Recently the Board of Wildlife Resources and department leadership recognized three staff members who have exemplified leadership, dedication, and professionalism while serving the Commonwealth. During the Board meeting, Curtis Chandler was recognized as the Wildlife Division, Lands and Access Employee of the Year, Cale Godfrey was recognized for receiving the 2025 Clarence W. Watson Award by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (SEAFWA), and Jackie Rosenberger was celebrated for receiving the Mark J. Reeff Award from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA).
“I have always known that the team at DWR is one of the best in the nation, dedicated to serving the Commonwealth and the sportsmen and women that reside here,” said Executive Director Ryan Brown. “Their outstanding skill and fortitude deserve to be acknowledged and celebrated. I take great pride in knowing that the foundations built by devoted career staff will support the next generation of DWR leaders in the field.”
Lands and Access Employee of the Year
Chandler, a career firefighter, joined the department in 2019 as a part-time forestry technician and was planning to retire at the end of 2024. One of his final projects was helping to develop a guidance document for the future of the DWR forestry program. This eventually became the “Forestry Prospectus,” and outlined a new forestry program that would reorganize Department staff to increase forest habitat opportunities. Chandler was instrumental to defining, planning, and writing that prospectus.
The prospectus was completed eight months before his scheduled retirement and ensured a seamless transition however, full implementation and staff hirings were delayed. This left the Department at the end of 2024 with the potential for no forest program staff to start 2025. Chandler offered to delay his planned retirement to ensure continuity until new staff could be hired. Due to numerous factors, this has led to Chandler serving the Commonwealth through the summer of 2026.
During his entire tenure and especially for the last two years, Chandler was devoted to ensuring the forestry program continued to thrive. His strength to bridge the forestry program from his planned retirement in 2024 to a fully staffed program now in 2026 has benefited the Commonwealth and DWR constituents.
SEAFWA Clarence W. Watson Award
The C.W. Watson Award, established in 1964, is presented annually to the career individual who has made the greatest contribution to wildlife or fish conservation during the previous year or years.
Cale Godfrey began his career with DWR in 1997, and through his tenure has directed and guided statewide deer, bear, turkey, elk, and small game conservation programs; led and coordinated legislative and regulatory policy processes; and worked extensively on the restoration of elk in Southwest Virginia, including assisting staff with developing regulations, research proposals, and access programs. He provided leadership and was actively engaged with the initial response to the first case of chronic wasting disease in Virginia and has done the same as black bears have been plagued with sarcoptic mange, and he has done all of this while also overseeing implementation and delivery of wildlife conservation programs in two of the four DWR administrative regions.
As assistant director of the Wildlife Division, Godfrey has seen many challenges and successes, each met with a can-do attitude and the need to acknowledge the stellar staff completing the work and developing the solutions. His collaborative nature has been the theme of his nearly 30-year tenure with the Department, always seeking to listen, build consensus, and let science provide the guardrails for lasting implementation.
AFWA Mark J. Reeff Award
The Mark J. Reeff Award recognizes a distinguished early career professional with great potential to rise through the ranks of their agency into a more senior leadership role. Jackie Rosenberger began her tenure with DWR in 2021 and from the start, willingly accepted difficult challenges. She is growing the Virginia elk program with passion, dedication and persistence and during her tenure has successfully integrated many of the components needed to lead the elk program in Virginia. This requires balancing and prioritizing activities related to elk research, elk management, elk-related recreation, habitat improvements, and constituent engagement.
As the only DWR employee assigned to the elk program, Rosenberger must lead other employees and volunteers by influence rather than by authority. Rosenberger collaborates with elk project leaders in surrounding states, including Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia. She also works with numerous state agencies and organizations, including the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Virginia Department of Transportation, Breaks Interstate Park, Virginia Transportation Research Council, as well as conservation and volunteer organizations, and local landowners. She embraces the team approach and makes each team member feel they are a vitally important part. This approach provides enormous benefits to the resource, the agency, and its constituents.
In addition to Rosenberger, in 2024, Wildlife Viewing Program Coordinator Meagan Thomas was presented with the Mark J. Reeff Award for her extensive work implementing the Virginia Wildlife Viewing Plan and promoting wildlife viewing through the Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail, on Wildlife Management Areas, and through wildlife livecams.
She has also helped expand public engagement in conservation action through citizen science projects including the Diamondback Dash that utilizes volunteers to gather data on diamondback terrapins, and the Falcon Cam that allows the public to annually follow a pair of falcons in downtown Richmond through nesting and rearing of chicks, to fledgling flights. In addition to these significant duties, Thomas serves as the DWR representative on the National Wildlife Viewing and Nature Tourism Working Group of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.
