It is an honor and privilege to see people come into our world or depart it. I feel blessed to have witnessed both in my life.
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| Robert O. Halstead |
Noted wildlife conservationist Robert O. Halstead died on Monday, October 25, at his home in Virginia Beach. Halstead was born in Munden, Virginia, in 1921. He grew up hunting, trapping, boating, and fishing on Back Bay and Currituck Sound. Halstead served in the U.S. Navy, 1945-1946, and from 1947 to 1948, was a Virginia state game warden. In 1949, he began a distinguished law enforcement career with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For more than 30 years, Halstead was involved in virtually every aspect of wildlife management and conservation law. He was a strong advocate of Federal and state programs to promote gun and boat safety, acquire critical wildlife habitat, and expand public opportunities for hunting and fishing. Halstead frequently educated government officials and members of Congress about these issues during hunting and fishing trips. In 1970, Halstead was awarded one of American Motors Conservationist of the Year Awards for developing and implementing programs teaching young people about wildlife.
Halstead loved to hunt ducks and geese, with shotgun and camera. He said he had been born at just the right time, to help enforce the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which outlawed market hunting and laid the foundation for U.S. waterfowl sport shooting. As Federal Agent-in-Charge for North Carolina, he developed special expertise in waterfowl management. His responsibilities included bird banding and population surveys, and advising Washington on policy development, as well as law enforcement. Halstead specialized in undercover investigations to break up illegal commercial hunting for ducks up and down the Atlantic Flyway.
In the 1970s, as a special undercover agent, operating nationally out of a fake business in Delaware, he deployed similar techniques to enforce the Endangered Species Act. He was well-known among his peers for actions against the illegal trade in eagle feathers and sea turtle jewelry, and for a landmark case against illegal trophy hunting for desert bighorn sheep. After retirement, Halstead was revealed nationally as the “Undercover Wildlife Agent,” based on James Phillips’ 1981 book by that title, about his major investigations in Alaska, California, Louisiana, and other states.
For most of the past three decades, Halstead was resident manager of The Flyway on Knots Island, North Carolina, a private hunting lodge owned by his long-time friends, former Congressman Ogden R. (“Brownie”) Reid, and his wife Mary Louise Reid, of New York. He was active in the Back Bay Restoration Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving water quality and wetlands. He was President of the North Carolina Salt Water Sport Fishing Association in the 1960s, and a member of Ducks Unlimited. He was a member of the Masonic Orr Lodge 104 of Washington, N.C. for half a century.
Halstead was a kind and generous man, beloved by family members and many special friends. He once said he learned the art of hospitality from his mother and the art of politics from his father. His door was always open to neighbors, hunting and fishing enthusiasts, conservationists, local community leaders, and elected officials. He was “Uncle Robert” to 20 nieces and nephews. He loved, and was loved by, his many dogs, including Brownie, Peppie, Rip, Bessie, and Mike, but especially Mim, a black lab he owned for 20 years.
He was preceded in death by his mother, Malinda West Halstead; his father, Roland O. Halstead; his siblings, Mildred H. Johnson, W. Ray Halstead, Hattie Halstead, Helen H. Chessman, Otto V. Halstead, Rowland O. (Sonny) Halstead, Mary H. Lindsey, and Betty Mae Halstead.
He is survived by his sisters, Rosa H. Grimstead, and Florence H. Weidman; his children, Barbara (Walter) Humphries, Suzanne (John) Hoffman, and Robert J. (Margaret) Halstead; by 6 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren; and by Gus, his last dog.
