Sam D. Hamilton dead at 54; U.S. fish and wildlife director - washingtonpost.com

Sam D. Hamilton, 54, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, died Feb. 20 after suffering chest pains while skiing at the Keystone Ski Area in Colorado.

July '09: PREPARED STATEMENT OF SAM D. HAMILTON

Added to these stressors is the overarching threat posed by climate change, which is already impacting wildlife and their supporting habitats across the nation. Climate change is the trans-formational conservation challenge of our time, not only because of its direct effects, but also because of its influence on all the others stressors of our wildlife resources. Climate change is acting as the proverbial “fuel to the fire,” accelerating the expansion of invasive species; rising sea levels along our 166 coastal refuges; altered hydrology in rivers and wetlands; and myriad observed changes to our fragile Arctic ecosystems, including diminished sea ice, coastal erosion, shrinking glaciers, and thawing permafrost. I believe the Service has an important role to play in supporting this Administration’s efforts to address climate change. It is not an exaggeration to say, “As wildlife goes, so goes the nation.”

Feb 10, 2010: Obama Budget Retools FWS for Warming World

Climate change is the theme for the agency's $1.65 billion discretionary budget plan for fiscal 2011.

"The budget does reflect a switch in our priorities," said Chris Nolin, head of the service's budget division. "Our primary focus is reorienting the agency so we can address climate change. We need to start looking at climate change in everything we do. That was really the focus of this budget."
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Fish and Wildlife Director Sam Hamilton said the new investment is not intended to take away from the rest of the agency's work. Rather, he wants to bolster FWS's mission to conserve wildlife by calling on the agency's 9,000 employees to make climate change planning central in their work.