The late Fish and Wildlife Service Director Lynn Greenwalt knew what it was like to be unceremoniously axed by a hard-charging Republican intent on shattering the status quo.
After directing FWS for eight years in both Democratic and Republican administrations, Greenwalt got canned by one of President Ronald Reagan’s operatives in 1981. The abrupt firing ended the federal career of a man who took his first steps while growing up on one remote wildlife refuge and eventually came to oversee them all.
“Life on the refuge, life in a wild place among wild creatures, solidified my enthusiasm for this sort of thing,” Greenwalt said in a 1999 oral history.
Greenwalt would go on to advocate for wildlife and their habitats in a different capacity, spending 13 years at the National Wildlife Federation.
