The J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge recently welcomed two new staff members, Ivy Stewart and Tara Wertz.

Ivy Stewart came on board in August as the refuge’s wildlife refuge specialist and assistant manager. She arrived from National Key Deer Refuge in Big Pine Key where she started as a SCEP (Student Career Experience Program) intern in May 2007 and later moved up to wildlife refuge specialist.

Filling the position vacated by Joyce Mazourek in March 2009, Tara Wertz stepped in as refuge biologist in November 2009 following her 4,200-mile trek from Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she shared an office with former “Ding” Refuge Manager Rob Jess.

Wertz, who has clocked 25 years of work in the field, looks forward to the change in climate, habitat, species and public use.