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Massachusetts Fisheries & Wildlife Board Members
The seven-member Fisheries and Wildlife Board oversees the Mass. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Members are appointed by the Governor. Under Chapter 21, the Board supervises and controls the agency, having the authority to make regulations, set policy, and oversee personnel appointments. The Board meets monthly and holds public hearings as part of the regulatory process. All public meetings and hearings are posted on the agency website calendar as well as at agency facility bulletin boards.
George L. Darey, Chairman
Representing the Western Wildlife District, Mr. Darey of Lenox is a retired teacher who has been an environmental advocate for the Berkshires since returning from military service. Darey has a BA from the State University of New York (Plattsburg) and an MS from the University of Massachusetts. He served on the Lenox Conservation Commission as well as the Board of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions before being elected to the town Board of Selectmen.
As Chair of the Fisheries and Wildlife Board, Mr. Darey has been instrumental in generating public support for important wildlife issues including the recent Biodiversity Initiative, funding of the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program and the establishment of the Wildlands Conservation Stamp, a $5 assessment to the sale of hunting and fishing licenses dedicated exclusively for the preservation of open space.
In addition to his interest in fish and wildlife conservation, Mr. Darey serves as Board Member of the Berkshire Natural Resource Council and Sportsmen for Land Preservation. He was a founding member of the Housatonic River Initiative, and was instrumental in forging forestland protection and management partnerships between MassWildlife and the Nature Conservancy, Ruffed Grouse Society and National Wild Turkey Federation. Mr. Darey is active in historical and cultural preservation efforts for the Berkshires and has played a major role in preserving the Edith Wharton estate and securing a permanent Berkshire home for the nonprofit Shakespeare Company. His leadership role in environmental stewardship was recognized in 1996 when he was presented a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Award.
John Creedon, Vice Chairman
Representing the Southeast Wildlife District, Mr. Creedon of North Easton is an attorney by profession. He received his bachelor's degree in Economics and Political Science from Boston College in 1966 and a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School in 1969. He was admitted to the bar in November of 1969.
Since 1969 Mr. Creedon has served as Assistant District Attorney for Plymouth County, as a City Councilor and as President of the City Council of Brockton. Currently he is a partner in the Brockton Law firm of Silverstein & Creedon. He is Chairman of the Committee of Management for the Old Colony YMCA and is a former Director of Old Colony Elderly Services. He serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board of Cardinal Spellman High School, his alma mater, and is president of the Horace Howard Trust. In addition to representing the southeastern part of Massachusetts, Mr. Creedon provides legal and regulatory expertise to the Fisheries and Wildlife Board.
Michael P. Roche, Secretary
Representing the Connecticut Valley Wildlife District, Mr. Roche lives in Orange and is a professional educator. He has been a fixture at Mahar Regional High School in Orange since 1974 and currently is social studies department chairman. He is a graduate of Salem State College and holds a Master's degrees in Administration and Organization from Endicott College.
At Mahar Regional, Mr. Roche teaches high school social science and has taught forestry and wildlife management electives in the science department in addition to coaching basketball and soccer. He serves as advisor to the Mahar Fish and Game Club, believed to be the oldest high school fish and game club in the Commonwealth and has coached teams in the Massachusetts Envirothon. He took a four-year leave of absence in 1988 to work as the Regional Director for Ducks Unlimited in Massachusetts. Over the past twenty-five years, Mr. Roche has served as a volunteer hunter education instructor, a member of Massachusetts' Project WILD advisory committee, and was a staff member and director of the Massachusetts Junior Conservation Camp. Roche provides the Fisheries and Wildlife Board with insight on environmental education issues.
Mr. Roche is well known in the North Quabbin region as an outdoor writer, writing a weekly column in the Athol Daily News for more than fifteen years and having free-lance work published in various periodicals. He is an active member of the New England Outdoor Writer's Association and the Outdoor Writers Association of America.
Ernest W. Foster, Jr.
Representing the Central Wildlife District, Mr. Foster of Worcester received his Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Norwich University. A native of Worcester County, he has since completed a number of post-graduate studies at Northeastern University, Holy Cross, Clark University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. After serving industry for nine years, he established his own business identity in the real estate development, sales appraisals and management field; and as a general design/building contractor. His extensive experience and knowledge of business, finance, management and real estate operations as well as the unique entrepreneurial insight he contributes, have proven valuable to discussions of budgets, open space acquisition and protection, and many of the other complex issues which confront the Fisheries and Wildlife Board on a regular basis.
During his tenure with the Board, Mr. Foster has served on committees dealing with land acquisition, Wildlands Stamp Program and finance, and the development of the nonprofit Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife Conservation Endowment. He is or has been an officer, Director and/or member of the Boone and Crockett Club, Professional Hunters Association of South Africa, Safari Club International, National Rifle Association, Ducks Unlimited, Boston Safaris, Ltd., NASxSa, the FAWN Society, Worcester County Fish and Game Association, Rice Meadow Fishing Club, Boylston Sportsmen's Club, Leicester Sportsmen's Club, Lee Sportsmen's Club, Western Mass. Bird Dog Club and the Eight Point Sportsmen' Club.
Mr. Foster is an avid upland and big game hunter and fisherman having pursued his love across the continent. He is also a competitive smooth bore shooter in modern skeet and sporting clays. His knowledge of smoothbore guns can be enjoyed in his quarterly article "Classic Upland Guns", published in the Upland Almanac. Mr. Foster is the co-designer of the Contender handgun and has been credited with other firearms designs for military use.
He and his wife Audry have four adult children, including three sons who are active in hunting, fishing and shooting. His daughter resides in Chicago where she practices law and participates in outdoor activities as time, work and family permits.
Joseph S. Larson, Ph.D.
As the Board's specialist in endangered species habitat, Dr. Larson of Pelham serves as the Board's liaison to MassWildlife's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Advisory Committee, where he is a full voting member.
Dr. Larson holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Massachusetts and a Ph.D. in zoology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He has held research appointments with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Maryland, as well as positions with state natural resource agencies and private environmental organizations in Massachusetts and Maryland. He is professor emeritus and former Chairman of the Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management and Director of The Environmental Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is professionally registered or certified in forestry, ecology, wetland science and wildlife biology.
Nationally, Dr. Larson has been involved as Executive Chairman of the National Wetlands Technical Council and Chairman of the U.S. National Ramsar Committee that represents non-governmental interests to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. He received the national Chevron Conservation Award in 1990. Internationally, he has been a member of diplomatic delegations to the Ramsar Convention and has lectured and conducted wetlands training seminars in India, China and Europe. He is a member of the Commission on Ecosystem Management of the World Conservation Union.
In Massachusetts, Dr. Larson has served on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, where he chaired the first science advisory committee. He drafted original legislation to define wetlands in the Commonwealth and has served on all of the wetland regulation advisory committees convened by the Department of Environmental Protection. He was a member of the Secretary's Fisheries and Wildlife Advisory Committee during the original establishment of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. In 1997 the Massachusetts Wildlife Federation honored Dr. Larson as Conservationist of the Year.
Brandi L. Van Roo, Ph. D.
Dr. Van Roo is an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at Framingham State College (FSC) and is the Board's professional wildlife biologist.
Originally from Rochester, NY, Dr. Van Roo obtained a B.S. in Environmental and Forest Biology from the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry and earned a Ph. D. in Behavioral Ecology from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
Dr. Van Roo is a resident of Douglas and serves as a full member on the Douglas Conservation Commission. Dr. Van Roo conducts field research on breeding behaviors in migratory songbirds in the Blackstone region. She teachers upper division courses in Wildlife Biology, Ornithology and Ecology at FSC and is the faculty advisor for the FSC Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Dr. Van Roo was appointed to the Fisheries and Wildlife Board in 2005.
Frederic Winthrop
Mr. Winthrop represents both the Northeast Wildlife District of Massachusetts and agricultural interests on the Fisheries and Wildlife Board. He is co-owner and operator of the family farm in Ipswich and is experienced in wildlife management and land preservation issues.
Prior to his appointment to the Fisheries and Wildlife Board, he served 15 years as the Executive Director of The Trustees of Reservations, the nation's oldest land trust organization, which preserves and manages places of historic and ecological significance in Massachusetts. Mr. Winthrop currently serves on committees for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Essex National Heritage Commission, and is a Trustee of the Essex Agricultural and Technical Institute. He has also been Chairman of the Ipswich Conservation Commission, Director of the Ipswich River Watershed Association and a Trustee of the North American Wildlife Foundation.
Mr. Winthrop served as Massachusetts' Commissioner of Food and Agriculture from 1975-1985 and has received wide recognition for his contributions to agriculture. He was awarded the New England Agricultural Adventurers Award for initiating the Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program, the first such statewide program in the country. He has received the Soil Conservation Society of America Award for "Significant Contributions and Achievements in Land and Water Conservation", the Massachusetts Tree Farmer of the Year award and the Distinguished Service Award from the Future Farmers of America. He was elected President of both the National and Northeast Associations of State Departments of Agriculture, President of the Eastern US Food and Agricultural Export Council and Chairman of the American Farmland Trust. He has led agricultural delegations to China, Poland and Romania.
Mr. Winthrop is a graduate of Harvard University and served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.