The Oklahoma Ecological Services (OES) Field Office, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was
established in 1951, under the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's old Office of River Basin Studies, primarily to coordinate with the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the extensive water resources development projects in the Tulsa District.
Over the past 50 years, OES has become diversified, with responsibilities in a number of conservation areas
involving fish and wildlife resources of Federal interest throughout Oklahoma.
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The OES follows the policy of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) in operating on the principle of biodiversity. This term can be defined as the variety of living
organisms found within a particular geographic area, and the processes associated with their life history.
Conserving the diversity of biological resources is essential to sustaining stable ecosystems, which
ultimately support all life, including humans. Service programs are increasingly targeted
toward biodiversity conservation, while maintaining a habitat focus and an understanding of the needs of
people, as well as those of fish and wildlife resources.
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Management of biological resources from an ecosystem perspective is very closely related to the
conservation of biodiversity. Rather than managing or restoring the habitat of single species, the concept
of ecosystem management requires that the needs of the entire biological community within an ecosystem
be taken into account when management decisions are made. Formation of partnerships, whether
intra-agency, among agencies, with private groups, or with individual landowners, is key to the success
of the ecosystem management approach. The Service began implementing an
agency-wide ecosystem management effort in 1994 based on river basin boundaries. Oklahoma lies
within the Service's Arkansas-Red River Ecosystem.
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