Former FWP Director Appointed To U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service

Montana Public Radio | By Nick MottPublished January 20, 2021 at 5:55 PM MST

Former Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Martha Williams was appointed on Wednesday as second-in-command at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Biden Administration. William’s replacement within Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte’s cabinet was also named today.

As principal deputy director of FWS, Williams will oversee a federal agency tasked with managing wildlife and habitat across the country, and  in charge of more than 150 million acres of land in the National Wildlife Refuge System. The agency also administers the Endangered Species Act.

At FWP, Williams was at the helm of fishing and hunting policy in Montana. That agency also guides how the state deals with federally-protected species like grizzly bears, bull trout and Canada lynx, andother thorny wildlife issues such as managing the spread of chronic wasting disease and brucellosis.

Williams was the first female director of Montana FWP. She was appointed to that position in 2017 by former governor Steve Bullock. On Wednesday, Gov. Greg Gianforte nominated the agency’s new director — Hank Worsech, a 17-year FWP employee who most recently served as license bureau chief.

2 thoughts on “Former FWP Director Appointed To U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service

  1. Fed F&W Service & state F&W ‘users’ of wildlife are all one big happy family. Surely Williams was ‘recommended’ to Pres Biden, (who’s seemingly not that keenly interested in wildlife) & ‘logically’ figures that’s the way it works & Montana’s Director of F&W is a good choice & Montana’s Rep Paul Fielder w/ his wolf snare bill is elated & animal people so anxious to replace Trump w/ Biden are hopefully still around, somewhere.

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