New Man At Head Of Wolf Reintroduction Program
	From the March 2000

Brian Kelly's new job is guaranteed to not be boring.

He has been hired as the Mexican gray wolf recovery coordinator for the Southwest Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Kelly, formerly coordinator of the agency's red wolf reintroduction program in North Carolina, succeeds David Parsons, who resigned late last year.

Kelly has more than 20 years' experience researching and managing black bears, coyotes, foxes and wolves, according to a news release from the Fish and Wildlife Service. He will begin work in mid-April in Albuquerque.

Kelly assumes his new duties at a critical time for the Mexican wolf recovery effort, as officials are proposing releasing the animals in the Gila Wilderness.

"I am excited about working in a proactive and constructive way with the many partners involved in restoring the gray wolf to the Southwest," he said. "There's already a synergistic cooperative team approach to recovery in place that I will work hard to sustain, and build on as needed.

"I have every confidence that by working with the many partners involved in (the) recovery and by basing management decisions on good, sound science, the program will be successful," Kelly added.

He said he is looking forward to moving with his wife, Marianna, to the Western United States.

"The beaches of North Carolina are a wonderful place to live," he explained. "We have enjoyed our time there. However, we are Westerners at heart and are excited about again living in the West."

Kelly received a bachelor's degree in fish and wildlife science in 1981 at Utah State University, and a master of science degree in wildlife resources in 1991 at the University of Idaho.

During graduate school, and through 1992, he was a consultant to research projects studying black bears, coyotes and red wolves. In 1992, he joined the staff of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Ecology and Behavior Project at Utah State University, as wildlife biologist analyzing coyotes and better ways to manage them.

In 1997, Kelly went to work for the Fish and Wildlife Service as a field projects coordinator for red wolf recovery. In 1998, he was appointed adjunct instructor in the department of clinical sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University.

The news release said Kelly's professional interests are carnivore conservation and population dynamics, predator-prey dynamics, population estimation, feeding ecology and digestive physiology.

Kelly has written scientific publications on coyote food habits, predation and population dynamics, and red wolf restoration, the release stated.

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