鈥淚 don鈥檛 do things the same way as other people, that鈥檚 always been my moniker. I truly am a horse of a different color,鈥� reflects Gwen Kolb, the New Mexico State Coordinator for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, commenting on her career as she prepares to retire.
One-hundred thousand hours; millions of minutes; scores of years 鈥� How do you measure a career? For Gwen, one metric might be the infection rate of her enthusiasm. The joy she takes in her work shines brightest while she鈥檚 on a partner鈥檚 private ranch, planning out synergistic goals for wildlife conservation with landowners. And after retirement, that鈥檚 how she intends to continue.
For Gwen, life on the farm is also where her own personal mission started. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she spent her summers in rural Tennessee on her Uncle Eddie鈥檚 farm.
鈥淎nd that's where I got my outdoor playground: a lot of our outdoor activities, a lot of farm animals,鈥� reminisced Gwen. 鈥淪ome would call me a whisperer. I have this relationship with animals, no matter what animal I meet.鈥�
Gwen鈥檚 journey to wildlife conservation, the Service and New Mexico was long and meandering. After finishing high school, she worked some, studied some, then she joined the military.
鈥淢y dad was in the Army, he served in the Korean war, so he didn鈥檛 want me to join. I didn鈥檛 have any brothers, but I was the tomboy, so I figure it was on me to keep the tradition going,鈥� Kolb recounted. 鈥淚 was literally in the last training unit of the Women's Army Corps. We were the last unit to go through as an all-women team. After that we started integrating with male units. That's when they were starting to switch over.鈥�
After basic combat training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Kolb went to Fort Gordon, Georgia, to the Army鈥檚 signal school, learning radio communications. Then at Fort Polk, Louisianna, her operational unit spent three weeks each month conducting field exercises. She became proficient with engine maintenance as she was responsible for keeping trucks and generators working in the wooded wetlands of Louisiana.
鈥淲hen you're running through swamps, you can't go slow,鈥� advised Kolb. 鈥淭hat's why I still got the need for speed and if I get in the woods somewhere and I see any kind of mud, I'm gonna gun it. You can't afford to get stuck when you鈥檝e got a whole convoy behind you.鈥�
One enlistment was enough for Gwen. The military gave her a love for traveling and picking up skills, so she kept doing that as a civilian while 鈥渉onky-tonking around the country鈥� and even across the ocean as she worked as a civilian on U.S. military bases in Germany.
Eventually she pursued formal education in her passion for caring for animals. She studied as a veterinary technician at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave, Virginia, where she was quickly recruited into the wildlife veterinary field by her professor, Dr. Stuart Porter.
鈥淚 guess he recognized something as we were working with animals. Everybody was getting bitten, scratched, or pooped on and peed on, and that never happened to me,鈥� described Kolb 鈥淭he animals and I communicate, so I guess he saw something.鈥�
Gwen paid her way through school by working at veterinary clinics, then began volunteering at the Wildlife Center of Virginia until they recruited her to work there to care for sick and injured wildlife.
鈥淚 realized while I was fixing these animals that they didn't have a place to go. Literally, I was watching that part of Virginia, all the wildlands were disappearing due to constant development,鈥� remembered Gwen. 鈥淭here鈥檚 only so much land out there, and we are just temporary stewards of this land. If we don鈥檛 try to keep it the way Mother Nature intended, we鈥檙e all going to suffer. So that's how I got into habitat restoration.鈥�
Kolb went back to her home state to study wildlife biology at Ohio State University in Columbus, where she also worked with the Columbus Zoo and Ohio Wildlife Center. There she was advised by Dr. Robert Gates.
鈥淗e saw my resume and the things I鈥檝e been involved with and he said 鈥榊ou know, they got this thing called U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,鈥欌€� Gwen said. 鈥淭hen I go to a job fair and meet the then Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge manager Larry Martin, and he asks me 鈥楽o, when can you start?鈥� I tell him 鈥榊ou know I just started back in college, right?鈥欌€�
After speaking with her advisors, Kolb realized the Service would be an excellent place for her to pursue her passion in wildlife habitat restoration and travel. She agreed, and was hired into a student-career track, and was assigned a mentor from the Service who advised her on what classes to take. She began working summers at the local national wildlife refuge national wildlife refuge
A national wildlife refuge is typically a contiguous area of land and water managed by the鈥疷.S. Fish and Wildlife Service鈥� for the conservation and, where appropriate, restoration of fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.
Learn more about national wildlife refuge , doing biologist work, and training Youth Conservation Corps volunteers.
Upon graduation, Gwen was offered a full-time position as a private-lands biologist, stationed at Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge in Havana, Illinois, where in addition to her normal duties, she did everything from engine repair and heavy equipment operation, to setting up the refuge鈥檚 public use plan and marsh bird surveys.
During her 14 years as a Partners for Fish and Wildlife biologist in Illinois, Gwen helped landowners restore a lot of historic wildlands, developing partnerships and lifelong friendships.
鈥淲hen we first met, she basically told me, 鈥榊ou鈥檝e got a lot of work to do,鈥欌€� said retiree Steve White who owns a tree farm in southern Illinois. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a straight shooter. She鈥檚 going to tell you the way it should be, whether it hurts your feeling or not. I always enjoyed that about her.鈥�
White鈥檚 farm received the 2022 Tree Farm of the Year Award at the Illinois State Fair mainly thanks to the diversity of native species that call his farm home, including a flying squirrel population that was thought to have been extirpated from the region.
鈥淪he constantly hammered in an emphasis on native species,鈥� continued White. 鈥淚 was asking her about this plant called Korean lespedeza for quail habitat, I asked 鈥業s that native?鈥� She responds, 鈥楧oes the word 鈥淜orean鈥� sound like it鈥檚 native to Illinois?鈥� Thanks in part to Kolb鈥檚 technical advice, today White can count on seeing several new species show up to his farm each year.
Over 60 percent of all land in U.S. is privately owned. One of the drivers for landowners to consult with Gwen is to better develop plots for hunting, a sport that largely began modern wildlife conservation. It was a major reason White bought his farm. Quite often the goals of hunters and hunting organizations align with the Service鈥檚 goals of habitat restoration.
鈥淕wen hit our radar screen as someone willing to reach across the table and do good things,鈥� said Aaron Kuehl, director of habitat programs for Pheasants Forever in Illinois. 鈥淪he鈥檚 helped many people recognize that alone we can't do as much as we can together.
鈥淪he鈥檚 always willing to push the envelope to put habitat on the ground,鈥� continued Kuehl. 鈥淪he was constantly finding creative solutions and partnerships to get things done, and she wasn't afraid to ruffle a couple feathers if it meant better habitat projects.
鈥淲hat stood out to everyone is her passion is contagious. She鈥檚 in it for the right reasons and that wore off on everyone. She鈥檚 great at connecting triangles between different partners,鈥� said Kuehl. Pheasants Forever recognized Gwen as the 2011 Wildlife Professional of the Year and awarded her their Lifetime Achievement Award before she left Illinois.
Gwen holds a humble attitude and considers her approach to be pretty basic.
鈥淚 don't consider myself that special. I just understand what folk are trying to accomplish. As Dr. Gates would say, 鈥業 meet people at their level, and then we talk,鈥欌€� Kolb explained. 鈥淭he most important part when you're meeting somebody for the first time, and that's what a partner's person does every time they pull up to a new site, is you listen. You give these folks their voice, and for a lot of these folks, nobody's ever listened to what they had to say. Within that first five minutes you can hear their values, their beliefs and the whole shooting match. And then you go from there.鈥�
While in Illinois, Gwen鈥檚 friends and colleagues recommended she visit New Mexico. She went on work trips out west and quickly became enchanted by the Land of Enchantment, and was spending all her vacations there, hobnobbing at local cafes, soaking up the traditional ecological knowledge of Native American and Hispanic communities.
In 2016 she moved to Albuquerque to work as the state coordinator for the Partner鈥檚 for Fish and Wildlife Program. She kept her Illinois number so that her old friends, colleagues and conservation partners could continue to reach her.
Gwen鈥檚 not interested in a promotion to a desk job as she doesn鈥檛 want to work anywhere but in the field with landowners. Her willingness to work with people and learn has brought her many places, but as a woman of color who didn鈥檛 begin working as a biologist until her 40s, her path has been uphill.
鈥淢y advice to other women of color 鈥� be who you are,鈥� advised Gwen. 鈥淚 was expected to assimilate because of how organizations are, but just be who you are. Obey your little orders when they tell you to do something but think about it in your own way and do it how you can in your own way. Truly all people of color are people of the land. All of us have worked the land, it鈥檚 in our history. I do things my way. I've got a pretty good track record across the country for what I've accomplished as one crazy little black woman, but against the odds, here I am.鈥�
Today, Gwen keeps up with her wildlife vet tech beginnings with her own personal side projects like supplementing neighborhood squirrels to cure them of mange. Despite pleas from Service leadership, her tenure with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ends officially on December 31, 2022. However, she has no plans in retiring from her work in conservation partnerships with landowners.
鈥淚鈥檒l keep doing the same thing, but as a private citizen. This is what I believe in. And I see the only way into the future is by supporting these folks, in keeping them on the land. Because if people can't make money off their land, then it will get converted into a shopping center or a housing development. And if we allow this to continue, if we don't help these folks stay on this land, we're all going to suffer.
鈥淓verybody knows Gwen, just say Gwen, and they'll know. I haven't varied from my own mission statement since I鈥檝e been with the Fish and Wildlife Service. 鈥榃e are stewards of this land, and we're responsible to restore and preserve for future generations.鈥�
鈥淗onestly, I think everyone should have their own personal mission statement. We are all a part of the big picture.鈥�