TRCP’s “In the Arena” series highlights the individual voices of hunters and anglers who, as Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, strive valiantly in the worthy cause of conservation.
Bryan Watts
Hometown: Williamsburg, Virginia
Occupation: Professor and director of the Center for Conservation Biology, College of William & Mary
Conservation credentials: Dr. Watts leads multi-year research efforts on many avian species, including a project tracking long-term osprey nesting success in the Chesapeake Bay. He also founded his college’s Center for Conservation Biology and has designed and conducted more than 1,000 research projects related to birds found throughout the Western Hemisphere and particularly in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Dr. Bryan Watts studies a wide range of avian issues, from waterbirds on barrier island beaches and bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay to the effects of human-caused stressors on bird species in coastal regions. His ongoing research of osprey reproductive success in the Chesapeake recently has gotten a lot of attention. In 2023 and 2024 his data have shown a significant decline in nesting success for ospreys located in saltwater areas, which he attributes to a lack of menhaden – a critically important forage fish – for food. This apparent lack of menhaden (also known as bunker or pogies), which TRCP and partners have sounded the alarm on for years due to similar negative effects on striped bass and other sportfish that rely on them, has been difficult to demonstrate with hard data due to Virginia’s continued unwillingness to fund a study on local menhaden populations in the Bay. Watts is a Mitchell A. Byrd Research Professor of Conservation Biology with a PhD in ecology from the University of Georgia and 40-plus years of research experience. But long before he ever became an ecological scientist, he was just a kid out in the woods, hunting, fishing, and exploring with the Boy Scouts.
Here is his story.
I was in the woods with my family before I could walk. When I was five, I started to attend Boy Scouts (my father was Scoutmaster). I was introduced to hunting and fishing by other scouts and Scoutmasters. By the time I was 12, I was spending most of my time in the woods hunting, fishing, trapping, digging ginseng, picking berries, and birding. I was fortunate to spend all of my formative years in the woods surrounded by the natural world. Those times would shape my life’s path.
I have had hundreds of great times in the field in multiple countries, but one that stands out is a float trip on the Greenbrier River in West Virginia. I was 14 and spent two days, along with six other boys and Edsel Whaling, a U.S. Marine Veteran and prominent Scout leader, out on the river. We floated about 30 miles, fishing for smallmouth bass. We slept under an overhang along the river. We cooked bass over a fire and used the heads to catch crayfish in the shallows and cooked them also, in a tin can over the fire. That experience has been hard to beat.
“The smell and sounds of the woods and the feel of the air make me feel like I am home.
If I could hunt or fish anywhere, I would be back along the rivers and high streams of West Virginia, fishing for smallmouth bass or brook trout. There is a familiarity there that makes me feel like I belong. The smell and sounds of the woods and the feel of the air make me feel like I am home.
I have been a professional conservation biologist for 40 years. I have worked on hundreds of conservation projects addressing many species and many problems. One recent project has investigated the causes of poor breeding performance in Chesapeake Bay osprey. My Center has worked with osprey since 1970. Over the past 20 years, we have become increasingly concerned about the role of menhaden availability in osprey nesting success in the main stem of the Bay. Like many conservation problems, we need to seek a balance between the needs of industry and the ecosystem. I am confident that we can find such a balance.
I am most proud of the fact that as a community of American outdoorsmen and women, we care about what happens to different species. I have never met a true outdoorsman who did not genuinely care about the welfare of a species. Just knowing that we as a community and society are working toward the welfare of other species really enhances the experience of being outdoors.
The largest conservation challenge that we face in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain is habitat loss. Continued expansion of the urban footprint comes at the expense of natural habitats that many of our most vulnerable species depend on. We are fortunate to have large tracts of unspoiled land owned by government agencies, NGOs, and private individuals. We need to work toward expanding the green infrastructure to protect habitat for future generations. The hunting and fishing community has been one of the strongest supporters of this effort.
We have a responsibility to pass on the natural environment that we have enjoyed to future generations. Conservation is an all-hands-on-deck activity. If we do not all work together to restore and protect the species we have now, and the habitats they depend on, we will not have them tomorrow.
Everyone who enjoys hunting and fishing and being outdoors understands that we cannot take the natural world for granted. Places and species are treasures to be safeguarded across generations. There is a peace of mind that comes with the knowledge that we have done what we can do to pass these places along.