"Im excited to come back to Missouri and to be a part of this project," Bell said. "The stretch from St. Louis to Kansas City is a large section of river, the people and towns in each county along the way have different methods of operating and different attitudes. Im looking forward to working with everyone involved in this project. Once you get big river in your blood, its always there. Im looking forward to the project ahead."
Bell, returns to Missouri from Minnesota, where hes managed the Litchfield Wetland Management District for nearly four years. A 22-year veteran of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bell has also held several positions in Missouri. He served as assistant refuge manager at Mingo National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Missouri from 1977 to 1984, and Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Missouri from 1984 to 1988. He spent seven years working with Mississippi River issues at Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge (approximately 20 miles north of St. Louis) from 1988 to 1995.
Bell is a 1974 graduate of the University of Missouri in Columbia. He earned a Masters Degree in Park and Recreation Administration in 1983.
As refuge manager, Bell will oversee the Services proposed expansion of the Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife refuge from its current size of just over 7,100 acres, to up to 60,000 acres along the Missouri River from St. Louis to Kansas City. Bell will work cooperatively with the states landowners, businesses, local governments and private groups to establish, restore and preserve the refuge.
The Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, headquartered in Columbia, Mo., was created in 1994, and consists of approximately 7,100 acres of bottomland forests, lakes, sloughs, cropland and moist soil units. Much of the land for the refuge came from landowners whose land was covered with several feet of sand by flooding in 1993. More than 1,500 people visit the Refuge annually.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprising more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries 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 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://www.fws.gov/r3pao/
