Gainesville Field Station Records --

The Gainesville, Florida, Field Station was established in 1944 in a small building in downtown Gainesville. At that time the field station was under the direction of the Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, MD. As leader of the field station, Henry “Jack” Spencer directed studies on determining the effects of rodent damage on the Florida sugarcane industry.

By the 1960s, the facility in Gainesville was no longer adequate for conducting wildlife research due to its proximity to the growing Gainesville population. In 1961, a 26-acre plot was acquired on the east side of Gainesville. The main office and laboratory building as well as the south aviary were constructed in 1963. By that time, Jim Caslick supervised the field station. During the 1960s, the field station’s principal mission focused on research and damage control methods for nuisance birds and mammals. As the result of an aircraft/bird collision at JFK in 1961 researchers at the Gainesville Field Station worked with researchers at Moody Air Force Base to research methods for reducing hazards posed to aircraft by birds.

In addition to the Gainesville facility, the field station operated a substation in Stuttgart, Arkansas, from 1958 through the early 1970s. Research at the substation focused on managing agricultural damage caused by birds and rodents. Telemetry studies at the station aided in understanding blackbird and vulture movements. Also in the 1970s, the Gainesville ecology section began research on marine mammals in response to the 1972 Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act. (In 1982, research into ecology and marine mammal studies shifted to the National Ecology Research Center in Gainesville.)

In 1976, management of the Gainesville Field Station was transferred from the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center to the Denver Wildlife Research Center (DWRC). Under the leadership of the DWRC, the Gainesville Field Station continued to focus on bird damage to rice and blueberries, bird population movements, and roost dispersal. Since Florida hosts thousands of non-native species of plants, fish, and wildlife, their effects on sensitive plant communities, valuable archeological sites, and threatened species were added to Gainesville’s list of studies during the 1980s.

The Florida WS State Director's Office moved to the Gainesville office in 1993. Current facilities include a main building housing offices and laboratories, as well as three roofed outdoor aviaries for wild bird maintenance and research. In addition, eight 10’ x 30’ enclosures and two ½ acre flight pens provide natural environmental conditions for research.

From 1987 to 2017, Michael Avery led the field station as Project Leader, followed by Bryan Kluever in 2018. Research at the station currently focuses on developing methods to manage depredation, nuisance, and property damage problems associated with birds such as vultures and non-native invasive species such as feral pigs, Nile Monitors, Burmese pythons, black spiny-tailed iguanas, and monk parakeets.

Gainesville Field Station Leadership
Henry “Jack” Spencer, 1944-1963
Jim Caslick, 1963-1968
Paul Lefebvre, 1969-1972
Nicholas Holler, 1972-1984
David Decker, 1985-1986
Michael Avery, 1987-2017
Bryan Kluever, 2018-present