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Return home will have to wait Medford native signs on with Ted Turner�s conservation group By Paul Fattig When Michael Finley retires as the superintendent of Yellowstone National Park this spring, he had planned to return to his native Medford. Then media mogul Ted Turner offered him an opportunity he couldn�t refuse. After 32 years with the National Park Service, Finley, 53, will become president of the Turner Foundation, a nonprofit group based in Atlanta, Ga., that gives out $50 million in largely conservation-related grants each year. Finley announced this week that he will retire from his superintendent�s post in mid-May. He will join the foundation immediately after leaving the park service. The new job will provide an opportunity to focus on issues critical to the quality of life and environmental stability worldwide, Finley said during a telephone interview. "The foundation supports efforts for all of us to live more sustainably within our environment," he said. "That�s something I�m also very concerned about." Finley is a 1965 graduate of Medford Senior High School and a 1970 graduate of what is now Southern Oregon University, where he earned a bachelor�s degree in biology. He first met Turner when the cable network pioneer came to observe wolf restoration efforts at Yellowstone in the mid-1990s. The foundation, whose board is chaired by Turner, had been supportive of the National Park Service�s wolf restoration efforts, Finley noted. "As I came to know Ted, I discovered how deeply he is committed in trying to preserve our natural resources," he said. "I had some knowledge of his conservation work, such as placing conservation easements on his land. But I hadn�t realized how high his regard is for environmental protection." In the past five years, the two have become friends, fishing and hunting together, Finley said. "He is a very strong conservationist, even on private property," he said, although noting that Turner also understands the need to use some natural resources. In addition to Turner, the foundation�s other board members include his five grown children and actress Jane Fonda. The latter is Turner�s estranged wife. "The foundation is strongly committed to the sustainable use of our natural resources," Finley said. The four focal points of the foundation are energy, water and toxins, forests and habitats and population. It calls for defending biodiversity by protecting habitats. Water bodies, everything from aquifers to seas, should be protected from contamination and degradation, according to the foundation. The objective of the foundation�s energy program is to protect the atmosphere and other natural resources by promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy and improved transportation policies and practices. Population growth can be reduced by addressing its relationship to global resources, the status of women and children, and access to family planning and reproductive health services, according to the group�s guidelines. "I see the whole field of environmentalism and population as nothing more than the survival of the human species," Turner states in introducing the group�s Web site, www.turnerfoundation.org. Finley�s duties with the foundation will include evaluating its partnerships while helping to direct it into new areas. Before taking the Yellowstone job in 1994, he had served as superintendent of Yosemite National Park for five years and superintendent of the Everglades National Park for three years. He also has worked in various capacities with the agency from Alaska to Washington, D.C. He started his government career as a seasonal firefighter on the Rogue River National Forest. He and Lillie, his wife of 32 years, met in college in Ashland. They have two grown daughters. "We�ve always thought of the Rogue Valley as our home," he said. "Until this new job offer, we had planned to retire in Medford this spring. That�ll have to wait for awhile now." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.