The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Midwest Region has welcomed a new regional director. Robyn Thorson took the helm of the eight-state region, headquartered in Ft. Snelling, Minn., on April 21.
Thorson was most recently the Assistant Director for External Affairs for the Service, based at the agencys headquarters in Washington, D.C. She replaces former Midwest Regional Director Bill Hartwig, who has been named as the chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System, a 95-million-acre network of lands and waters administered by the Service for wildlife conservation. Thorsons move is one of a number of changes the Service is making in assignments for members of its top leadership team in several Regional and Washington headquarters offices.
"The people of the Midwest have a proud heritage of appreciating the outdoors and a terrific conservation ethic, and I look forward to contributing to that stewardship as the Services Regional Director," said Thorson. "I especially look forward to working with the Services many state, private and tribal conservation partners in the Midwest."
In her new position, Thorson will oversee Fish and Wildlife Service activities in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. The Midwest Region manages 1.2 million acres of lands and waters on 46 national wildlife refuges and 9 wetland management districts, including more than 240,000 acres in waterfowl production areas. The National Wildlife Refuge System celebrated its Centennial anniversary on March 14, 2003.
The region also manages 6 national fish hatcheries, 9 fisheries stations, 10 ecological services field offices and 18 law enforcement field offices.
As Assistant Director for External Affairs, Thorson supervised the national Fish and Wildlife Service programs for Public Affairs, Congressional and Legislative Affairs, Native American Liaison and Research Coordination. She also provided Washington Office oversight for the Services National Conservation Training Center located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. She served as Assistant Director for External Affairs from August 2000 until March 2003.
Thorson began her federal career in 1985. Her career has taken her to three regional offices of the Service and two separate appointments in the Washington Office for the Service. Immediately prior to her appointment as Assistant Director she worked eighteen months for the U.S. Geological Survey in Seattle, Washington, serving as Associate Regional Chief Biologist for the USGS Biological Resources Division from January 1999 until August 2000.
Almost half of Thorsons Fish and Wildlife Service career was in Alaska. From 1995 to January 1999, she was the Deputy Regional Director for the Alaska Region, and she also worked in Alaska from 1989 to 1993 as Associate Regional Director, responsible for issues related to the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In between these Alaska assignments, from 1993 to 1995, Thorson served as the Assistant Regional Director for Budget & Administration for the Services Southwest Region, headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was the Special Assistant to the Deputy Director of the Service in 1988 and 1989, and before that she worked in the Regional Office in Portland, Oregon, in the Endangered Species program and in Contracting.
A native of Seattle, Washington, Thorson received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Colorado Womens College and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Oregon School of Law. She was an attorney for the State of Washington before starting her federal career and maintains her license to practice law in the State of Washington.
Thorson already has roots in the Midwest; her father was born and raised in Gully, Minnesota, in Polk County, and she still has relatives in that 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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 81 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.
