Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District benefits from Great American Outdoors Act

We at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are excited to announce that Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District was selected to hire three new maintenance positions funded through the Great American Outdoors Act, which was signed into law in 2020. The act uses revenues from energy development to provide funding for needed maintenance for critical facilities and infrastructure at national wildlife refuges, national parks, forests and recreation areas. Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District was one of the areas chosen to host a group of maintenance professionals that will utilize heavy equipment and various trade skills to perform earthwork activities, as well as basic carpentry, masonry, plumbing and electrical work to repair and improve infrastructure facilities across the National Wildlife Refuge System.

The three new maintenance positions will be based at Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District, in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota and support projects across the upper midwest. The positions will offer a competitive salary and full federal benefits, including paid annual leave, sick leave and federal holidays. Applications for these new positions will be accepted in early April through USAJobs, the federal government hiring website. If you have any questions, please call Laurel Kullerud at 218-849-3105.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service welcomes approximately 54 million people to refuges each year. Their spending generates $3.2 billion dollars in sales to local economies, employing more than 41,000 people and provides $1.1 billion dollars in employment income. The type of work that will be completed will allow the continued use of refuges by wildlife and the American public.

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 agency manages the 150-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 562 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 fish and wildlife management 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 grant programs that distribute hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.