Public Domain Picture: Billy Leonard-Southeast Region

Billy Leonard served in the Navy from February 1967 to February 1970. In that time period I was honored to serve on the USS Hector AR-7 from August 1968 to February 1970. Hector was a repair ship that provided full service repairs to the Seventh Fleet. He was an Electricians Mate and had to opportunity to work in both the electrical rewind shop and as ship’s company electrician. He began his civilian federal service in 2002 with the US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. He conducted research on the effect of forest thinning on wildlife. He began his Fish and Wildlife career as a Wildlife Biologist / Oil and Gas Specialist in March 2005. He insures that the Oil and Gas operations on the refuges of Southwest Louisiana NWR Complex operate in a clean and safe manner. He also works on plugging and abandoning old wells, insuring that the sites are cleaned up and restored back to productive marsh. He says: “I have been fortunate to be able to work with the oil companies to clean up legacy sites on refuge property. However the best part of my job is the wonderful opportunity it gives me to be able to conduct monitoring and inventorying the wildlife populations on the refuges, especially birds.”

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Southeastregion, Veterans, Vision:face=099, Vision:outdoor=0949, Vision:people=099

March 28, 2014