Partner Spotlight: Tara Callaway, USFWS
Did you know the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) is one of the agencies responsible for administering the Endangered Species Act? Alongside NOAA Fisheries, USFWS is entrusted with conserving all federally listed fish, wildlife, and plants. USFWS is also a very important partner that Rare Care collaborates with on endangered plant species recovery. And we’re excited to highlight one of the people doing much of the behind-the-scenes coordination– introducing Tara Callaway! Tara is the Shrub Steppe Zone Supervisor, and until last month was the Washington State Recovery Coordinator.
Tara holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Northern Illinois University and a Master’s degree in Plant Genetics from Western Washington University. In between earning her degrees, Tara worked many seasonal jobs for a non-profit and multiple federal and state agencies to gain experience for her current position. In those roles, she ranged all over the western U.S. from as far south as Joshua Tree National Park in southern California to as far north as the Alaska Peninsula/Becharof National Wildlife Refuges in King Salmon, Alaska.
Her first permanent job with the USFWS was as an Endangered Species Biologist in Palm Springs, California, focused on a large portfolio of 18 listed species including desert tortoise, Amargosa voles, and many listed plant species. In 2018, Tara returned to Washington as a Fish and Wildlife Biologist, primarily serving as the botanical lead in Central Washington for the agency’s Washington Fish and Wildlife Office (WFWO). From March 2021-September 2022, Tara served as the Washington State Recovery Coordinator, and recently moved into the role of the Shrub Steppe Zone Supervisor. Rare Care has had the privilege to work in partnership with her on many projects in all of these roles since 2018.
As the Washington State Recovery Coordinator, Tara worked very closely with partner agencies and species experts on recovery planning and implementation across the state for all listed species Recovery planning creates a series of planning documents, such as the recovery plan, to then direct implementation actions in the future. USFWS and partners use these documents to prioritize recovery actions until they have reached the recovery goals and a species is recommended for down- or delisting from the Endangered Species Act.
Additionally, Tara helped facilitate the Recovery Implementation Program for WFWO, which funds partners to do high priority recovery actions across the state. Organizations and agencies across the state like Rare Care, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Natural Resources, and the Washington Natural Heritage program have been successful in submitting projects that were selected for funding. These organizations and agencies implement various recovery and conservation efforts of federally listed species in Washington State. The Recovery Implementation Program carefully allocates resources to have the most impact on species conservation. Tara says, “We try to put as much money as we can on the ground to see recovery.”
Ongoing Rare Care and USFWS collaborations include recovery work on Umtanum desert buckwheat (Eriogonum codium), Wenatchee Mountains checkermallow (Sidalcea oregana var. calva), White Bluffs bladderpod (Physaria douglasii ssp. tuplashensis), Spalding’s catchfly (Silene spaldingii), and showy stickseed (Hackelia venusta). For these projects, Tara says, “Rare Care hits on a vital need we have in Washington State of a program that can tackle recovery actions. You know they’re on the ground, they do the outplanting, they figure out how to set up experimental designs, and figure out what’s the best way to reintroduce a population.”
Tara emphasizes Rare Care’s impacts don’t just end with the on-the-ground recovery work, but are enhanced by all the outreach efforts Rare Care supports. Specifically, Tara says, “Something that I’m very proud of is that with Rare Care and our other partners in Central Washington, we’ve done a great job of bringing attention to these endemic species.” Our community of plant enthusiasts who act as volunteers, donors, and advocates have drawn attention to the endemic species such as Umtanum desert buckwheat and Wenatchee Mountains checkermallow, leading to robust recovery plans and the best chance these species have to persist in perpetuity.