Jim Kurth

Jim Kurth graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1978 with a degree in wildlife management and biology. He began his career as a biological technician with the U.S Forest Service on the Wayne National Forest in Ohio. 

Jim transferred to the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service in 1979 as assistant refuge manager at Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. He served as an assistant refuge manager at Loxahatchee NWR in Florida, Bogue Chitto NWR in Louisiana, and Seney NWR in Michigan. He then served as refuge manager of the seven refuges in Rhode Island and Connecticut. After a tour in the Alaska Regional Office in Anchorage, he served as the manager of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from 1994 to 1999. 

Jim then moved to the Washington Office and served as Deputy Chief (1999-2011) and Chief (2011-2015) of the National Wildlife Refuge System, then Deputy Director of the Service from 2015 until his retirement in June 2019.