Andy Loranger, Refuge Manager of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, has been named the 2018 Paul Kroegel National Wildlife Refuge System Refuge Manager of the Year. Presented by the National Wildlife Refuge Association, and given in honor of Paul Kroegel, the first manager of the first national wildlife refuge, the award recognizes outstanding accomplishment by a refuge manager in the protection and management of our national wildlife refuges.
Geoffrey Haskett, President of the National Wildlife Refuge; “Mr. Loranger is a visionary innovator and a trusted advisor for fellow conservation partners, community leaders, Alaska Natives, and his staff when it comes to conserving Alaska’s critically important landscape. “Mr. Loranger’s thirty years of civil service has given him a vast understanding of the myriad ways wildlife conservation occurs in the United States.”
Loranger’s tenure with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service included beginnings as a seasonal employee, to his first permanent position as an office clerk with the Division of Migratory Birds in the Anchorage Regional Office, to wildlife biologist positions, to Project Leader at Texas Chenier Plains Refuge Complex, to serving as Division Chief for Natural Resources in Washington, D.C., to his current position as Refuge Manager at Kenai NWR.
Loranger’s pioneering invasive species management program at Kenai NWR is recognized as a model throughout the National Wildlife Refuge System. With 1.9 million acres and the largest canoe and hiking trail system in the Refuge System.
Loranger will be presented with the award on May 24, 2018, at the National Wildlife Refuge Association’s Annual Gala Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C.
