Environment: A Sharpshooter at Interior

The custodian of U.S. wildlife makes the feathers fly

Rising from behind his large wooden desk, G. (for George) Ray Arnett proudly points to the hunting trophies that adorn his Washington office. They include a bobcat skin, the head of a white-tailed deer and a stuffed pheasant. Pausing at a side table, he picks up a two-foot-long bonelike object. "That?" says Arnett, with barely concealed delight. "That's an usuk, the private part of a male walrus. Eskimos use it in their ceremonies as a fertility symbol." Ambling back to his chair, he chuckles: "Some...