ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Paul Peditto has come a long way since his 1989 seasonal job at Patapsco Valley State Park that paid about $5 an hour.
“I started out literally cleaning toilets,” he said.
Today, Peditto is the longest serving wildlife agency director in the country.
“It’s a great gig,” he said of his job. “Every day is remarkable for me . . . I’m pretty thankful all the time.”
Career
Sept. 11 will mark Peditto’s 18th year as Maryland’s Wildlife & Heritage Service director.
Raised in southern New Jersey, Peditto spent a lot of time duck hunting in marshes with his father and brother.
“I just really got into the wildlife,” he said.
He later fell in love with Maryland’s varying landscape that ranges from the coastal region to freshwater cold streams in the western part of the state.
“It’s sort of perfect if you like doing what we do for a living,” he said. “Each place brings diverse viewpoints.”
He’s worked under Maryland governors Glendenning, Ehrlich, O’Malley and Hogan. That makes his career all the more unique because staffers are often replaced when a new administration takes office, he said.
“You see a lot of changes,” Peditto said of progress over the years.
Roughly three decades ago, the Wildlife & Heritage Service owned about 30,000 acres of wildlife management area. Today, the organization has more than quadrupled that number, he said.
More than 10 years ago, Peditto was called to rate a buck with a 268 antler score. Bill Crutchfield had killed the deer in Charles County and brought it to an Anne Arundel County processor to be scored and certified.
“It remains the largest white-tail taken by a hunter anywhere on the east coast,” Peditto said.
“It was a neat moment in time,” he said of the deer, which proved the state’s wildlife management skills “produced remarkable animals.”
But WHS is about more than just hunting, he said and talked of the McKee Beshers Wildlife Management Area, known for its sunflower fields, in Montgomery County.
Although the fields, which cover roughly 60 acres, are planted so that mature and dry sunflowers will attract doves for hunters, other folks have a different reason to travel to the area.
“We have literally thousands of people who come to . . . photograph sunflowers,” Peditto said. “It’s a big shift in what we’re used to, but that’s what makes it interesting.”
He also said WHS developed a statewide wildlife action plan, which identifies priorities, including places and species associated with them, that was adopted two years ago.
“That was many, many years in the making,” he said. “That’ll help guide the department for decades.”
Peditto, a self-described “technology geek,” talked of advancements that have changed the way his organization communicates, collects and records information.
“We didn’t have email,” he said of his early days at WHS. “Now, we’re connected 24/7.”
Additionally, tools including GPS allow for tracking of animals, he said.
Staff and partners
It’s the people who make the organization successful, Peditto said.
He leads a staff of roughly 100 full-time workers across the state.
“It’s a relatively small team for the landscape . . . but they manage to get (the work) done,” Peditto said.
“All the workers, day in and day out, they make this train run,” he said. “At the root of this is good science.”
The staff embraces the chance to engage in public dialogue, Peditto said and added that no matter the subject, there’s a “whole lot of room for public input.
He also talked of farmers that permit hunting on their land, as well as organizations including The Nature Conservancy and Western Maryland Sportsmen’s Coalition.
“We’ve got a lot of great partners,” Peditto said.
Family
Peditto still hunts with his 76-year-old father who lives in Delaware. His mother, Sandi, died last year.
Peditto and his wife, Stephanie, will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in October. The couple have a son, Nick, 23, and daughter, Kati, 25.
“They’re great kids,” Paul Peditto said.
Nick Peditto said he’s always thought his dad had “the coolest job” in the world.
“Anyone could see, if they spent the time watching him conduct himself and do his job over the years, like I did, that he loves his job,” he said via email. “But more importantly, he’s naturally good at it. He has always put the people that work under him first. He doesn’t get wrapped up in any of the politics or worry about what some people may think of him, he just does what he knows is right for the department, the environment, and all parts of the community, regardless of any backlash he may receive.”
What others said
Sen. George Edwards, R-Washington/Allegany/Garrett, said Paul Peditto works within communities to get as much input as he can from the citizens.
“He does his best to be open and transparent on issues,” Edwards said via email. “Paul Peditto is a great person. He cares about what he does and puts 100 (percent) into his work.”
During his 40-year career as outdoor editor for the Cumberland Times-News, Mike Sawyers, who retired from the paper a few months ago, interviewed Paul Peditto on many occasions.
“(He) was always available when I was working a story and never ducked a question,” Sawyers said via email.
“When I think of his career directing the Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service, I focus on the creation of the state’s bear hunt in 2004, the first in more than half of a century,” Sawyers said. “Peditto steered the ship through a variety of challenges launched by those who opposed the hunt.”
Hurdles included legislative, public relations and a courtroom challenge, Sawyers said.
“An animal rights group even tried to bribe the agency by offering $75,000 if the hunt would be scuttled,” Sawyers said. “Peditto and his staff then went on to manage those bear hunts scientifically and strategically, eventually allowing more and more hunting of bears without jeopardizing the bruin population.”
Maryland Waterfowlers Association Executive Director Steve Myers said he met Paul Peditto in the mid-2000s.
“Paul knew the value of working on wildlife regulations/season selections with stakeholders,” Myers said via email. “He earned the respect and trust of us all representing view points (of) our prospective groups.”
Paul Peditto’s approach to the Department of Natural Resources, wildlife management and sportsmen shareholders “have stood the test of time,” he said.
___
Information from: Cumberland (Md.) Times-News, http://www.times-news.com/timesnew.html
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
