Continuing one legacy while building another
The last line of Chris Lowie’s email signature is personal: carry on the legacy. . . . . what ever you want it to be. It’s a motto inspired by his father, who lived to 90 and is never far from his thoughts.
Growing up in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Lowie and his seven siblings spent a lot of time outdoors.
“It all happened at the lake cottage,” he recalled fondly. “We learned to hunt and fish and to live with integrity.”
As manager of Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, and with nearly 30 years as a Service employee, Lowie is building his own legacy of principled conservation while maintaining connections to the past.
From fish to wildlife…
Trained as a fish biologist, Lowie started his Fish and Wildlife Service career at the Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office in upstate New York, where he worked on restoring native fish, particularly lake sturgeon. From there, he moved to our headquarters in Washington, D.C., and, as National Fish Passage Program coordinator, helped increase funding for the program.
After three years in the capital, he was ready to return to the field and found himself drawn to the Refuges program.
“The thing about refuges is you get to manage resources more directly,” he said. He became assistant manager at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia.
…woodpecker to wetland
Lowie has managed Great Dismal Swamp Refuge, on the Virginia/North Carolina border, for 13 years. His accomplishments include no lesser feats than establishing a breeding population of red-cockaded woodpeckers and working to reinstate the natural hydrology of the swamp, which has been altered for centuries to aid timber harvest.
The red-cockaded woodpecker was listed as endangered in 1970 and received federal protection with passage of the Endangered Species Act three years later. In 2015, Lowie helped reintroduce woodpeckers to the refuge, in an effort to save the species.
The birds successfully produced young in 2017, 2019, and this year, when Lowie’s staff banded chicks for the first time since the 1970s. Due in part to the success of the program at Great Dismal Swamp, the Service proposed recently that the red-cockaded woodpecker’s status be changed from endangered to threatened.
The $3-million project to re-hydrate the swamp was supported by federal funding for Hurricane Sandy resilience and completed in 2016. Twelve water-control structures were installed to improve fire suppression, flood control, and habitat management abilities.
“What I love most about this job is the team we have in place and the diversity of work we’re involved in — from quality visitor services amenities to scientifically-based conservation to asset management,” Lowie said.
He looks forward to leading his team through implementation of the refuge’s habitat management plan, which will increase the health and resilience of its forest communities.
During challenging times like these, Lowie garners strength and hope from family and friends and focuses on his contributions to conservation. He strives to leave the places he’s worked better than he found them for the next generation — including his children.
No doubt that would make the previous one proud.
