Kevin J. Kritz - ForeverMissed.com Online Memorials

And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.
- John Muir

Kevin J. Kritz (September 8,1959 – January 13, 2022)

Created in loving memory of Kevin J. Kritz who passed away unexpectedly. We hope that you will join us in preserving the memories, stories, photos, videos, etc. of Kevin's short life. His journey on this planet ended too soon. Now he soars with the eagles.

Donations can be made in Kevin's memory to The Raptor Research Foundation.

The Raptor Research Foundation - DONATE HERE

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April 30, 2022

I met Kevin in his years in Reno with the FWS, and we became fast friends and trusted partners in the common goal of bird conservation. Professionally, I could always count on Kevin to work toward this mission with me, which mattered most in many meetings about complex challenges. He stands out among the top professionals I've met over my 25+ years in this field. Personally, we had so much fun at the migratory bird banding station, for instance, where he would turn up on his free time and always made the day brighter and funnier. We both enjoyed ribbing each other, and he always gave me a hard time like, "where did you leave your tin cup today?" (I work for a non-profit). Anyway, getting ribbed by Kevin was always a sign of affection, as it was the other way around. I miss those fun times! And I will miss Kevin as a key partner in my career and as my friend!

April 3, 2022

We last spoke with Kevin the week of Christmas as we were planning to meet him for a ski trip to Colorado the last week of February. While we had a wonderful week of skiing with beautiful weather, we couldn't help thinking of Kevin and how much we looked forward to sharing this time together. Every time someone would ask about a tree or a bird we'd seen we'd just say "Kevin would have known", and I'm sure he would have known.

My wife Pat and I met Kevin in the summer of 1980 as we were undergraduates at UW-Steven Point and went to summer camp in Europe together. He was one of my roommates and a groomsman in our wedding. We both worked for the federal government (different agencies) and would share "war stories" whenever we met up. He was so looking forward to retirement, moving back to Wisconsin, and following his beloved Badgers.

While his passing is very sad, I know that he had a great life and enjoyed his family, travels, and work (in spite of the paperwork and rules, I think he felt that what he did was meaningful and important).

In some Native American cultures an owl is thought to be a visitor from the dead. While cross country skiing in Iowa in January we were followed by an owl along the trail. It seemed unusual to see an owl during the day like that and especially since it never flew away. We thought maybe Kevin was keeping an eye on us.

Farewell our friend,

Tom and Pat Sauer

January 28, 2022

It was a true pleasure to work with Kev through some large and controversial project reviews late in my career at FWS. His passion, his humor, his sharp wit and firm convictions were fun to be around.

At the end of the day near the end of each work-week, Kev in his usual style--glint in his eye and big grin--would pop his head into my office door. He’d gently slide the door closed, take a seat, and convene “court” on the week’s events. No one, and nothing, was spared. Pretty much anything and pretty much anyone were fair game….not the least, badger, big10, and husker football and basketball. Always in good fun, Kev had myself and colleagues in stitches. His court was a bright spot to blow off the tension of the week. Once or twice I invited Kev on a road trip to Lincoln for Husker-Badger contest, but he declined, saying he was concerned he’d get too carried way and blow his cover as a “good” Badger fan.

I’m so glad to have crossed life’s paths with Kevin. He talked often about getting back to upper Midwest. For the first time, I travelled beautiful Wisconsin last fall and was looking forward to giving him my critique.

In the years since I left FWS whenever I hear a Badger score I smile and think to myself “I wonder what Kev has to say.” I think it will probably always be that way.

January 27, 2022

I first met Kevin in 2010 at a Golden Eagle Science meeting in Fort Collins, and from the start I was impressed with his knowledge and no-nonsense approach to solving complex issues. A year later our company co-hosted the Raptor Research Foundation’s annual conference and Kevin agreed to be on our Conference Committee. This is when I got to know him in a more personal way.

We had regular meetings and Kevin was always prepared, asked good questions, and had creative ideas, particularly about ways to get federal funding. In these meetings I got to see the playful side of Kevin too. I found him to be good-natured and fun to rib, especially about the Green Bay Packers. He had a great laugh and could hold his own.
In the following years I started working with him professionally, me as a consultant and Kevin as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) liaison regarding eagle permits, and avian interactions with wind turbines and power lines. Kevin was up on the regulations and science, and always quick to respond. He was solid with his biology and permit knowledge, plus a stalwart protector of wildlife.

When I organized energy symposia at Raptor Research Foundation Conferences in Corpus Christ, Salt Lake City, and again in Fort Collins, Kevin’s presentations were excellent, speaking on eagle mortality associated with electric utility infrastructure, provided updates from the USFWS on the Eagle Rule and Take Permits, and presented on Golden Eagle mortalities at wind energy facilities..

My most memorable conference with Kevin was to Bariloche, Argentina. Travel began with four of us boarding a flight from Denver with only a couple hour’s layover in Buenos Aries where we had to clear customs before catching the final leg. Much to our surprise, we learned at the airport that our connecting flight from Buenos Aires to Bariloche was at a different airport on the opposite side of town! We were told we would most likely miss our flight. Thus, we embarked on our own episode of Amazing Race, as we hurried through the airport, cleared customs, regathered our bags, hailed a cab and raced to the regional airport in heavy traffic. Of course, we missed our flight, but through it all we were in good spirits, and took it in stride. Fortunately, Maria at the LAN ticked counter took pity on us and cheerfully got us on the next flight, six hours later. It was after midnight when we arrived in Bariloche and, unfortunately, our bags quickly came out; Kevin’s bag did not. There was one shuttle left and the driver was getting impatient waiting for us. Kevin told us to go, but we waited another half hour with him. When the baggage carousel stopped turning Kevin decided there was nothing else to do but join us. We were now 21 hours into travel. I happened to see a lone bag sitting over off to the edge of the carousel. “Is your bag blue?” I asked? “Yes,” Kevin replied. “Why?” I pointed. Anyone who knows Kevin can imagine his sheepish grin as he collected his bag.
I will miss him…

January 21, 2022

I didn’t know Kevin well, and the first time I met him was at a golden eagle workshop in Denver around 2007 or 2008. But I was immediately struck by his seriousness and compassion over his conservation and management charge for golden eagles, a responsibility he was helping oversee in his Fish and Wildlife Service position at that time, and through his untimely death. I would periodically ask Kevin to participate in golden eagle field research (trapping) in Wyoming, which he typically declined because of too many work conflicts. Not until after visiting his office a couple of times, did I understand the full burden of his responsibilities and the depth of his commitment. I’m not sure I have ever seen paperwork stacked so high and over so much of an office space in my life! And even when he was able to join me in the field in 2017, he had to cut his time short in order to take an unexpected conference call. The depth of his institutional knowledge with the Service’s migratory bird management team will be irreplaceable.

Kevin was an easy person to be around and was always kind and warm. I wish I would have been able to spend more time with him, and his passing is a big loss for all of us in the conservation field.

January 20, 2022

I will miss Kevin very much. Seems like just yesterday he appeared at my office door so excited to tell me he had purchased a share of Green Bay Packers stock. For years I had jokingly taunted him that I was a Packers owner and he only a Packers fan because I owned a share of stock. Inconceivable that he could be gone merely a month later. As with all of our frequent discussions about Wisconsin (also my birth and childhood state) sports teams, Wisconsin personal experiences/trivia, the MBTA, other FWS business, and his big plans for retirement, Kevin was always so alive, vital, and enthusiastic. There was no such thing as a short, or dull conversation with Kevin (we both liked to talk). Throughout the COVID pandemic, we were a couple of the last FWS staffers still coming into the office regularly. I still reflexively look for his vehicle in the mostly empty parking lot. We attended Brewers, Packers, and Bucks games together, and even the odd local minor league hockey game. In his last visit to my office we planned a trip together this coming July to attend the Packers stockholders meeting... all very surreal now. I haven't cried until this moment, but am not ashamed to admit the emotional damn has finally burst... Kevin you are missed. My sincere condolences to Kevin's family. He only spoke glowingly of you. I thought you might like to know that.

January 19, 2022

As one with Wisconsin roots and early trainings there, I knew of Kevin as a fellow “wildlifer” from UW-Stevens Point and then of his later graduate work on Cooper’s hawks at U. Missouri. I finally met him as a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service colleague in Denver in 2010 and quickly got to know him, as I held a similar position in the Service’s adjacent Region. From 2011 through 2017, Kevin and I co-chaired a team of biologists from all of the Service’s Regional Migratory Birds offices, first dubbed the “Strike Team” then soon after the “Eagle Programmatic Permit Implementation Team,” mainly working towards resolving potential negative impacts of energy development on eagles and other raptors.

We talked almost weekly during all those years, typically in evenings, to plan and brainstorm on Team business and meeting agendas. But, the chats almost always transitioned to everything from personal philosophies on current natural resource issues and politics to favorite cross-country ski spots in the Milwaukee area, etc., etc. I fondly look back on all that banter especially the times his great sense of humor and fun, witty sarcasm arose.

I’ll remember Kevin in many ways. As a professional, he was among the most relentless, astute, determined, seemingly indefatigable defenders of wildlife resources I’ll ever know, on par with those passionate souls who, against all odds, dedicated their lives to saving wetlands in the “Prairie Pothole Region.” Kevin and I held fairly similar positions in our respective Regional offices and often worked on eagle conservation issues with the same private energy entities, even interacting on projects along our Regions’ boundaries on occasion. Several times, energy folks confided that when it came to conflicts over protecting eagles and other migratory bird resources, Kevin was a force to be reckoned with, a no-nonsense, all-business guy who was always clear, direct, and resolute. At times when many of us Service biologists moved slow or indecisively on tackling difficult conservation procedural and policy questions, Kevin moved ahead promptly and generated guidance documents that the rest of us adopted and the resource benefited from. I and others respected and directly benefited from his leadership and substantial, practical experience.

I very much regret not being able to spend much time in person with him, away from work. His great smile, the twinkle in his eye, and especially his unique big laugh were an absolute joy to be around …unforgettable. Kevin truly was a very sweet, personable man… who else among us run-of-the-mill biologists would make time each year to send Christmas cards to colleagues and friends, and devote much time to nurturing young professionals?

- Bob Murphy, Wildlife Biologist, US Fish & Wildlife Service (retired)

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His Life

Kevin J. Kritz // September 8, 1959 - January 13, 2022

January 19, 2022

Kevin John Kritz died unexpectedly at his home in Denver. He was 62. In this Year of the Tiger and under the Wolf Moon, we mourn the loss of our brother, affectionately nicknamed “Orange Cat”.

Born in Wisconsin to Ira and Evelyn Kritz, the fifth of eight children, he was so inspired by the outdoor activities he enjoyed with his family and the natural beauty of his home state that he chose to pursue a life surrounded by nature, specifically one with wildlife.

The first step to his life's work was taken when he joined the Cub Scouts as a young boy, moving up the ranks to Boy Scout and finally achieving the highest rank of Eagle Scout. Solidifying his lifelong love of the outdoors. He was an avid skier, hiker, birder and camper not only in the mountains of Colorado, where he was so at peace in the splendor of Mother Nature, but loved finding new areas of the world to explore and admire. The majestic National Parks were a frequent destination for him as well as any small natural attraction at the side of the road - all were worth stopping the car for....

For over 44 years, Kevin dedicated his life to Wildlife Biology, serving as a Federal Wildlife Biologist for 33 of them. Focused on conservation efforts in the western United States, he oversaw the management of the Sage Grouse, Bald Eagle, Mountain Quail and Spotted Owl species and their habitat. In his most recent posting at the Lakewood office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service he also focused on eagle and raptor ecology. An individual of integrity, he inspired us all with his passion for protecting endangered species even when it meant taking an unpopular stance in his community.

He traveled the globe to experience and learn about birds of the world and how other professionals were dealing with species in crisis. Regularly attending conferences and meetings; strengthening his resolve in actively working to reduce the impacts of energy development in the paths of migratory birds.

He loved organizing meet-ups around the country with his siblings to share in our mutual passions of sporting events, scenic tours in the great outdoors, or festive regional happenings. A Fan-atic Wisconsin Badger and Green Bay Packer follower, Kevin never missed a game or taking in any chance to cheer for his team.

Professional demeanor aside, Kevin loved to tease and rib his many nieces and nephews, even to be a “goofball” much to their adoring delight. He was devoted to his entire family and made an extraordinary effort to attend every celebratory gathering or mark it with heartfelt acknowledgement.

He was preceded in death by his father, Ira and his brother Kent. He is survived by his mother - Evelyn, siblings - Kiara Kritz-Gamsky (Russ Gamsky), Karla Kritz (Tom Herold), Kristin Kritz (Tim Terleski), Klarise, Kenetta (Charlie Dupré), Kandice (Sean Donnelly), sister-in-law Janna, nieces and nephews – Ben, Sam, Jackie, Vanessa, Halley, Devan, Dilan, Dilise, Padraic and Dominic.

A celebration of life is planned in May when we can gather and honor Kevin’s many accomplishments and to remember his hilarious antics and the fun filled times we spent with him. We miss you dearly, “Uncle Kev”.

The natural world will greatly miss your devotion and passion… you are now free to soar forever!!

Shared via email by: Brian W. Smith / USFWS Mountain-Prairie Region

January 19, 2022

Dear Migratory Bird family:

It is with a very heavy heart that I share with you the sad news of the unexpected passing of Kevin Kritz, a Wildlife Biologist in the Migratory Bird Program in our Lakewood Regional Office. Unfortunately, we have very limited information at this time to share, including any type of memorial, service, etc. We are in touch with his family and will share that information with those that are interested once it is available.

Kevin was a valued member of our team, both nationally and regionally, as he was a fixture in the program that worked tirelessly on eagle, raptor, and migratory bird conservation in the face of some of our most pressing challenges. He joined the Service in 2001 with the Nevada Fish & Wildlife Office in Reno, serving as the lead on sage grouse/sagebrush, bald eagles, migratory birds, and other issues. He joined our regional Migratory Bird team in 2007 as the regional program lead for the delisting of bald eagles, raptor conservation, and as our representative to the Partners In Flight Western Working Group. In 2010, he expanded his role to become our go-to expert for “all things energy, eagles, raptors, regulations/policies, and incidental take of migratory birds,” where he worked collaboratively across Service programs, with State and Tribal partners, and various industries to the benefit of birds and the American public. His impact and reach here cannot be understated.

Given his 30-year federal career and 20-year career with the Service, his list of accomplishments is extensive. I will share a few items that I know he was proud of, and that some of his friends/colleagues have shared as news has spread of his loss:

Kevin was involved with peregrine falcon delisting & monitoring, and bald eagle delisting & permitting of eagle take, from the ground floor. He was long-term Chair or Co-chair of various teams working on the technical and policy aspects of eagle permitting.
Kevin was a long-term and very engaged member of the Raptor Research Foundation and The Wildlife Society (Kevin was very honored to be part of The Wildlife Society's $1,000 campaign). He participated in many conferences, quiz bowls, and seminars over his career, including an RRF meeting in Argentina (which he thoroughly enjoyed!).
Kevin was the MB point person on very high profile projects (e.g., Keystone XL, Chokecherry/Sierra Madre Wind, Ruby Pipeline, etc.) and very “interesting” projects (e.g., Christo’s “Over the River” project that was proposed for the Arkansas River) throughout his career.
Kevin was a walking encyclopedia regarding regulations, policies, and the history behind them, and most importantly, he was always willing to share that information. He was a regular trainer for NCTC’s course on the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and held countless training sessions on our Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act regulations.
Kevin was raised in Wisconsin, and his love of the state, the University of Wisconsin Badger, and the Green Bay Packers never subsided. In fact, Kevin recently became one of the newest members of the Green Bay Packers ownership team when he purchased a share of the team in December 2021. Talking about Wisconsin-based sports teams was one of the things that many of us often talked with Kevin about!
Kevin not only had a passion for the outdoors, migratory birds, and the mission of the Service, but he was also a very compassionate person. He regularly donated leave to other members of the Service family that were in need, he helped support students through mentorship and graduate projects, and was always willing to support a colleague in need of technical assistance.
Kevin loved his family dearly, rarely (or never, that I know of!) missing a family reunion or major family gathering, always traveling to Wisconsin for the holiday season, and hosting various family members in Colorado for skiing and hiking adventures.

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