Joey McCanna receives WDFW employee of year

Joey McCanna of St. John, right, was named 2017 WDFW Employee of the Year and was presented a plaque by Director Jim Unsworth at an awards banquet in Olympia.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has named Joey McCanna of St. John Employee of the Year. The award was presented by WDFW Director at an awards banquet in Olympia.

McCanna is now Private Lands and Wildlife Conflict Supervisor for WDFW region one. He leads two work units in the region, private lands biologists and the wildlife conflict specialists.

He was recognized for his outstanding efforts in the summer and fall of 2016. This was the time period when the department undertook the task of implementing a lethal removal action on the Profanity Peak wolf pack after the pack’s repeated depredations on livestock.

McCanna was cited for efforts that were way beyond the call of duty.

The department began to document livestock depredation by the Profanity Peak wolf pack in July of 2016, a month or so after livestock arrived on the grazing allotment.

McCanna was involved in most of the depredation investigations and also played an integral role in communicating with local livestock producers and range riders. Depredations continued through the beginning of August when the first lethal removal effort was initiated.

McCanna was designated incident commander for the operation and was the point of contact for field staff, management, senior leadership, livestock operators and elected officials. During the two-week effort, he worked long hours on the phone, providing information, troubleshooting and generally calming people down.

The first lethal control effort ended Aug. 18, but additional depredations caused the director to authorize an additional lethal removal action beginning Aug. 19. Department staff worked many hours to address the situation with McCanna once again designated incident commander.

At the end of August, two of the local Wildlife Conflict staff left the agency for unrelated reasons. This created even more of a crisis situation with fewer staff to implement the action. McCanna was everywhere. He worked in the field with remaining staff, continued to coordinate on the phone and in person, and was called in to evening meetings with local elected officials. The relationships he had worked to develop and maintain paid off as he was critical to keeping things as calm as could be expected.

While the removal action ended on Oct. 19, it took its toll on department staff who were physically and emotionally exhausted. Joey spent little time at home over the 2-½ month-long event, but his commitment, integrity and trustworthiness lead the department through a tenuous time where staff, producers, elected officials and members of the public were all working on shredded nerves and little rest. Through it all, McCanna showed a high degree of professionalism, displayed the calm, collected nature of a strong leader and is an example of a true Employee of the Year!