Fran McTamaney was selected for her work as an environmental education specialist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service at the San Francisco Bay NWR Complex in  Newark, CA. She recently retired from this position.

For more than 20 years, Fran McTamaney has played a prominent role in guiding the direction of environmental education throughout the National Wildlife Refuge System and within the environmental education community of the San Francisco Bay Area. The reference materials she developed serve as a model for teachers, parents, volunteers, and EE providers.

Fran started with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 1984. The scope of her position was limited primarily to one location. At the time, it was the only location where the Service was offering environmental education activities in the Bay Area. Fran was the de facto supervisor for the EE program for several years when her leadership role was formalized in 1991.

Under her guidance, the program expanded beyond the one location,in the South Bay on the Don Edwards SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge, to include three other locations on that refug--an EE program in the North Bay at the San Pablo Bay NWR, one for the Farallon NWR off the California coast, and one for Ellicott Slough on Monterey Bay. Each program was distinct and tailored to specific management issues of the refuge and the needs of the local communities served by the program.

Fran produced a Salt Marsh Manual for educator-led field trips, grades K-6, that has been used as a model for U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service EE programs across the country. The manual is also used by other governmental and non-governmental agencies. This 320-page site-specific guide includes the natural history of the San Francisco Bay estuary, information on how to conduct refuge field trips, pre-visit, on-site and post-visit activities, Refuge resource management objectives, and more. Fran correlated all the activities with the manual to the CA State Standards in science, history/social science, and language arts.

The EE Program that Fran directed reaches over 15,000 students annually. Fran served on the original design/development team for two national U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service environmental education courses: "Developing Teacher Training" and "Environmental Education Methods". She has instructed sessions of those two courses for 15 years. These courses guided the philosophical and practical direction of environmental education in the National Wildlife Refuge System during EE's developmental years within the System.

Fran has mentored up-and-coming interns and new EE specialists at the refuge complex for many years. She provided opportunities for the EE staff to attend such events as the Bay Area Environmental Education Fair and the annual national NAAEE Conference. Fran's influence is not contained within the EE programming for the refuges but includes the activities presented at numerous regional outreach events. She is also a long-time leader with Mid-peninsula Environmental Educators Alliance, which is a collaborative forum for maximizing resources and bringing environmental-based education to the community. Overall, Fran has been a leader in environmental education in the San Francisco Bay Area and on the national level. She has shaped and developed the EE Program at the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex which is a model for governmental and non-governmental organizations across the country.