Phillips begins his duties at Brussels on November 23, 1998. An open house to meet the manager and discuss future refuge management issues is scheduled for December 15, 1998, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Brussels District Office in Calhoun County, located near Brussels Ferry. Other refuge staff will also be available at the open house to discuss wildlife and public use issues and to share a cup of coffee with friends and neighbors.
Phillips comes to Mark Twains Brussels District after serving as assistant refuge manager for DeSoto and Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuges in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska, along the Missouri River. He also served as assistant manager at Mattamuskeet, Swanquarter and Cedar National Wildlife Refuges in North Carolina, and as a biologist for the Service in Georgia.
Prior to joining the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Phillips was fish and wildlife program manager for the 52,000-acre Fort Jackson Military Reservation in South Carolina; a biological technician at Fort Bragg in North Carolina; and a wildlife technician for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. He received a bachelors degree from North Carolina State University where he studied fish and wildlife sciences.
Dick Steinbach, manager of the Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge Complex said, The Brussels District of Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge includes a unique set of circumstances. Most of the District is located in a very rural setting but it is also very close to the St. Louis metropolitan area. Howard has the broad range of talents and interest to operate the refuge in this setting.
Brussels is the southernmost district of the Mark Twain Refuge Complex. It is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and encompasses about 8,500 acres of bottomland forests, river sloughs and backwaters. The area hosts thousands of ducks and geese during fall migrations, as well as up to 1,000 wintering bald eagles. Hunting, fishing, and wildlife observation are popular activities in the Brussels area.
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
