Eric Sutton, a scientist on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s staff, has been named the agency’s new executive director.
He succeeds Nick Wiley, who recently announced he was leaving the agency to take a job with Ducks Unlimited in Tennessee.
Sutton formerly worked in the land management section at the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
I’ve worked with him in the past on a limited basis and found him to be a knowledgeable, serious and hard-working public official.
He has a background in working on endangered species issues.
His promotion is encouraging because the vast majority of Florida’s wildlife species are non-game species, which means they are not hunted or commercially exploited.
Managing those species, which range from familiar species such as the Florida panther and Florida manatee to less-familiar species such as a number of cryptic reptiles, rare plants and invertebrates, is one of the agency’s challenges. It will be more challenging as population growth and the pressures of the development and road-building lobbies put more pressure on natural habitats while funding to protect key parcels languishes in Tallahassee despite voter mandates to do otherwise.
The FWC is also getting some new faces on the commission. One of them is the wife of a former commissioner and another is the son of professional golfer and Trump supporter Jack Nicklaus. Still to be appointed by Gov. Rick Scott is a successor to commission member Brian Yablonski, who is resigning to take a job in another state.
How the new mix of wildlife commissioners will deal with the issues facing Florida’s wildlife will be something the environmental community should continue to monitor.