Ohio
Click here to download/view the Region 3 Fish and Wildlife Service 2003 Ohio State Fact Book in .PDF format (File size: 317 KB)
Links to Offices and Services in Ohio
National Wildlife Refuges Cedar Point National Wildlife Refuge 419-898-0014 Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge 419-898-0014 West Sister Island National Wildlife Refuge 419-898-0014
Ecological Services Reynoldsburg Ecological Services Office 614-469-6923
Law Enforcement Delaware Law Enforcement Office 614-368-0137 Sandusky Law Enforcement Office 419-625-9713
Other Programs
Federal Aid
Migratory Bird Conservation
North American Waterfowl Management Plan
Partners for Fish and Wildlife
Realty
Other Information
Travel Information
2003 Ohio State Facts
• The Service employs more than 20 people in Ohio
• The Fiscal Year 2002 Resource Management budget for Service activities in Ohio totals $1.9 million
National Wildlife Refuge Facts
• Three National Wildlife Refuges in Ohio total 8,866 acres
• In 2002, more than 127,000 people visited refuges in Ohio to hunt, fish, participate in interpretive programs and view wildlife
• 488 school children participated in Service educational programs
Federal Aid to State Fish and Wildlife Programs
In 2002 Ohio received:
• $6.5 million for sport fish restoration
• $4.2 million for wildlife restoration and hunter education
• Wildlife Restoration Act funds have helped the state of Ohio meet its wildlife management goals through significant land acquisitions for its Wildlife Restoration Projects. One of these acquisitions is the Tri-Valley Wildlife Area, located in Muskingum county. This 16,200-acre reclaimed strip mine was purchased for $4.5 million and will provide increased recreational activities for the public and additional habitat for wildlife.
Threatened Snake Returns to Lake Erie Island
Researchers and biologists in 2002 confirmed that the Lake Erie water snake, a threatened species, has returned to Green Island—the first confirmed sightings for more than 20 years. Managed by the Ohio Division of Wildlife as a wildlife refuge, the 17-acre Green Island is one of the limestone islands in western Lake Erie on which water snakes were found in the 1930s and 1940s. Surveys in the 1980s and 1990s found no water snakes, but on a visit to the island this July, researchers from Northern Illinois University and Fish and Wildlife Service employees captured 10 Lake Erie water snakes and implanted them with tracking tags. They also observed nine more snakes that were not captured.
Ottawa NWR Draws Birds, Visitors, Dollars to Ohio
More than 130,000 visitors flocked to Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in 2002, many of them to see the songbirds, waterfowl and other bird species that use the refuge and the adjacent state-owned Magee Marsh as stopovers during their long migrations. Visitors to the refuge and the marsh, who pump some $5.6 million into the local economy each year, are rewarded with miles of hiking trails, many of them disabled accessible, and the opportunity to observe and photograph birds on a refuge that was recently named as a “birding hotspot” by Birder's World magazine. Ottawa is slated for a new visitor center within three years.
E-Mail Us! R3 External Affairs
Phone: 612/713-5360
V/TTY: 800-657-3775[To Region 3 Home Page] [To USFWS Home Page]
Great Lakes - Big River Region
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1 Federal Drive
BHW Federal Building
Fort Snelling, MN 55111