Spartan Profiles: Shannon Hanna
SHANNON HANNA: FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
Fish and wildlife conservation is important to Michigan. Last year, the Reeff Memorial Award—a national honor for someone 35 or under for “outstanding services in the conservation of fish and wildlife resources”—was given to Shannon Hanna, MS ’02, a wildlife biologist with the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR).
Her job is to bring privately-owned cervidae (deer and elk) farms into compliance with state regulations. “My main goal is the bio-security of our free-ranging deer and elk herd,” says Hanna, whose job combines administrative duties with field work, including audits and ensuring compliance with disease testing requirements. “I’m not very popular,” she adds with a chuckle. “They refer to me as the POC Nazi.”
Privately-owned cervidae, she notes, is a $30 million industry in Michigan. Shannon recalls when Chronic Wasting Disease popped up in August of 2008. “It turned everyone’s world upside down,” she recalls. “We quarantined the more than 600 facilities in 24 hours, which is absolutely amazing. We visited them all, one by one, to make sure their fencing was up to standards.” During the crisis, hunters lost their right to bait—a controversial subject. “We wanted to protect an industry that generates billions of tourism dollars,” says Shannon, noting that there are some 750,000 deer hunters in Michigan.
A native of Fowlerville, Shannon played basketball and softball in college, but came to MSU to study wildlife biology. “I had a wonderful experience at MSU,” she says. “All the professors were great.” She cites professors Melvin Koelling in forestry, her department, and Rick Campa in fisheries and wildlife as mentors.
