[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12091]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO CYNTHIA K. DOHNER

  Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize the 
distinguished public service career of Cynthia K. Dohner. Cindy served 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with distinction and honor for more 
than 24 years and will leave the Service on August 30, 2017.
  Cindy's passion for the outdoors began at an early age while fishing 
and hunting with her father. These experiences encouraged her to pursue 
an education to ensure the outdoor way of life she enjoyed would 
continue to be available for future generations.
  She earned a bachelor's degree in marine biology, a master's degree 
in fisheries and aquaculture, and led a long career protecting fish and 
wildlife and their habitats.
  Cindy worked for a private environmental consulting firm and held 
positions in several State and Federal agencies before joining the U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service in 1993. Prior to her time in the Southeast 
Region, Cindy worked with the Service's Division of Fish Hatcheries and 
as the branch chief for Recovery and Consultation in Washington, DC. 
She moved to Atlanta in 1999 to serve as the assistant regional 
director for Ecological Services and later served as deputy regional 
director.
  For the last 7 years, Cindy led the Southeast Region in its mission 
to make a difference for fish, wildlife, plants, and the people who 
live and work in communities across the region. As regional director, 
she has provided vision and leadership to more than 1,300 employees in 
10 southeastern States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and 
has positively influenced conservation successes and solutions 
nationally.
  In Arkansas and throughout the Southeast, Cindy is recognized as an 
honest partner and innovative leader. She has worked alongside 
Arkansas' fish farmers, cattemen, and local elected officials, 
including the Association of Arkansas Counties, to solve complex 
conservation challenges in a way that keeps working lands working, 
reduces regulatory burden, and helps local economies to thrive. Her 
responsiveness to private-sector concerns and willingness to find 
creative ways to conserve fish and wildlife resources has made a 
difference to wildlife and people alike.
  Under her leadership, the Southeast Region has joined forces with 
States, private landowners, the Department of Defense and other Federal 
agencies, and several sectors of industry and business including 
energy, timber and finance among others to find creative ways to 
conserve fish and wildlife resources. This collaboration resulted in 
notable conservation successes including removing Arkansas Magazine 
Mountain shagreen snail and the Louisiana black bear from the 
endangered species list and precluding the need to list more than 100 
fish, wildlife, and plants petitioned for Federal protection in the 
past several years. She and her team worked closely with many partners 
to restore more than 1 million acres of bottomland hardwood habitat in 
the South that is critical for migratory waterfowl and other wildlife 
in decline. Cindy was remarkably effective in large part because she 
recognized and emphasized the little things while building 
relationships that often had big implications and made conservation 
successes possible on larger scales.
  I applaud Cindy for her dedication to public service and the lasting 
difference that she has made at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I 
am hopeful FWS will continue to build on her cooperative conservation 
legacy. I ask that my colleagues join me in expressing our sincere 
appreciation and gratitude for her public service and wishing Cindy 
success and happiness in her future endeavors.

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