Whitney Beisler
Whitney is a Wildlife Biologist/Course Leader with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) at the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Shepherdstown, WV. She is responsible for training delivery in the Applied Conservation and Policy Branch. Major course topics include the Endangered Species Act, species status assessments, decision analysis, restoration, and the Partners for Fish & Wildlife program.
Prior to joining NCTC, Whitney worked as a Wildlife Biologist for the Service’s National Wildlife Refuge program and Ecological Services program. For Refuges, she co-coordinated bird surveys for the Northeast Region’s Salt Marsh Integrity Project and for Hurricane Sandy Resiliency sites. More recently, Whitney served as the Service’s national species lead for the Eastern Black Rail, a small, secretive marsh bird listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. She coordinated internal and external partners across five Service regions to move collaborative research and conservation forward. She quickly learned that maintaining trust, goodwill, and open communication were key to making a difference for this rare species.
Whitney received her B.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Delaware, Newark. She completed the Service’s Stepping Up to Leadership program in 2021. Whitney and her family live in Middletown, MD, not far from the beautiful NCTC campus.
Dr. Whitney Beisler, PhD.
Course Leader
National Conservation Training Center
USFWS
