Chuck hunter, MS, Senior Advisory Ecologist

 Chuck Hunter serves as the Senior Advisory Ecologist for the Southeastern Grasslands Institute, focusing on Conservation Planning and Strategic Conservation Design, while emphasizing Implementation of priority conservation actions for the fauna and flora dependent upon Southeastern Grasslands through diverse private and public Partnerships. He grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, where he learned about nature and enjoyed the outdoors from an early age. He received a B.S. in Zoology (and a minor in Botany) from Northern Arizona University in 1980 and M.S. in Ecology from Arizona State University in 1988. During the intervening years, Chuck worked on a number of wildlife inventory and conservation projects along southwestern river systems. During 1988, Chuck joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Phoenix, Arizona, and in 1989 joined the Service’s Southeast Regional Office in Atlanta, Georgia. Chuck's duties in Atlanta have included (in various positions) conservation of endangered and threatened, at-risk, and other species of conservation concern throughout the Southeast Region. Specifically, with respect to migratory bird management, he has been instrumental in developing and implementing conservation planning efforts for landbirds, shorebirds, and waterbirds. Since September 2003 until he retired on May 31, 2025, Chuck specifically served as the Chief, Division of Strategic Resource Management, National Wildlife Refuge System in the Southeast Region.