OSU News Service

An Oregon State University graduate who coined the phrase "watchable wildlife" has left an estate gift worth more than $1.5 million to the OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, permanently endowing the Bob and Phyllis Mace Watchable Wildlife chair and an annual scholarship fund.

Bob Mace died in November 2006. He was preceded in death by his wife, Phyllis.

The gift extends the financial support the Maces provided OSU during their lives, enabling the university to continue research and promotion of issues related to "watchable wildlife" - the phrase Bob Mace first used in 1979 to describe small animals and birds, which until then had been called "non-game."

Mace, a 1942 OSU fisheries and wildlife graduate, was the deputy director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife at the time, and the phrase he coined has permanently changed the way people thought of birds and small animals, including everything from raccoons to salamanders to butterflies. It is now used extensively by government wildlife agencies on the local, state and federal level.

"Bob believed that a more positive way to refer to these species, so many of which are admired by nature lovers, would foster the respect they deserved," said Bruce Dugger, an assistant professor at OSU who holds the Mace Watchable Wildlife Chair.

The chair provides annual resources for the faculty member to use for research and outreach on issues related to "watchable wildlife," said Dan Edge, head of OSU's Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. The Mace Watchable Wildlife Chair is a five-year appointment.

As the holder of the Mace chair, Dugger focuses much of his research on wetland birds and is conducting workshops on wetlands management for wildlife. He also helped establish the Mace Watchable Wildlife Web site, which includes a roster of "citizen science" opportunities and, for the first time, compiles on a single Web site a range of watchable wildlife options throughout Oregon. The Web site address is http://fw.oregonstate.edu/mace.

The Maces' son, Richard, said his parents' charitable contributions enhance the profound impact his father had on Oregon's natural resources.

"It does my heart good to know that this endowment and scholarship fund are having a real impact and that they are carrying on our father's legacy," said Richard Mace, who also is an OSU graduate.