The new boss comes from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Midwest regional office.
By Paul Walsh Star Tribune
March 17, 2016 — 8:13am
photo: http://www.startribune.com/dnr-division ... 372343911/
A seasoned federal wildlife official who knows Minnesota and neighboring states well will be filling a key leadership role in regulating all hunting and fishing in Minnesota.
Jim Leach will take over next month as director of the Fish and Wildlife Division for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the state agency announced Wednesday.
In his duties with the DNR, Leach will oversee a division that sets fishing, hunting and other wildlife-related regulations; carries out census, survey and research projects; and promotes habitat protection and development on public and private lands. The division has a $139 million annual budget and a staff of 575.
When his tenure begins on April 18, Leach will succeed Ed Boggess, who is retiring after 34 years with the DNR.
For the past 16 years, Leach has been the wildlife refuge supervisor for Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in that agency’s Midwest regional office in Bloomington. He has been with the USFWS for 35 years and has forged strong relationships with hunting and fishing organizations, tribal authorities and other conservation groups.
“Jim is an excellent collaborator at all levels of government and has a strong network of relationships in the Minnesota conservation community,” DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr said in announcing the selection. “Moreover, he started his career as a field biologist, so he has firsthand experience on how on-the-ground conservation gets done.”
The 62-year-old Leach, a native Minnesotan, has a master’s degree in zoology from the University of South Dakota and did his graduate research on trumpeter swans. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in biology, with a wildlife emphasis, from St. Cloud State University.
Leach is a lifelong hunter and angler and has passed that passion on to his four children.
In the role he’s departing from with the USFWS, Leach oversaw up to 18 field stations in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, focusing on land acquisition and habitat restoration.
“Jim’s experience in working on habitat issues runs from restoring wetlands in western Minnesota, to managing land and water resources in northwest Minnesota, to working the hallways of Congress to promote funding for wildlife,” Landwehr said.
Leach began his fish and wildlife career in 1977 as a laborer at the Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge in South Dakota. He joined the USFWS in the late 1970s working at Tamarac and Agassiz national wildlife refuges. In those capacities he worked with local governments and state agencies to restore and manage wetlands on public lands.
Leach became the USFWS’s coordinator for the Upper Mississippi and Great Lakes Joint Venture in 1993, a position focused on improving habitat conditions for waterfowl across the Upper Mississippi River basin. He put in place a strategic habitat conservation plan for ducks and geese.
DNR division overseeing hunting, fishing in MN has a new director
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God, help me be the man that my dog thinks that I am.
God, help me be the man that my dog thinks that I am.
Re: DNR division overseeing hunting, fishing in MN has a new director
No-nonsense Fish and Wildlife official jumps ship to top ranks of Minnesota DNR
At 62, Jim Leach will take over the state fish and wildlife division.
By Tony Kennedy Star Tribune
March 26, 2016 — 6:34pm
Photo: http://www.startribune.com/no-nonsense- ... 373639671/
Trumpeter swans were reintroduced to the Northern Great Plains in 1960 at Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge in south-central South Dakota.
Sixteen years later, the birds attracted Jim Leach, a young master’s degree student at the University of South Dakota. Intrigued by prairie wildlife and the largest of North American waterfowl, he chose to study swans over a competing University of Minnesota program that highlighted eagles.
Leach took a fork in the road that led directly to a successful career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And now, at age 62, he will leave the federal agency to take one of the most powerful positions at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as director of the 575-person fish and wildlife division.
“The DNR is getting a good one,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Project Leader Scott Glup. “He thinks big.”
Glup said Leach easily ranks as the best boss he’s had in 31 years. He described the St. Paul native as a gifted collaborator who has an infectious enthusiasm for conservation work and an unflinching devotion to field staff.
“Jim always says, ‘If you’re not catching flak, you’re not under the target,’ ” Glup said. “He has a very strong passion for the resource, and that just comes across all the time.”
Starting April 18, Leach will step into the DNR job previously held by Ed Boggess, who retired in February. Glup said various conservation groups had tried to recruit Leach over the years, so his departure was a surprise on just one level: “The DNR?”
In an interview this week, Leach said his decision boiled down to wanting to participate in a surge of positive momentum brought about by Minnesota’s unique, constitutionally dedicated funding for the environment and Gov. Mark Dayton’s leadership on clean water, prairie restoration and revitalizing pheasant populations.
“That’s a message for action,” Leach said. “I really think we can move the needle in the way of natural resource conservation.”
DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr praised Leach for broad experience ranging from “on-the-ground” wetland restorations to “working the hallways of Congress” for funding. The two men know each other from conservation partnerships, including when Landwehr was assistant state director at The Nature Conservancy.
Eran Sandquist, Minnesota state coordinator for Pheasants Forever, said Leach’s vast network of professional relationships is the result of his persistent prodding. “He’s always asking, ‘How can we do more to benefit wildlife and habitat?’ ” Sandquist said.
Laborer at heart
A hunter and angler who shares those pursuits with his son and three daughters, Leach earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from St. Cloud State. During his postgraduate summers in South Dakota, he landed a laborer’s job in 1977 at Lacreek. Soon after, the Fish and Wildlife Service hired him as a biologist at Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge near Detroit Lakes, Minn.
Leach came up the ranks and won a strategic position in 1993 that put him in charge of building breeding habitat for ducks and geese across the Upper Mississippi River basin. The assignment put him in collaboration with the DNR and many other organizations. Since 2008, he’s also partnered on various habitat projects funded by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council.
“Jim’s a roll-up-your-sleeves type of guy,” Sandquist said.
Leach, married 31 years to Patty, still clings to his roots in the St. Paul area’s Lebanese community. He co-owns a car wash with his brother in Inver Grove Heights, and he spent years coaching his kids’ athletic teams. A good vacation for Leach is driving 36 hours with family and friends to the Northwest Territories for camping and fishing on the Mackenzie River and Great Slave Lake.
“I’ve never been one to sit on my hands,’ ’’ he said.
Glup said Leach doesn’t shy away from conflict if he believes in the cause. At Minnesota’s Pope Waterfowl Production Area, for instance, Glup fought seven years for the full restoration of a bordering wetland that had been improperly drained.
“I had political folks contacting me, pressure from the county level,’’ Glup said. “He always had my back.’’
At the DNR, Leach said he’ll be a strong backer of the agency’s controversial push for banning lead shot on wildlife management areas. Spent lead ammunition can harm wildlife, he said.
On the topic of recruiting young people into a shrinking base of hunters and anglers, he said it’s crucial to appeal to families in all ethnic and racial groups, not just whites. Conservation leaders also need to stress how fish and wildlife habitat projects are vital for clean water, pollinators, nongame species, flood control, erosion control, carbon sequestration and groundwater recharge.
“We need to be relevant to a wider band of people,” he said.
At 62, Jim Leach will take over the state fish and wildlife division.
By Tony Kennedy Star Tribune
March 26, 2016 — 6:34pm
Photo: http://www.startribune.com/no-nonsense- ... 373639671/
Trumpeter swans were reintroduced to the Northern Great Plains in 1960 at Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge in south-central South Dakota.
Sixteen years later, the birds attracted Jim Leach, a young master’s degree student at the University of South Dakota. Intrigued by prairie wildlife and the largest of North American waterfowl, he chose to study swans over a competing University of Minnesota program that highlighted eagles.
Leach took a fork in the road that led directly to a successful career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And now, at age 62, he will leave the federal agency to take one of the most powerful positions at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as director of the 575-person fish and wildlife division.
“The DNR is getting a good one,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Project Leader Scott Glup. “He thinks big.”
Glup said Leach easily ranks as the best boss he’s had in 31 years. He described the St. Paul native as a gifted collaborator who has an infectious enthusiasm for conservation work and an unflinching devotion to field staff.
“Jim always says, ‘If you’re not catching flak, you’re not under the target,’ ” Glup said. “He has a very strong passion for the resource, and that just comes across all the time.”
Starting April 18, Leach will step into the DNR job previously held by Ed Boggess, who retired in February. Glup said various conservation groups had tried to recruit Leach over the years, so his departure was a surprise on just one level: “The DNR?”
In an interview this week, Leach said his decision boiled down to wanting to participate in a surge of positive momentum brought about by Minnesota’s unique, constitutionally dedicated funding for the environment and Gov. Mark Dayton’s leadership on clean water, prairie restoration and revitalizing pheasant populations.
“That’s a message for action,” Leach said. “I really think we can move the needle in the way of natural resource conservation.”
DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr praised Leach for broad experience ranging from “on-the-ground” wetland restorations to “working the hallways of Congress” for funding. The two men know each other from conservation partnerships, including when Landwehr was assistant state director at The Nature Conservancy.
Eran Sandquist, Minnesota state coordinator for Pheasants Forever, said Leach’s vast network of professional relationships is the result of his persistent prodding. “He’s always asking, ‘How can we do more to benefit wildlife and habitat?’ ” Sandquist said.
Laborer at heart
A hunter and angler who shares those pursuits with his son and three daughters, Leach earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from St. Cloud State. During his postgraduate summers in South Dakota, he landed a laborer’s job in 1977 at Lacreek. Soon after, the Fish and Wildlife Service hired him as a biologist at Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge near Detroit Lakes, Minn.
Leach came up the ranks and won a strategic position in 1993 that put him in charge of building breeding habitat for ducks and geese across the Upper Mississippi River basin. The assignment put him in collaboration with the DNR and many other organizations. Since 2008, he’s also partnered on various habitat projects funded by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council.
“Jim’s a roll-up-your-sleeves type of guy,” Sandquist said.
Leach, married 31 years to Patty, still clings to his roots in the St. Paul area’s Lebanese community. He co-owns a car wash with his brother in Inver Grove Heights, and he spent years coaching his kids’ athletic teams. A good vacation for Leach is driving 36 hours with family and friends to the Northwest Territories for camping and fishing on the Mackenzie River and Great Slave Lake.
“I’ve never been one to sit on my hands,’ ’’ he said.
Glup said Leach doesn’t shy away from conflict if he believes in the cause. At Minnesota’s Pope Waterfowl Production Area, for instance, Glup fought seven years for the full restoration of a bordering wetland that had been improperly drained.
“I had political folks contacting me, pressure from the county level,’’ Glup said. “He always had my back.’’
At the DNR, Leach said he’ll be a strong backer of the agency’s controversial push for banning lead shot on wildlife management areas. Spent lead ammunition can harm wildlife, he said.
On the topic of recruiting young people into a shrinking base of hunters and anglers, he said it’s crucial to appeal to families in all ethnic and racial groups, not just whites. Conservation leaders also need to stress how fish and wildlife habitat projects are vital for clean water, pollinators, nongame species, flood control, erosion control, carbon sequestration and groundwater recharge.
“We need to be relevant to a wider band of people,” he said.
.
God, help me be the man that my dog thinks that I am.
God, help me be the man that my dog thinks that I am.
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