The Herbert W. Kale, II Award

Jeff Gore has a B.A. from the University of Evansville, Indiana, a M.A. from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale, and a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. Upon completing his Ph.D., Jeff moved to Florida where he has had a distinguished 35-year career with FWC, serving as a Nongame Wildlife Biologist, Statewide Conservation Coordinator, and since 2004, as the Terrestrial Mammal Research Leader within the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.

During Jeff’s carrier, he has been engaged in numerous conservation, management, and research projects, primarily on birds and more recently mammals, many imperiled by land use changes including coastal development. Along with his team of full time staff biologists, technicians, volunteers, interns, and many external collaborators, Jeff has helped unravel many mysteries of Florida’s most elusive species, including breeding seabirds, wintering shorebirds, sooty terns, gull-billed terns, least terns, all of Florida’s beach mouse subspecies, bonneted bats, eastern chipmunks, Florida minks, and long-tailed weasels. Jeff and his team also have contributed significantly to management and conservation of Florida’s large charismatic species, including Florida panthers and black bears, as well as the most popular game species in the state, white-tailed deer.

Jeff has also been a champion for many species and subspecies at risk of extinction. For example, he led a reintroduction of Perdido Key beach mice by releasing captive-born individuals into a park where they had been absent for over a decade. On the heels of that project’s success, he conducted translocations of the Choctawhatchee and St. Andrew beach mice into vacant habitat and led an experimental introduction of captive-born Key Largo woodrats. He has also been an effective communicator, disseminating his knowledge of wildlife management through public outreach and education engagements, presenting research at state, regional, and national conferences, and by publishing approximately 60 peer-reviewed manuscripts.

Jeff’s passion is contagious, and beyond having an impact on those around him, he been an advocate for wildlife though other platforms. For example, he served as Past Board of Directors and Past President of the Southeastern Bat Diversity Network, was Past Co-Chairman of the Florida Bat Working Group, has served as a peer reviewer for scientific journals, and has had various engagements with The Wildlife Society, of which he has been a member since 1980. Lastly, he has remained active in field research through his career, volunteering on wildlife-related research projects in Colorado, Costa Rica, Vietnam, and South Africa. As a supervisor, mentor and colleague, Jeff is well respected for his knowledge and for always being approachable. It is an honor to submit this nomination for Dr. Jeffery Gore for FLTWS’s Herbert W. Kale, II Award.