U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identifies its Region 3 as Great Lakes - Big Rivers Region

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has incorporated the two predominant geographical features of the midwestern states into a new name for its Region 3 - "Great Lakes - Big Rivers." The complexity of the Mississippi River and Great Lakes ecosystems parallels the diversity found within the eight-state Region, which consists of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Region 3 of the Service previously was titled "North Central." According to Regional Director Sam Marler, the new designation of "Great Lakes - Big Rivers&quotWill provide better identity. "My experience has been that many people who live both within this geographic region, and those who live elsewhere, readily associate these States with their big rivers such as the Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi, and, of course, with the Great Lakes most of them abut," Marler said.

The Great Lakes ecosystem is the largest system of fresh, surface water on earth. Over 750 miles of freshwater seas provide water for consumption, transportation, power, recreation and a host of other uses for millions of American and Canadian citizens.

The Mississippi River, which cuts our Nation in two, is often called the fourth coast of the United States. This significant ecosystem forms the largest remaining unfragmented strip of habitat for migrating waterfowl and neotropical birds, and serves as a drainage basin for 38 states.

From the tallgrass prairie, the shoreline dune, the northern coniferous forest and the oak savanna habitats contained within the Great Lakes - Big Rivers Region, the Service is the primary Federal agency responsible for the protection, conservation and enhancement of its fish and wildlife resources.

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