Alaska's Only Woman USF&W Refuge Manager: Leslie A. Kerr, FASLA by Kay Tiller, Executive Regional Editor "It's 70 degrees below zero when you figure in the wind chill factor," Leslie Kerr told me by phone on a recent evening from Kotzebue (Kot'-ze-bu'), Alaska. The headquarters city for the Selawick National Wildlife Refuge where Leslie Kerr, FASLA, recently became Refuge Manager is 26 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Leslie noted, "[On December 5th], the sun rose at 12:09 p.m. and set at 3:30 p.m. We're losing daylight at the rate of about 20 minutes a day." Ms. Kerr has learned to make the most of her time since joining the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USF&W) in February 1980 in Minnesota, her home state. When the opportunity presented itself in 1982, she transferred to Alaska where she became a Refuge Planning Team Leader, continuing in that position until she went back to Harvard in 1988 on a Loeb Fellowship. "At Harvard, I studied natural resource and landscape ecology and public policy and that knowledge is continuing to be put into practice in my work today." Actually, that knowledge was put to work immediately following that year in Boston when she returned to Alaska from "The Lower 48." "When I first got back, I did a lot of work on the Exxon oil spill and was sent to Valdez to dismantle the oil spill field office. Then I was sent to Kodiak Island and the Shelikof Strait to monitor the pelagic birds and count waterfowl, determining those that had been affected by the oil spill," she explained. Following her field work, she returned to the main USF&W Alaska Office in Anchorage and was promoted to Chief of Planning. In this capacity, she is responsible for the planning of more than ten million acres of wildlife refuges in Alaska. A number of the plans for the individual refuges have won major awards from both the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and other major organizations ". . . [though] Selawick was not one that I had anything to do with as far as the planning was concerned," she said. "[But] that's good because I had no history here, and I could come in and take a fresh look at what was to be accomplished." The Selawick Refuge was established to encompass approximately 3.2 million acres (5,000 square miles), of which about 2.15 million acres of land is federally owned. The refuge contains a variety of landscapes from alpine tundra and large river deltas to mountains, glacial valleys, sand dunes, and mud beaches. All types of land animals are found in the Refuge--moose, brown and black bear, and all of the major fur bearing animals. The entire Selawick River drainage is a significant fall and spring migration corridor, staging area and wintering ground for caribou. Over 160 species of birds have been documented and the extensive refuge wetlands support one of the highest breeding densities of waterfowl in the northwest region of Alaska, with birds from all four of the North American flyways. Questioned about the weather in Kotzebue, Leslie said, "Having been here in the dead of winter, I knew what I would be facing and I knew I'd like it. I did, however, buy two things before I left Anchorage--a hot tub and a 'snow go.' Both those things I need up here!" (She noted that snowmobiles are called "snow gos" by the Inupiat Eskimos, the primary natives in Kotzebue, while the Athabaska Indians further south refer to them as "snow machines.") Just getting into her new position, Leslie commented that there are a number of things that she wants to accomplish and there is a lot about which she has not yet been totally briefed. "It is going to be a real challenge," she concluded, "but it is one I am ready to meet and am looking forward to with great enthusiasm!" I might note that Leslie Kerr is not only the lone female Refuge Manager in Alaska, but in one of only 18 female Refuge Managers throughout the 500+ Refuges under the USF&W System.--Kay Tiller. ----- Float planes provide an important mode of access for wildlife refuge field crews . . . and Refuge Managers like Leslie Kerr, FASLA, who took to the air to photograph these views of Selawick National Wildlife Refuge. All photos by Leslie Kerr. Ms. Kerr's Harvard studies of natural resource and landscape ecology and public policy are widely applicable to the alpine tundra, large river deltas, mountains, glacial valleys, sand dunes, and mud beaches of the 3.2 -million-acre (5,000-square-mile) Selawick refuge. For instance, the tundra wetlands of the Kobuk River Delta (pictured) provide an important waterfowl habitat. Meander scars and cut-off oxbow lakes created by Selawick Wild River provide dynamic and healthy habitat for fur bearing mammals and birds from all of the North American flyways. The Selawick Wild River drainage area is a significant fall and spring migration corridor, whose extensive refuge wetlands support one of the highest breeding densities of waterfowl in the northwest region of Alaska.