Donna Stanek Oral History Transcript

Donna describes her childhood, education and how she began to work with the US Fish & Wildlife Service in September 1978 at the age of 22 years old.  She describes the agencies she worked for, her duty stations and her responsibilities. Her first duty station was J.N. “Ding Darling NWR in Sanibel, FL.  Donna worked in the Visitor Services program for 4 years. She went back to Southern Illinois University and got her Masters in Recreation and Resource Management and did her thesis at Crab Orchard NWR setting up surveys and getting a visitor analysis for proposed changes. Donna returned to the Service and was assigned to Felsenthal NWR in Arkansas in Visitor Services in 1983. The Corps of Engineers was building several access sites and recreational facilities with the Refuge, which was a mitigation refuge on the Ouachita River. In 1986, Donna moved to San Francisco Bay NWR which had a large Interpretive and Environmental program as a supervisor of the staff. Donna then transferred to Lompoc Federal Prison Camp in California where she developed an Education & Outdoor Recreation Program for about 350 “inmates”.  After a couple of years, she transferred to the Army Corps of Engineers in Sacramento as an Outdoor Recreation Planner in natural resources working on Environmental Impact Statements. Donna talks about being offered a job as a Regional Interpretive Specialist in the Region 4 Regional Office. However, after the Regional Director abolished the Visitor Services Branch and merged the staff with External Affairs, Donna transferred to the Lower Mississippi River Valley in Crossett, Arkansas.  Donna worked on the refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP).  She later became the Branch Chief in the Region 3 Regional Office in Minneapolis and retired as the Deputy Refuge Chief in Region 2, Albuquerque, NM.  She ended her interview with some good advice for women working with Refuges.