by Chester McConnell
Lee Ann Linam has joined Friends of the Wild Whoopers (FOTWW) staff as “Texas Representative”. She will assist FOTWW to be more effective in protecting and enhancing the Aransas/Wood Buffalo population of Whooping Cranes. The Aransas-Wood Buffalo Whooping Crane flock is the only self-sustaining wild population on earth.
Mrs. Linam will be responsible for coordinating with FOTWW’s board to plan and pursue potential opportunities to achieve organizational goals. She will coordinate with various government agencies, private conservation groups and corporate interest to achieve FOTWW’s goals.
Lee Ann is well qualified to serve as FOTWW’s “Texas Representative”. She spent the majority of her career with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) working on wetlands, alligators, waterfowl, and endangered species at different times, but she spent the majority of her career developing citizen science opportunities for volunteers in Texas. Throughout her career she maintained links to her interest in whooping cranes, including research projects on the economic value of whooping cranes and on the effects of human disturbance on whoopers. She served as TPWD’s representative to the U.S. Whooping Crane Recovering Team and as the Texas contact for the Contingency Plan. Most recently Lee Ann developed a Texas Whooper Watch citizen science program. http://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/wildlife_diversity/texas_nature_trackers/whooper-watch/
Lee Ann Linam came to her interest in conservation honestly. Daughter of Frank Johnson, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she spent her childhood on wildlife refuges in Mississippi, Arkansas, South Carolina, and, finally, at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. She studied wildlife biology and environmental science at Texas A&M University and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
Lee Ann recently retired from TPWD after 30 years of service, but is continuing her involvement in conservation education through teaching science classes for home-schooled students. She is married to TPWD aquatic biologist Gordon Linam and has two college-aged children, Abby and Frank.
FOTWW is proud to have Lee Ann Johnson Linam on board. Her appointment is the second Texan in recent months following that of Dr. Felipe Chavez-Ramirez.
***** FOTWW’s mission is to help preserve and protect the Aransas/Wood Buffalo
population of wild whooping cranes and their habitat. *****
Friends of the Wild Whoopers is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
