Our speaker this week is Bob Perry, who will talk about “South Carolina’s Rivers and Waterways.”  Bob is a native of Kershaw, South Carolina. He earned a B.S. in Biology from the University of South Carolina and a M.S. in Wildlife Biology from Clemson University. Prior to graduate school, Bob spent 3 years as an ironworker, raising high steel for erection of electric power plants. He has been employed by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for almost 36 years. During much of that time, his responsibility has been to maintain and manage coastal wetlands where agency emphasis is directed toward meeting the requirements for wintering and migrating waterfowl and other wetland dependent wildlife.  Presently, Bob is the Director of the Office of Environmental Programs of DNR. In this capacity he provides oversight of the agency environmental review and comment on permit and license applications involving action by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. Bob is responsible for coordinating environmental issues with the agency director and DNR Board meshing seamlessly with agency goals and objectives. Bob and his wife Patty, and son Philip, live in Columbia.  Bob’s outside interests include hunting, fishing, golf gourmet cooking and fine woodworking.