Howard Phillips

Regional Representative, Southeast
hphillips@refugeassociation.org

Howard is working in North Carolina with Mike Bryant and is also working on a special project to develop a partnership between the Association, Catawba College in Salisbury, NC, and Pocosin Lakes NWR. Catawba is the alma mater of one of our key donors who would like to see more conservation work in his home state and this partnership is a perfect match.

Howard graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1983 from North Carolina State University with a B.S. degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences. He started his 36+ year wildlife management career in technician positions with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and at the Fort Bragg military reservation in the sandhills region of North Carolina. He moved on to manage the wildlife program at the Fort Jackson military reservation in South Carolina, then shifted to the US Fish and Wildlife Service when the Brunswick (GA) Ecological Services Field Office was contracted to conduct an endangered species survey on the Fort Gordon military reservation in Georgia. From there, Howard served in primary assistant refuge manager positions at Mattamuskeet NWR (NC) and DeSoto NWR (IA) and as the refuge manager at Two Rivers NWR (IL) and Pocosin Lakes NWR (NC); he served at Pocosin Lakes for just under 20 years and retired from there at the end of 2020.

In 2008, Howard lead Pocosin Lakes through the Evans Road Fire – a major wildfire that burned the deep organic soils in and around the refuge for more than eight months and cost nearly $19M to manage. Because of the potential for these large, catastrophic fires, the Service has been working to restore the hydrology on the tens of thousands of acres of drained peatlands it acquired in the early 1990s, when it established the refuge. During his tenure there, Howard developed expertise in restoring pocosin peatland hydrology on the refuge; or as Mike Bryant puts it “landscape level plumbing”. This is important because undrained and restored peatlands are huge carbon sinks and are being increasingly recognized as a priority in our response to climate change. Of course, they also provide quality habitat for a large diversity of wildlife.Angie is a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and holds a BA in Anthropology and Ethnic Studies.

Howard and his wife Tami still live in Columbia, NC (where Pocosin Lakes is headquartered). They have two daughters and three grandsons. Howard served as a duel function Refuge Officer for 19 years; he is a TWS Certified Wildlife Biologist and a 4th degree black belt (Yondan) in Goju Karate. In addition to his work with the NWRA, Howard volunteers service to his church and the local community and enjoys fishing, hunting, and traveling.