Troy Littrell, a ten-year veteran of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is the new refuge manager at
Littrell began his career with the Service through the Cooperative Education Program in 1995. He worked as a Refuge Manager Trainee at
"The community has welcomed my family with open arms, and I am excited about making Eufaula home. I am impressed with the community support and their knowledge of the refuge. One of my goals is to establish a Friends group for Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge and from what I can already see about this community, it really looks promising," said Littrell.
"I also have an interest in environmental education and providing an outdoor classroom for our local schools. We reside in a rural area and most of these students do not have an opportunity to visit a big zoo or some other exhibit, but we have an even better learning experience available right next door on the refuge. I will work to develop a positive outreach program for this station because it is so important for the young people who live here," continued Littrell.
Littrell holds a bachelor's degree in Wildlife Biology from the University of Tennessee at Martin. He and his wife, Dianne, have one daughter, Abigail, who is three years old. Littrell enjoys hunting deer, waterfowl, and turkey, and he enjoys Southeastern Conference football.
Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1964 to provide food and resting habitat for wood ducks and other migratory waterfowl on the Walter F. George Reservoir (Lake Eufaula) in cooperation with the Corps of Engineers and with strong support of key leaders of Eufaula, Alabama. The reservoir resulted from impoundment of the Chattahoochee River, which separates Alabama and Georgia. The refuge lies on the upper reaches of the reservoir and consist of 11,184 acres. More than 350,000 visitors annually enjoy hunting, fishing, interpretive programs, wildlife observation, and environmental education.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife, 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 545 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.
Tony Littrell
