Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Manager Retires

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Manager Anne Marie LaRosa is exchanging one island for another and retiring to Hawaii. She has an extensive background working for the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, and spent three years as manager at the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge.

She credits the refuge staff for making her time in the position rewarding.

“Being a manager means you kind of, for a Kodiak analogy, steer the ship, and I’ve had the good fortune of having a really talented and passionate staff that works alongside me, so they’re really responsible for a lot of the things that I’m most proud of in terms of [the] Kodiak Refuge.”

LaRosa now joins her family in Hawaii, where she says she may get involved with the local park system, and says Kodiak is a hard place to leave.

“I really feel fortunate that I was able to end my career at a place as wonderful as Kodiak and it’s a really great community, and all of the youth programs that I’ve seen the refuge do brings me a lot of hope that there’s a lot of leadership and talent locally.”

She says there appears to be a strong connection between Hawaii and Kodiak and hopes she’ll back to visit in the near future.

Deputy Manager Tevis Underwood will be the acting manager while the refuge searches for LaRosa’s replacement.