Pardos other Service assignments include assistant manager positions at Edwin B. Forsythe Refuge in New Jersey, Bigstone and Minnesota Valley Refuges in Minnesota, the Fergus Falls Wetland Management District in Minnesota, and Horicon Refuge in Wisconsin.
Pardo said she is very happy to be "getting back home" to Minnesota and is looking forward to the challenges of administering one of the States unique wildlife areas.
A native of the Twin Cities, she attended Bemidji State University and then the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Management and Biology.
Pardos interests include a variety of outdoor activities, physical fitness, and music. She will be making her home in the northern Twin Cities suburb of Maple Grove, Minnesota.
Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge includes approximately 30,000 acres of wetlands, woodlands, oak savannah, and open grasslands that harbor sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans, bald eagles, waterfowl, and other wildlife. Restoring much of the areas native prairie using prescribed burning has been a major emphasis the last few years.
The Refuge was established in 1965 to preserve and enhance migratory birds and other wildlife while providing wildlife-oriented public use and education. It is located approximately 50 miles north of the Twin Cities off of U.S. Highway 169.
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
