DNR News
** Archived Article - please check for current information. **
January 26, 2012
Col. Alvin Taylor named new DNR director
The S.C. Department of Natural Resources Board named Col. Alvin Taylor as permanent director of the agency during the regular Board meeting on Jan. 26 in Columbia. Taylor replaces John Frampton, who is retiring in March.
Taylor of Yonges Island in Charleston County, replaced Col. J. Alvin Wright as deputy director of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Law Enforcement Division in 2004.
A 1976 graduate of Clemson University, Taylor completed training at the U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Training Center in Yorktown, Va., in 1976 and graduated from the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy in 1977. In 1977, Taylor joined the state Wildlife and Marine Resources Department, predecessor of the DNR, as a private first class, teaching boating education classes and investigating recreational boating accidents statewide.
He has served as a sergeant, lieutenant, captain, major, supervising the DNR boating safety and hunter education programs, various law enforcement regions of the state and the agency's coastal marine law enforcement operations.
In addition to his supervisory duties, Taylor has been an active member of the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, serving as South Carolina's State Boating Law Administrator and as National Association of State Boating Law Administrators' president in 2003. He instituted the Joint Enforcement Agreement between DNR and the National Marine Fisheries Service. His proposed Joint Enforcement Agreement presentation to the Senate Commerce Committee of the U.S. Congress led to funding for the program in 1998. Working with the U.S. Coast Guard, Taylor has been heavily involved in port security along South Carolina's coast and coordinated state security for the raising of the H.L. Hunley in Charleston.
Taylor is a certified SCUBA diver and for several years supervised the DNR Aquatic Investigations and Recovery Unit dive team. He is also past president of the S.C. Wildlife Law Enforcement Officers Association.
Among his many honors and awards, Taylor received the Carroll A. Campbell, Jr., Leadership Award. He also received a Meritorious Public Service Commendation from the Department of Homeland Security in 2004, Patriotic Employer Award from the National Committee for Employer Support of the National Guard and Reserve in 2003, and the DNR Meritorious Service Award in 1997.
Taylor was born in Mullins. He and his wife, Marian, have two children: a son, Lee, and a daughter, Wyatt. Taylor and his family reside in Yonges Island.
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