Chuck Sykes, an outdoors television show producer and longtime wildlife consultant, has been hired as director of the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division.
Chuck Sykes with a South Carolina buck.
The division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has operated under Acting Director Fred Harders for more than a year. Harders, the former Fisheries Section director for the division, also has served as Assistant Director of the Wildlife Division for several years.
Multiple sources confirmed the hire. Sykes has been in the hunting industry for more than a decade as a wildlife and habitat consultant and television producer. He has no prior experience in the public government sector. Sykes has worked with major outdoors companies for his shows and consulting, along with operating hunting lodges in Alabama. Some background on him can be found on his television show site, The Management Advantage.
Sykes reportedly finalized the hiring Thursday, Dec. 27, and is to be formally announced next week. He becomes only the fifth director of the state’s Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries in the last 60-plus years, counting Harders’ term as interim director.
Sykes, of Wetumpka, Ala., turned 42 years old on Friday. He studied wildlife biology at Auburn University and was graduated in 1992.