When biologist Christy Hand first came to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources in 2011, she had never heard of the black rail; almost no one in South Carolina had.
A male Eastern black rail offers an insect to a female during courtship.
Understanding the rare, disappearing marsh bird quickly became one of the centerpieces of her career – and in time, she established one of the country’s foremost research and conservation programs for black rails.
SCDNR biologist Christy Hand serves as the agency’s wading and marsh bird biologist.
Now, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has honored her work with a 2023 Recovery Champion award. Each year, the Service recognizes employees and partners for outstanding efforts to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species of fish, wildlife, and plants. Hand is this year’s Southeast Region Champion, about whom the Service wrote the following:
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“For nearly a decade, Christy Hand has been at the forefront of conservation and recovery efforts for the federally threatened eastern black rail, conducting cutting-edge research, designing and implementing comprehensive monitoring programs, informing habitat restoration initiatives, and increasing public awareness among many other activities. Hand’s research on the breeding ecology and molt phenology of the rail in South Carolina has filled critical knowledge gaps for the subspecies and developed methodologies that are now the standard of research.”
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