Contacts
Bruce Woods (907) 786-3695
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has named Jim Hjelmgren the new Regional Chief of Refuge Law Enforcement for the National Wildlife Refuge System in Alaska.
Hjelmgren has worked for the U.S. Department of the Interior for more than 20 years, completing his Seasonal Park Ranger Training in the summer of 1985, while still in college. Upon graduation, he accepted his first law enforcement position as a seasonal Park Ranger at Redwood National Park near Crescent City, California. Later assignments with the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took Hjelmgren from California to Tennessee and from Minnesota to North Dakota, with a brief seasonal stint in Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve in 1990. Most recently (from July, 2004 until last month) he worked as a Zone Officer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the State of Wisconsin.
Hjelmgren is grateful for the opportunity to return to Alaska. In his new position he'll oversee the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's law enforcement responsibilities on Alaska's 16 national wildlife refuges, which cover a total of some 76 million acres.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska Regional Director Tom Melius said, "Jim's diverse background promises to make him a real asset to Alaska?s National Wildlife Refuge System. In state after state and from one position of responsibility to another, he's consistently demonstrated an ability to work with a variety of partners and resource users, while never forgetting his duties to the fish and wildlife that the Service manages in trust for the people of America."
Interested media can obtain a digital photograph of Jim Hjelmgren by contacting Bruce Woods at the number above.
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 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources 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 and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
fws
For more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
visit our home page at http://www.fws.gov
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