Waterfowl Conservation Pioneer Harvey Nelson passed away last night

[Brad Bortner]

Harvey K. Nelson passed away last night. Harvey was a giant among giants in the waterfowl conservation business. He was the first director of the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, served in several high level positions in USFWS in Minnesota and Washington DC, he was a primary author and first Executive Director of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan during his 42 year career with USFWS. In retirement he served major roles with the Minnesota Waterfowl Association, The Trumpeter Swan Society, The Wood Duck Society, and many other organizations. Meanwhile he was a lifelong avid fisherman and hunter. He served in WWII as a landing craft operator. See the MWA website for more details.

 

[NickR]

What a bummer.

It was just two weeks ago he MC'd the MN Waterfowl Symposium. He did a great job and looked healthy at that point.

He will be missed, that's for sure.

NR

 

[Brad Bortner]

More bad news today. The Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Sam Hamilton, died of a heart attack while skiing in Colorado. Sam was a career employee, he was most recently the Regional Director in the Southeast headquartered in Atlanta for the last 15 years. Sam was a strong supporter of waterfowl and waterfowl hunters. He will be missed.

 

[Tom Jes]

Harvey was a contributor to the book, "Waterfowl Tomorrow". He was part of a 4-man editorial committee for the book, "Flyways" of which I have a signed copy by all of the editors. Harvey was on-site on a cold January day in Rochester, MN when the Giant Canada Goose was re-discovered by Harold Hanson. He organized and guided the annual Minnesota Waterfowl Symposium for 13 years that brought people from the scientific and management communities together with the average layperson for the disemination of information on current issues. He had quite a bit of energy and was as active in retirement as he was during the time he worked for the USFWS. He was a very special person and is already being missed by those that knew him.