California's longest-tenured wildlife department chief steps down after 15 years
Charlton “Chuck” Bonham will be stepping down as director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife at the end of the month, after contending with a slew of contentious issues during his long tenure, including the resurgence of wolves and plummeting salmon populations.Starting Jan. 26, Bonham will become the California executive director of the Nature Conservancy, one of the country’s major environmental nonprofits.“After 15 years, I just felt like I gave all I could to public service, and it was just the time for change,” Bonham said at a California Fish and Game Commission meeting this month.Initially appointed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011, Bonham is the longest-serving director of the agency, which has an annual budget of roughly $1 billion and more than 3,000 employees. It’s wasn’t an easy job, Bonham said. Being the state’s top wildlife manager entails balancing the conservation of animals with the needs of people, including public safety and economic pursuits. A decision that delights animal welfare advocates can anger industry stakeholders (and vice versa).Take wolves. The same year Bonham took the reins of the agency, the first gray wolf the state had hosted in nearly a century wandered in from Oregon. Wolves have since recolonized the state — a development hailed by conservationists as an ecological win but derided by many ranchers whose cattle are slaughtered by the skilled pack hunters.Recently, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife made what Bonham described as a “gut-wrenching decision” to euthanize several members of a wolf pack in the Sierra Valley that was responsible for an unprecedented number of livestock attacks.“I feel like it’s affected my health. It’s been miserable, but it is the balance of the two things that are happening,” Bonham said at the recent commission meeting. There’s the “beautiful recovery” and “what our rural communities are going through.”Then there’s salmon. Bonham’s colleagues have publicly praised him for overseeing the removal of four dams along the Klamath River, leading to a salmon renaissance in their historic habitat. While many see that as a major win, it doesn’t represent the bigger, bleaker picture for salmon in the state. The native fish have suffered steep declines amid drought and human development. With the population so low, commercial salmon fishing has been closed for the last three years — earning Bonham scathing criticism. In an interview, Bonham acknowledged the challenges — particularly those that affect people’s livelihoods — have worn him down. The department is involved with water management, housing development and the energy transition. Compounding the difficulty in addressing such complex matters is what Bonham described as waning civility in public discourse. “I don’t think any individual moment or issue or day for me ever became a tipping point, but I will say cumulative impacts, or effects, is real.”At the recent Fish and Game Commission meeting, Samantha Murray, commission vice president, described him as having a “steady, calm, like, sedate presence,” and hailed his long institutional knowledge. “All we see is the even-keeled leadership in the face of an ever-growing suite of novel challenges related to climate, drought, wildfires, human-wildlife conflicts,” she said.Gov. Gavin Newsom praised Bonham in a statement, saying he led the department with “heart and conviction” and calling him “a champion for California’s natural heritage.” But to others, Bonham represents an ill-advised turn for the department that critics say has been hijacked by left-leaning values and has become out-of-touch with the state’s hunters and fishers. Some suggest the way the agency presents itself is evidence of this shift: In 2013, the department assumed its current name. Prior to that, it was called the California Department of Fish and Game. “During his time as the director Californians have lost the ability to fish and hunt for countless species of fish and game due to mismanagement,” Mike Rasmussen, a Northern California fishing guide, wrote in an Instagram post about his departure. “Bye Felicia!” he added.Bonham described his transition to a nonprofit as “coming back home.”The outgoing director grew up in Atlanta and attended the University of Georgia as an undergrad.After graduation, he volunteered with the Peace Corps, landing in West Africa’s Senegal.After that, “I wanted to go back to a space that really mattered to me as a person, which is the outdoors,” he said.For several years, he worked as an outdoor guide, primarily leading whitewater rafting trips at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina.But he believed there was more he could do to take care of the wild places he cherished. So he enrolled at Louis & Clark Law School in Portland, Ore., where he studied public interest law with a focus on the environment.He also interned for Trout Unlimited, a nonprofit that aims to protect rivers and streams, which turned out to be his conduit to California.The nonprofit asked him to handle their legal work in California, which he calls “the greatest place.”It was in that position, in the early aughts, that Bonham first became immersed in the fierce disagreement over what to do with scarce water in the Klamath Basin — irrigate farms or protect salmon. Native Americans clashed with farmers. It was “described as a choice between people and the environment. Fish or farms,” he said. “And it was dramatic.”That experience was tapped for the next stage in his career, when Bonham became director of the state wildlife department. He transitioned into a key negotiator with stakeholders including tribes and the federal government, leading to the takedown of four hydroelectric dams. Once Bonham departs, Valerie Termini, the department’s chief deputy director, will take the reins on an interim basis. It will be up to Newsom — or whoever succeeds him once his term ends next year — to appoint a permanent replacement. Brendan Cummings, conservation director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said that while he often disagreed with Bonham’s decisions, he ultimately thinks the state’s wildlife is in a better place than had someone else been at the helm. With threats like climate change looming, “whoever succeeds Chuck will play an essential role in whether California is able to protect our natural heritage in the very, very difficult decades ahead,” he said. The Nature Conservancy, a more than 70-year-old nonprofit, focuses on ocean and land stewardship, as well as shaping state and federal policy — and coming up with “creative solutions,” Bonham said.It’s similar to what he’s been doing, but he believes that in the private sphere, “I can do it often a little bit more nimbly and entrepreneurially, and I’m looking forward to that.”
Charlton "Chuck" Bonham is leaving the top post at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife at the end of the month to join the Nature Conservancy. He departs as the state contends with mounting human-wildlife conflict and disputes over water policy.
Charlton “Chuck” Bonham will be stepping down as director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife at the end of the month, after contending with a slew of contentious issues during his long tenure, including the resurgence of wolves and plummeting salmon populations.
Starting Jan. 26, Bonham will become the California executive director of the Nature Conservancy, one of the country’s major environmental nonprofits.
“After 15 years, I just felt like I gave all I could to public service, and it was just the time for change,” Bonham said at a California Fish and Game Commission meeting this month.
Initially appointed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011, Bonham is the longest-serving director of the agency, which has an annual budget of roughly $1 billion and more than 3,000 employees.
It’s wasn’t an easy job, Bonham said. Being the state’s top wildlife manager entails balancing the conservation of animals with the needs of people, including public safety and economic pursuits. A decision that delights animal welfare advocates can anger industry stakeholders (and vice versa).
Take wolves. The same year Bonham took the reins of the agency, the first gray wolf the state had hosted in nearly a century wandered in from Oregon. Wolves have since recolonized the state — a development hailed by conservationists as an ecological win but derided by many ranchers whose cattle are slaughtered by the skilled pack hunters.
Recently, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife made what Bonham described as a “gut-wrenching decision” to euthanize several members of a wolf pack in the Sierra Valley that was responsible for an unprecedented number of livestock attacks.
“I feel like it’s affected my health. It’s been miserable, but it is the balance of the two things that are happening,” Bonham said at the recent commission meeting. There’s the “beautiful recovery” and “what our rural communities are going through.”
Then there’s salmon. Bonham’s colleagues have publicly praised him for overseeing the removal of four dams along the Klamath River, leading to a salmon renaissance in their historic habitat. While many see that as a major win, it doesn’t represent the bigger, bleaker picture for salmon in the state. The native fish have suffered steep declines amid drought and human development. With the population so low, commercial salmon fishing has been closed for the last three years — earning Bonham scathing criticism.
In an interview, Bonham acknowledged the challenges — particularly those that affect people’s livelihoods — have worn him down. The department is involved with water management, housing development and the energy transition. Compounding the difficulty in addressing such complex matters is what Bonham described as waning civility in public discourse.
“I don’t think any individual moment or issue or day for me ever became a tipping point, but I will say cumulative impacts, or effects, is real.”
At the recent Fish and Game Commission meeting, Samantha Murray, commission vice president, described him as having a “steady, calm, like, sedate presence,” and hailed his long institutional knowledge.
“All we see is the even-keeled leadership in the face of an ever-growing suite of novel challenges related to climate, drought, wildfires, human-wildlife conflicts,” she said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom praised Bonham in a statement, saying he led the department with “heart and conviction” and calling him “a champion for California’s natural heritage.”
But to others, Bonham represents an ill-advised turn for the department that critics say has been hijacked by left-leaning values and has become out-of-touch with the state’s hunters and fishers. Some suggest the way the agency presents itself is evidence of this shift: In 2013, the department assumed its current name. Prior to that, it was called the California Department of Fish and Game.
“During his time as the director Californians have lost the ability to fish and hunt for countless species of fish and game due to mismanagement,” Mike Rasmussen, a Northern California fishing guide, wrote in an Instagram post about his departure. “Bye Felicia!” he added.
Bonham described his transition to a nonprofit as “coming back home.”
The outgoing director grew up in Atlanta and attended the University of Georgia as an undergrad.
After graduation, he volunteered with the Peace Corps, landing in West Africa’s Senegal.
After that, “I wanted to go back to a space that really mattered to me as a person, which is the outdoors,” he said.
For several years, he worked as an outdoor guide, primarily leading whitewater rafting trips at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina.
But he believed there was more he could do to take care of the wild places he cherished. So he enrolled at Louis & Clark Law School in Portland, Ore., where he studied public interest law with a focus on the environment.
He also interned for Trout Unlimited, a nonprofit that aims to protect rivers and streams, which turned out to be his conduit to California.
The nonprofit asked him to handle their legal work in California, which he calls “the greatest place.”
It was in that position, in the early aughts, that Bonham first became immersed in the fierce disagreement over what to do with scarce water in the Klamath Basin — irrigate farms or protect salmon. Native Americans clashed with farmers. It was “described as a choice between people and the environment. Fish or farms,” he said. “And it was dramatic.”
That experience was tapped for the next stage in his career, when Bonham became director of the state wildlife department. He transitioned into a key negotiator with stakeholders including tribes and the federal government, leading to the takedown of four hydroelectric dams.
Once Bonham departs, Valerie Termini, the department’s chief deputy director, will take the reins on an interim basis. It will be up to Newsom — or whoever succeeds him once his term ends next year — to appoint a permanent replacement.
Brendan Cummings, conservation director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said that while he often disagreed with Bonham’s decisions, he ultimately thinks the state’s wildlife is in a better place than had someone else been at the helm.
With threats like climate change looming, “whoever succeeds Chuck will play an essential role in whether California is able to protect our natural heritage in the very, very difficult decades ahead,” he said.
The Nature Conservancy, a more than 70-year-old nonprofit, focuses on ocean and land stewardship, as well as shaping state and federal policy — and coming up with “creative solutions,” Bonham said.
It’s similar to what he’s been doing, but he believes that in the private sphere, “I can do it often a little bit more nimbly and entrepreneurially, and I’m looking forward to that.”