Superior Woman--Summer 2020--Final Edition

FAMILY
tradition
BY DALE HEMMILA
Editor’s Note: Earlier in 2019 we shared the story of Stacy Welling Haughey, as the first female to serve as the
Upper Peninsula Regional Coordinator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. We thought Stacy
was quite accomplished in her role and apparently the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) agreed,
as later in the year Haughey was presented with the MUCC’s 2019 Unsung Hero Award for her work as an
“integral connector of U.P. stakeholders, bringing understanding and two-way communication to the people of the
U.P.” Superior Woman was glad we were able to recognize Welling Haughey’s accomplishments then and wanted
to re-publish her story in this edition of the magazine. Congratulations, Stacy!
Stacy Welling Haughey grew up immersed in the natural resources that
surrounded her childhood home in the Upper Peninsula, learning how to
fish and hunt.
The Welling family had always been engaged with the great outdoors.
So much so, that her grandfather, Gerald Welling, was a conservation
officer with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
And then, he was killed by a poacher.
Gerald Welling was on duty, patrolling for illegal bear hunting activity in
Menominee County, when he was killed by poachers in 1972.
That event changed Welling Haughey’s family unit, and, though she
was not yet born when that tragedy took place, it became a part of family
lore that made an impact on her life.
“I was the kid on the playground defending the DNR,” she said. “If
anyone said anything bad about the officers, I was the one supporting
them.
“I wanted to be a conservation officer,” she said, pointing back to when
she was kid.
Though she initially followed a different career path, she ultimately
took a job that certainly would have made her grandfather proud: since
2008, Welling Haughey has served as the Upper Peninsula Regional
Coordinator for the Michigan DNR.
An Upper Peninsula native, Welling Haughey graduated from North
Central High School in the southern U.P. She went on to earn two
degrees from Northern Michigan University: a bachelor’s degree in
business management, and a master’s degree in public administration.
Following a stint in development and community relations for OSF
St. Francis Hospital in Escanaba, she moved into public service, first as
Governor Jennifer Granholm’s Northern Michigan Representative. She
was then tapped to be deputy chief of staff for U.S. Representative Bart
Stupak, working out of the Congressman’s Washington D.C. office.
“That was such a good growth experience,” she said recently as she
reflected on some previous career activities. “I got to work for someone I
respected, and for the district, and I got exposure as to how government
works.”
After coming back home to Michigan to work on the Congressman’s
2008 re-election campaign, Welling Haughey felt a strong pull to return
to her roots.
“I loved being home, I loved being with family, and I knew I had to
figure out a way to stick around,” she said.
That “way” popped up when the DNR regional coordinator position
was posted in October of 2008.
“I looked at that and said, ‘Wow, this would be a great opportunity,’”
she recalled.
She knew, based on her family’s experience in losing her grandfather,
that working for the DNR wasn’t “just a job.”
It was a calling.
As it turned out, her wish to be part of the DNR was fulfilled when she
was hired by then-Michigan DNR Director Rebecca Humphries, but at
first it seemed to come with the caveat of, “be careful what you wish for.”
As the first woman — and an outsider — in the top DNR position in
the U.P., did not initially sit well with longtime observers of the agency.
“It was not easy,” she said. “I came from the outside, and on paper it
looked like I landed from Capitol Hill.”
Among the comments she recalled hearing were: “unqualified,” “political
hack,” “this girl is coming from D.C.; what does she know?”
While she came to the job with excellent professional credentials, she
faced several challenges. First, she was new to the department, which had
typically filled position from within. Second, she faced questions about
her knowledge related to the state’s natural resources and field work. And
third, her gender was a sea change in that position.
Early in her tenure, she sat down with a veteran outdoor reporter, and
she recalled their initial exchange.
Reporter: “You’re the first woman in this job, how does it feel to be a
woman in this job hired by a woman?”
Welling Haughey: “Well, I never considered that, but how would that
be different if I was a man hired by a man. Would you still ask that?”
SUMMER 2020 SUPERIORWOMAN.NET 21