional Refuge Chief.

Geoff Haskett, President of the Refuge Association, stated that Florida has many challenges impacting conservation and wildlife management, from population growth and development to sea level rise and environmental threats. These are all impacting national wildlife refuges. “Having a person in Florida that can complement the work already being done by Julie Morris, our Florida and Gulf Program lead, is critical. Jon has the knowledge and expertise and will be an excellent addition to the Refuge Association team.”

Jon Andrew began his career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service in North Dakota as a biological technician at Northern Prairie Wildlife
Research Center. He has served as a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service in Alaska working on refuge land acquisition planning and land
exchanges; as a Refuge Manager at Lower Rio Grande Valley and Santa Ana
National Wildlife Refuges in South Texas; and on assignment, completed the
planning and public involvement work which resulted in the establishment of the
Balcones Canyonlands NWR. Following this assignment, Jon served as the Refuge
Manager for the four refuges located in the Florida Keys-implementing a
refuge-wide ban of jet ski use. This was followed by assignments in Atlanta
Georgia working on Ecological Services projects throughout the southeast. Jon
then moved on to Washington DC and served as a Branch Chief in the Refuge
program focusing on policy and planning. Later as Chief of the Office of
Migratory Bird Management Jon managed FWS programs aimed at the conservation of
migratory birds and the annual setting of migratory bird hunting regulations.
Jon was then selected as the Regional Chief of Refuges for the Southeast Region
serving in this capacity for eight years until again moving to Washington DC
representing the Department of the Interior as liaison to the Department of
Homeland Security – with the objective of managing impacts of increased border
security on Department of the Interior lands. After 36 years of public service,
Jon retired to Sarasota Florida where he fishes, reads, and watches birds with
his wife Sue. Jon traces his ancestry back to the early 1700s in New England
and though living in Florida still claims a strong connection to all the New
England states and especially to the Boston Red Sox. Jon looks forward to continuing
his lifelong commitment to National Wildlife Refuges which began so many years
ago canoeing the waters of Great Meadows NWR in Massachusetts.

Jon will be contacting refuge managers and Friends Groups in
Florida to open lines of communication and serve as a point of contact for the
National Wildlife Refuge Association.