Kauffeld comes to Region 3 from the Services headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he served as National Water Rights Coordinator for the Division of Refuges. The Winfield, Kansas, native is happy to be back in the Midwest, and is looking forward to the challenges and rewards of his new position. The regional refuge supervisors have one of the most important jobs in the Service in terms of influencing the Refuge system and the natural resources we manage, Kauffeld said. My first priorities are to establish contact with folks in the field. I want to let them know that Im someone who is very interested in their accomplishments, and sincerely cares about the work they do. They are the people that deliver the natural resource programs in the Big Rivers 320,000 acres or refuge lands. Im proud to be working with them.
Kauffeld began his Service career as a wildlife biologist in 1978, working at the Ecological Services Field Office in Columbus, Ohio. A year later, he became a refuge biologist at Alamos/Monte Vista NWR in Colorado, a position he held for five years. Kauffeld has been attached to the National Wildlife Refuge System ever since, holding positions at San Luis NWR in California, Arrowwood NWR in North Dakota, Rainwater Basin NWR in Nebraska. While serving as an acquisition biologist in Nebraska, Kauffeld helped launch Boyer Chute NWR, a 10,000 acre refuge along the Missouri River in eastern Nebraska.
Kauffeld holds a Masters Degree in Wildlife Management from the University of Nevada-Reno, and a Bachelors Degree in Natural Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kauffeld, his wife, Marlene and son, Chris reside in Eagan, Minn.
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 comprised of more than 500 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fish and wildlife management assistance 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 wildlife agencies.
For more information about the Service, please visit our web site at: http://midwest.fws.gov
