Gregory J. Czarnecki, the former director of the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, has been named executive director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Wild Resource Conservation Program.

“I am extremely pleased to have Greg move into this position within the Office of Conservation Science,” said DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis. “He brings the expertise and the right skills to tackle the complexities of the program, and the vision to continue to lead the program to address today’s emerging conservation challenges.”

“The Wild Resources Conservation Program is emerging as a champion of habitat, non-game species and native wild plants,” Secretary DiBerardinis said, “and Greg has the education and employment background to propel the program to new frontiers.”

Czarnecki succeeds Sara J. Nicholas, who was named senior policy analyst at DCNR.

While serving as the director of the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program within DCNR, Czarnecki helped lead a complete reorganization of efforts to provide current, reliable and objective information to help shape statewide environmental decisions.

He served as the U.S. Section Council representative for NatureServe and helped to develop annual operating and 5-year strategic plans for this international network of natural heritage programs that gathers and provides information on location and status of important ecological resources.

Czarnecki also chaired the science committee of the Pennsylvania Wind and Wildlife Collaborative. For his efforts, he was honored in May with DCNR’s Secretary’s Achievement Award for “skillful leadership of a very worthwhile and groundbreaking effort to ensure progress in a cutting-edge approach to harnessing wind power.”

Prior to working with DCNR, Czarnecki was the director of the Pennsylvania Science Office at The Nature Conservancy, where he was a key player in a comprehensive internal and external evaluation of the program’s structure, strengths and challenges. Previously, Czarnecki had been senior project manager at Eastern Research Group Inc, where he managed multi-faceted communication and educational projects for federal and non-profit clients. He is a former biologist and adjunct biology professor at Pennsylvania State and Gannon universities.

Czarnecki, 47, earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Gannon University and a master’s degree in biology from Edinboro State University of Pennsylvania.

A native of Erie, Czarnecki and his wife live with their daughter in Hummelstown, Dauphin County.

8/17/2007