Dr. Janaki R.R. Alavalapati, Dean
School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences
Auburn University
3301 Forestry and Wildlife Building
602 Duncan Drive
Auburn, Alabama 36849-3418
Phone: 334-844-1004
Email: ajanaki@auburn.edu
Craig R. LeSchack, Director of Conservation Operations, Ducks Unlimited Inc.
“14 million acres and counting… how Ducks Unlimited continues to impact waterfowl and wetland conservation”
Seminar is held at 11 a.m. in Conference Room 1101 in the SFWS Building, 602 Duncan Drive, Auburn, AL.
Abstract: Ducks Unlimited got its start in 1937 during the Dust Bowl when North America’s drought-plagued waterfowl populations had plunged to unprecedented lows. Determined not to sit idly by as the continent’s waterfowl dwindled beyond recovery, a small group of sportsmen joined together to form an organization that became known as Ducks Unlimited. Its mission: habitat conservation. Thanks to decades of abiding by that single mission, Ducks Unlimited is now the world’s largest and most effective private waterfowl and wetlands conservation organization having conserved over 14 million acres throughout North America. Waterfowl conservation is facing important challenges as wetlands and other habitats are being degraded and destroyed across the continent at an ever-increasing pace. Ducks Unlimited has a vision to reverse this trend through diverse and evolving partnerships to address the full range of factors that continue to erode waterfowl habitat across North America.
Biography: Craig LeSchack is the Director of Conservation Operations at Ducks Unlimited’s National Headquarters. His responsibilities focus on program coordination, strategic planning and international partnerships to achieve DU’s continental conservation mission. From 2002 until June 2018, Craig served as the Director of Conservation Programs in DU’s Southern Region where he directed conservation programs and partnerships throughout the southeast. Craig started with DU in 2000 as a Regional Biologist where he administered conservation programs on public and private lands in Texas and New Mexico. Prior to joining DU, Craig worked for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as a Waterfowl and Wetland Habitat Biologist and a District Wildlife Biologist. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Ecology from Michigan State University (1990), a Master’s degree in Wildlife Science from Auburn University (1993) and served as a Waterfowl Research Associate at Louisiana State University. Craig is a Certified Wildlife Biologist with The Wildlife Society and a Fellow of the National Conservation Leadership Institute. He resides in Memphis, Tennessee with his wife Andrea, who is also an Auburn alum, and they have two daughters, Laney and Lindsey.