[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12378]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




HONORING CYNTHIA K. DOHNER FOR 24 YEARS OF SERVICE AT THE U.S. FISH AND 
                            WILDLIFE SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GARRET GRAVES

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 28, 2017

  Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 
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 love of the outdoors began while fishing Pennsylvania's 
Susquehanna River with her father and tagging along on his deer hunting 
trips. It was at this point in her life that she knew that she wanted 
to make a positive difference. Those experiences set her on a course 
that led to a bachelor's degree in marine biology, a master's degree in 
fisheries and aquaculture, and a long career protecting fish and 
wildlife and the untamed places upon which they depend.
  Cindy made conservation her career. She has 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, D.C. She came to Atlanta in 
1999 to serve as the Assistant Regional Director for Ecological 
Services and later served as Deputy Regional Director.
  For the last seven years, Cindy has led the Southeast Region in a 
daily 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 provided vision and leadership for more than 1,300 
employees in 10 southeastern states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin 
Islands, and has continuously worked toward producing successful 
management solutions that have positively influenced our national 
conservation efforts. On any given day, you are just as likely to find 
her working with employees and partners on issues as big as the 
restoration of Louisiana's coast and as small but no less consequential 
as the partnership work and proactive conservation that led to removing 
the Georgia aster from the list of candidate species under the 
Endangered Species Act.
  I witnessed Cindy's dedication to protecting and conserving America's 
natural resources firsthand while working together with her to restore 
Louisiana's coast and the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater 
Horizon oil spill. At the time of the spill in 2010, she led an 
extraordinary effort to respond to this unprecedented event that 
deployed thousands of employees to stations in four Gulf Coast states 
over the first year. Additionally, she was instrumental in securing 
funds to rebuild Brenton Island--an area that has provided protection 
for our bird habitat as well as fishing habitat for Louisiana's 
saltwater anglers. Whether the need was simple or more complicated, she 
worked tirelessly to solve a host of environmental and economic needs. 
While serving as the Department of the Interior's Authorized Official 
for the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment and 
Restoration, Cindy was a committed partner to the State of Louisiana 
and the other Gulf states in working collaboratively to help us get on 
the right path to repairing our ecosystem, and restoring the Gulf's 
abundant natural resources and the economy its people depend upon.
  She is recognized throughout the Southeast as an honest partner and 
innovative conservation leader. Under her leadership, the region has 
joined forces with states, private landowners, other federal agencies, 
the Department of Defense, 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 has 
resulted in notable conservation successes including removing the 
Louisiana black bear from the endangered species list, upgrading the 
status of the West Indian manatee and wood stork and precluding the 
need to list more than 100 fish, wildlife, and plants petitioned for 
federal protection in the past seven years. She worked closely with 
many partners to restore more than one million acres of bottomland 
hardwood habitat in the South and reverse the decline of longleaf pine 
forests so critical for migratory birds and wildlife in decline. Her 
recognition of the little things to build lasting relationships that so 
often have big implications and make conservation success possible on 
larger scales is something I will miss. I commend Cindy for her desire 
to make a lasting difference and hope the Service will continue to 
build on her outstanding conservation legacy.
  I speak for myself and I think for many policymakers, business 
leaders, and lovers of the outdoors when I say Cindy Dohner and her 
passion for wildlife will be missed. I appreciate the many years of 
public service she has to the Southeast Region and people that call 
Louisiana home and make it a Sportsmen's Paradise. I ask that my 
colleagues join me in expressing our deepest appreciation and gratitude 
for her public service and wishing Cindy success and happiness in her 
future endeavors.

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