Webb is a great choice for DIFW Wildlife Director

Nate Webb has been selected to lead DIF&W’s Wildlife Division. He is a great choice for that important job, which was Judy Camuso’s job before she was selected to be the department’s commissioner.

Here is the announcement, shared with me by Mark Latti.

– Nate Webb, the supervisor of MDIFW’s Wildlife Resource Assessment Section in Bangor, is the new director of the wildlife division at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

“Nate’s extensive background as biologist coupled with his strong leadership and supervisory skills make him an excellent choice to lead the wildlife division,” said MDIFW Commissioner Judy Camuso, who held the director position prior to becoming commissioner.

Webb first began his career with the Department when he was a student at the University of Maine and worked on a contract as biologist on the department’s bear crew. He graduated in 2003 from the University in Maine in Orono with a degree in wildlife ecology, and then went on to the University of Alberta where he received his Ph.D. in 2009.

As a carnivore specialist for the Alberta Ministry of Environment and Parks, Webb worked on wolves, cougars and bears, and authored several technical publications on bear, wolves, cougars and moose.

Nate returned to Maine and rejoined the department in 2014 as the special project coordinator, and then was promoted to MDIFW’s Public Lands Wildlife Biologist for the Bureau of Public Lands in 2017 before being selected to lead the Wildlife and Research Assessment Section in the department’s Bangor office in the spring of 2018.

In his new position as director of the wildlife division, he will oversee the development and implementation of policy decisions, legislative proposals and rules related to the wildlife division, he will coordinate a budget of $12 million and will supervise a staff of nearly 50 people, and oversee the management, protection and enhancement of the over 500 birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

An avid hunter, birder, angler and hiker, Nate grew up outside of Augusta and still resides in the area with his wife and two children.

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.