Heather Robinson, a seasoned prosecutor with over two decades of experience tackling environmental crimes, will make her debut on the Ohio Wildlife Council during its next meeting on March 20.

Appointed to the council by Gov. Mike DeWine last month, Robinson is the director of the Environmental Crimes Unit for the Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and specializes in prosecuting environmental crimes, including air, water, and land pollution as well as wildlife crimes.

Throughout her career, Robinson’s notable cases include prosecuting individuals who poached reptiles and amphibians from the wild for sale in the pet trade, over-bagged sport fish for sale at restaurants, and poached white-tailed deer to sell meat and parts. Robinson was a prosecutor on a 2015 case regarding illegal interstate trafficking and commercialization of deer, which resulted in the largest restitution value for an individual defendant of a wildlife crimes case in the nation’s history.

A graduate of Michigan State University and The Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law, Robinson has been a prosecutor for 27 years. For 21 years, she has worked on the Environmental Crimes Task Force of Central Ohio, which prosecutes air, land, and water pollution cases. In 2016, she was named the Protectionist of the Year by the League of Ohio Sportsmen, and her environmental crimes unit received the Midwest President’s Award from the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

The Ohio Wildlife Council is an eight-member board that reviews and votes on all Division of Wildlife proposed rules and regulations. Council meetings are open to the public. Individuals interested in providing comments are asked to call 614-265-6304 at least two days before a meeting to register. All comments are required to be three minutes or less.

The Ohio Wildlife Council’s next scheduled meeting is on Wednesday, March 20, at 6 p.m.

Submitted by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.