J i m  B e s l e y 

Name: Jim Besley

Title: Information Technology Specialist

Responsibilities: Computers / GIS / Web

Origin: Jacksonville, Arkansas

Education: University of Arkansas - Monticello

Jim transferred to us from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in April 2000. Jim was a cartographer at the Mid-Continent Mapping Center located in Rolla, Missouri. He brought, along with his cartographic skills, knowledge of Geographic Information Systems or GIS. He also has an eye for graphics and is handy using Photoshop and Powerpoint.

Since coming to the Service, Jim has extended IT help to other Service offices located in state. He, along with our student at the time, Kevin Nguyen, installed local area networks (LANs) in the headquarters of Felsenthal and Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuges. He and Kevin, who has moved on to work for local informational database company Acxiom, installed the LAN and telephone infrastructure at the field office's current location.

Jim also teaches a cartographic design course with Kurt Snider of the Tennessee Field Office in Cookeville. Together they developed a fun and informative course that they teach at the Service's National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, WV and at the Regional GIS Conference in Cookeville. They're slated to present a condensed version of the course at this year's Arkansas GIS Users Conference in Eureka Springs.

Jim has been a "Jack of all trades" in our office. He's our Network Administrator, Lotus Notes Administrator, Systems Administrator, Graphic Artist, GIS Technician, Webmaster AND he takes care of our fleet of vehicles.

On the personal side, Jim likes his old motorcycle that he took possession of in October 2005 from a fella in Huntsville, AL. We all know that it's a 1981 Yamaha SR500 that he says he's wanted since he was a 19 year old airman at Fort Meade, Maryland. He tells everyone, "It's a thumper", we're not sure what that means, but we'll take his word for it.

Besides riding his "thumper", Jim enjoys shooting his Glock 9mm and Same Ole Joe's Pizza (not necessarily in that order). Jim says you've got to try Joe's Cheeseburger Pizza. But there's something about putting pickles and mustard on a pizza that just doesn't sound right. We'd recommend the Chicken Ranch if you prefer your cheeseburgers from a burger joint. Speaking of which, you've got to try C.J's Burger Boy at the Hwy 7 exit in Russellville ... AWESOME!

Jim is a family guy who enjoys his time away from the office with his wife and FIVE kids. He and his wife homeschool the kids and treasure their time together as a family. When you see The Besleys show up at the office, you would think that a parade had been re-routed through the office. 8-)