Frank H. Dunkle; Led Wildlife Service Under Reagan

HELENA, Mont. — Frank H. Dunkle, who headed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under President Ronald Reagan, is dead at age 69.

Dunkle died of heart complications Saturday in Denver, the federal agency said Monday.

Appointed in 1986, Dunkle was criticized by environmentalists for allegedly paying more attention to politics than to protecting natural resources.

In a 1989 report, the General Accounting Office cited mismanagement allegations, including an accusation that political pressure influenced a decision not to list the spotted owl as endangered. The bird was later added to the endangered species list.

Dunkle also was accused of interceding on behalf of Sen. Phil Gramm after property owned by the Texas Republican in Maryland was put under surveillance by Fish and Wildlife agents, who suspected that birds were being baited for hunting.

Dunkle resigned in 1989, denying any wrongdoing.

He was credited with helping create the nation’s first recreational fisheries policy and conservation plans for wetlands and migratory birds. Since 1990, he was a visiting professor at the Colorado School of Mines.

Dunkle was a Montana game warden and Yellowstone National Park ranger while studying wildlife management at Montana State University. In 1963, he was appointed director of the Montana Fish and Game Department.

Survivors include his wife, Cindy, and four children.