Gilbertson will manage operations at the 5,000-acre refuge, which includes the recently opened Neal Smith Prairie Learning Center. The Learning Center is a state-of-the-art facility that provides recreational and educational opportunities for visitors and students. The refuge, one of six in Iowa, was created in 1990 with a mission to re-establish open expanses of tallgrass prairie and oak savanna, which were native to Iowa prior to settlement. Managed wildlife on the refuge includes recently re-established American bison and elk herds, the endangered Indiana bat and other species of prairie wildlife.
Gilbertson comes to Neal Smith NWR from Bill Williams River NWR in Parker, Arizona, where she served as refuge manager for six years. Gilbertson, originally from North Dakota, began her Service career in 1979 as a cooperative education student, majoring in wildlife science at New Mexico State University. She has also served at Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR in Texas, Red Rock Lakes NWR in Montana, and Buenos Aires NWR in Arizona.
Having grown up on the prairie, I feel as though moving to the Neal Smith Refuge brings my career full-circle, Gilbertson said. Participating in the prairie restoration effort at the refuge means a lot to me personally and professionally. Im looking forward to being a member of a great refuge team and the local community.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
