Biography - Carol A Pollio

Dr. Carol A. Pollio is the Field Operations Supervisor for the US Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region. In her current position, she supervises 13 Ecological Services field offices from Maine to Virginia. Prior to that, she worked in the USFWS Washington Office, gaining experience in fisheries and aquatic resources management, education and outreach, and habitat restoration at the national policy level. She has been with the USFWS for 8 years.

Before coming to the USFWS, Dr. Pollio spent 24 years in the National Park Service. Assignments included natural resources management, federal law enforcement, and wildland and structural firefighting responsibilities. She was assigned to 6 parks and the North Atlantic Regional Office, including national park units in VA, WV, NC, NJ, and MA. Dr. Pollio’s experience in the National Park System included gaining expertise in abandoned mine reclamation, environmental contaminants remediation, and biological assessment of disturbed and contaminated sites. She has conducted scientific research, inventory and monitoring, and published her results in several peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Pollio served as a Commissioned Federal Law Enforcement Officer for 16 years, a Red-Card Certified Wildland Firefighter for 24 years, and a Firefighter I and II (Structural) for 2 years. She is a trained Critical Incident Stress Debriefer, HazMat Responder (HAZWOPER), American Red Cross Community First Aid and Safety Instructor, and licensed Virginia Commercial Pesticide Applicator.

For the past 25 years, Dr. Pollio has actively served in the US Coast Guard Reserve. Now a Commander, she was activated in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, serving as a member of the USCG Lessons Learned Team responsible for evaluating the largest mobilization of the Coast Guard Reserve since WWII. As a member of a deployable unit for 7 years, she traveled to Portugal, Turkey, and Panama to conduct foreign port security exercises.

Dr. Carol Pollio received a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Public Policy from George Mason University, a Master of Science in Environmental Science from Marshall University, and a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources Management from Rutgers University.