Sara Parker Pauley is the director of the Missouri Department of Conservation[1] and former president of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.[2] In each of those roles she was the first woman to serve.[3]

Sara Parker Pauley
9th Director of the Missouri Department of Conservation
Assumed office
1 November 2016
Preceded byRobert Ziehmer
Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Retired
In office
2010–2016

Education

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Pauley grew up in Columbia, Missouri[4] and was interested in conservation from a young age.[5] She received her secondary education at Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri.[6] Pauley attended the University of Missouri earning both a bachelor's degree in journalism and a law degree.[1]

Career

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After her education, Pauley worked for the conservation engagement company D.J. Case & Associates[7] and as a policy analyst for the Missouri Department of Conservation.[1] In 2010, Pauley was appointed to serve as director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources,[1][8] a position she held for six years.[6] In 2016, Pauley was appointed as director of the Missouri Department of Conservation,[9][10][7] a position she retains as of 2022.[1] She is the first woman to hold the position of director.[11] She has led the effort to establish the Boone County Nature School at Three Creeks Conservation Area.[12] and views this as one of her favorite projects.[4]

In 2020 she was elected to a one-year term as president of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.[3][13][14]

Pauley has also served as an executive-in-residence at the University of Missouri.[15] She has spoken about water quality issues and natural areas while in that role.[16]

Pauley has talked about her work in multiple venues. In 2021, she elaborated about the collaborative effort needed for conservation efforts in an article in a Nature Conservancy publication,[5] and shared changes in how people think about conservation.[17] She spoke before the United States Senate in support of the 2021 Recovering America's Wildlife Act,[18][19][20] and has worked with Senator Roy Blunt to share the bill with people from Missouri.[21]

Parker is included in a 2021 book by Francis Nenik that details the administration of Donald Trump.[22]

Awards and honors

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In 2012 Pauley was named one of two "Conservation Partners of the Year" by Bass Pro Shops.[23][24] In 2016, she received the President's Award from the Environmental Council of States.[25] In 2017, the Columbia Public Schools Foundation named Pauley as an outstanding alumni.[26] In 2019 she accepted the Governor's Award for Innovation on behalf of the Missouri Department of Conservation’s (MDC) Discover Nature Schools program.[27]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Director Sara Parker Pauley". Missouri Department of Conservation. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Sara Parker Pauley Elected 2020-2021 President of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies". Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. 15 September 2020.
  3. ^ a b "AFWA elects Sara Parker Pauley as president". The Wildlife Society. 16 September 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Sara Parker Pauley". COMO Magazine. 2021-02-25. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  5. ^ a b "Missouri Conservation is a Shared Responsibility" (PDF). Vol. 19. The Nature Conservancy. 2019. p. 7. Retrieved January 22, 2022. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  6. ^ a b Gabert, Shelley (9 January 2017). "Sara Parker Pauley: A Trailblazer for Conservation". Her Magazine.
  7. ^ a b Rendall, Jessica (28 September 2016). "Sara Parker Pauley named to lead Department of Conservation". Columbia Missourian.
  8. ^ "Gov. Nixon selects Sara Parker Pauley as director of Missouri Department of Natural Resources". Missouri Wildlife. Vol. 72, no. 1. 2011. p. 28-29. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  9. ^ Wagner, Micki (October 3, 2016). "Bozoian appointed new director of Department of Natural Resources". Columbia Missourian. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  10. ^ "Sara Parker Pauley Selected as Missouri's New Director for Department of Conservation". Hunting, shooting, fishing and adventure for women by women. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  11. ^ Nelson, Alisa (2016-09-29). "First female named as Missouri Department of Conservation Director". Missourinet. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  12. ^ McKinney, Roger (October 22, 2021). "Boone County Nature School goes from vision to verge of reality". Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  13. ^ Johnson, Wes (September 19, 2020). "MDC chief to lead Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies". Springfield News-Leader. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  14. ^ Slayton, Margaret (September 27, 2020). "MDC director adds to her achievements". News-Press NOW. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  15. ^ "College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources // Sara Parker Pauley". cafnr.missouri.edu. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  16. ^ Shaver, Shannon (October 5, 2016). "Natural resources director to speak on water quality in Columbia". KOMU 8. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  17. ^ McKean, Andrew (2021-06-16). "Q&A: New President of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies Talks About an Evolving Conservation Model". Outdoor Life. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  18. ^ Fischler, Jacob (11 December 2021). "Billions targeted to state wildlife conservation under bipartisan push in Congress". Kansas Reflector. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  19. ^ Gerber, Cameron (2021-12-09). "Blunt advocates for wildlife recovery bill on Capitol Hill". The Missouri Times. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  20. ^ Brown, Alex (2021-03-05). "A bipartisan push could change state wildlife protection". Michigan Advance. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  21. ^ Anderson, Clayton (November 5, 2021). "Blunt touts conservation bill". News-Press NOW. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  22. ^ Nenik, Francis (2021-04-01). Tagebuch eines Hilflosen: Skizzen aus dem Amerika Donald Trumps (in German). Matthes & Seitz Berlin Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7518-0030-3.
  23. ^ "Bass Pro Names Conservation Partners of 2012". Fishing Reports and Forum | BigFishTackle.Com. 2013-01-21. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  24. ^ Riehl, F. (2013-01-10). "Bass Pro Shops Awards Conservation Partners Of The Year". AmmoLand.com. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  25. ^ "President's Award". The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS). Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  26. ^ "CPSF Honors 2017 Hall of Leaders". Columbia Public Schools Foundation. 2017-10-27. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  27. ^ "MDC Discover Nature Schools wins Governor's Award for Innovation". Missouri Department of Conservation. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
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