Don Hultman Oral History Transcript

Don was born and raised in Minnesota.  After a two-year enlistment with the US Marine Corps, Don studied at the University of Minnesota, graduating with a degree in Technical Communications (Wildlife), and later, a M.A. in Environmental Education.  He worked a year for the IRS before getting his first job in 1979 with the USFWS as an Outdoor Recreation Planner at Tamarac NWR (MN).   He worked at Tamarac for approximately 4 years, then made the career switch to the refuge management series, working at Seney NWR (MI), Devils Lake WMD (ND), Valley City WMD (ND), and Benton Lake NWR and WMD (MT) from 1984-91.  He moved to the Twin Cities Regional Office in 1991 where he worked as a refuge operations specialist in the Refuge Ascertainment Branch, working to establish Crane Meadows and Rydell national wildlife refuges in Minnesota.  He became an assistant refuge supervisor, acting refuge supervisor, and chief of refuge operations from 1992-98, then moved to the USFWS Headquarters in Washington DC where he worked as the Deputy Chief of the Refuge System.  There he was the lead planner for the first ever refuge system project leader conference at Keystone, Colorado, and was the lead planner and editor of the Refuge System Vision Document: Fulfilling the Promise. Don returned to the Twin Cities Regional Office in 1999 as a Refuge Supervisor.  In 2002 he became the Project Leader of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge where he became the first GS 15 graded refuge project leader.  He led the development and completion of the Upper Miss Comprehensive Conservation Plan and its Environmental Impact Statement – an effort that faced extraordinary public input and controversy.  He coordinated the completion of Federal Register rules that implemented significant elements of the CCP.  Don received the Refuge Manager of the Year award and the Department’s Meritorious Service Award in 2007.  He retired in 2009.