The Services Private Lands Program works cooperatively with landowners and conservation partners to restore privately owned fish and wildlife habitats. Ward will be responsible for working with private landowners who are interested in conserving or restoring wildlife habitat on their property, especially wetland habitats. Ward will provide technical advice and assistance in restoration work and guide efforts to manage lands for the benefit of migratory birds, endangered species, and native fish and wildlife species.
Ward comes to the Service from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources where he most recently served as a district wildlife biologist in northwestern Indiana, helping private landowners conserve habitat for wildlife. Ward began his career with the DNR in 1980 at Jasper-Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area before becoming assistant property manager at Kankakee Fish and Wildlife Area in 1985. He returned to Jasper-Pulaski as assistant manager in 1989 and was promoted to district wildlife biologist in 1992.
Ward is a 1979 graduate of Ball State University where he earned a bachelor of science degree with a major in natural resources. He is active in the Indiana Chapter of The Wildlife Society, and the Yellow River Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. He is based at Kankakee State Fish and Wildlife Area near North Judson, Indiana; phone 574-896-3999.
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 95 million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses nearly 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 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 programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, visit our website at http://midwest.fws.gov
