Meet Our Partners: Maggie O’Connell, Refuge System Visitor Services Branch Chief at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

By Kathy Woodward, National Wildlife Refuge Association Friends Committee Member

How did Maggie O’Connell get from her midwestern roots to being Branch Chief of Visitor Services of the National Wildlife Refuge System? By going east, south, west, and north, according to Maggie.

Maggie grew up in the Chicago area. Her interest and experiences in the out of doors were nurtured by family time at the lake and by her Girl Scout leader. While Maggie initially thought she would like to teach, an early college practice-teaching experience made her think again. Maggie received her degree in Natural Resources Management, with an emphasis on education and interpretation, from University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. Her career goal was to “go west.”

Upon graduation, Maggie and several classmates were hired by Minnesota Valley NWR to staff the refuge’s new visitor center. It was somewhat west and a great opportunity to work and learn in an exciting program. Her next job offer took her…east to Chincoteague NWR, a wonderful seashore setting with heavy seasonal visitation, an active Friends group, and plenty of new challenges. Still determined to head west, Maggie’s next assignment was in Georgia at Okefenokee NWR. The environmental challenge of fending off a planned mining operation on the refuge boundary and a $1,000,000 grant for new visitor center exhibits created lots of opportunities for Maggie to work with the Friends and other partners on advocacy and collaborative planning. 

With these skills and experiences, Maggie moved to Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico, her move west at last. She arrived 3 weeks before the annual Festival of the Cranes, a large week-long celebration of the return of the sandhill cranes that included hikes, presentations, and logistical nightmares. Maggie survived and thrived but admitted it was stressful. 

Her career continued to progress. Maggie had a short stint in National Headquarters in 2008, when she joined a team to help make refuges more attractive to birdwatchers and make birdwatchers more aware of the Refuge System. The team developed many recommendations and is at least partly responsible for encouraging, where appropriate, birdfeeders on refuges. While Maggie claims not to be an inveterate birder, her dog, a lab mix, has a Life List including wild turkeys.

Maggie’s career path again turned westward as she spent 11 years as Visitor Services Chief in the Midwest Regional Office. It was a heady time, with an increase in Friends groups, new partnerships, and construction and renovations of several visitor centers. 

In May 2018, Maggie returned to National Headquarter to become USFWS Refuge System Visitor Services Branch Chief. She enjoys the challenges of the job and notes that visitor services staff tend to be “generalists,” covering many bases including education, interpretation, coordination with partners, and outreach. Add on responsibility for cultural resources and employment of youth interns, and you have a full and diversified job.

Maggie enjoys and appreciates the contributions of Friends and volunteers. She describes the passion, creativity, and variety of skill sets volunteers willingly share in support of the Refuge System. For example, there were more public comments regarding the Information Collection for the Friends program than on any recent regulations, which Maggie sees as an indication of Friends’ involvement and the desire to help get things right. She, only half-jokingly, suggested that Friends should create a refuge cookbook to record the recipes for the variety of dishes served at Friends potlucks, going away and recognition dinners, and other celebrations! 

Maggie is delighted to work with the Visitor Services team, which added Linda Schnee as National Friends Coordinator in March 2020. The impact and unpredictability of the COVID pandemic on both staff and volunteers concerns Maggie. It has been difficult to sustain engagement with continued virtual meetings. In way of partial remedy, she and other staff members have occasionally scheduled walks together at Patuxent NWR for safe, in-person meetings.

Nationally, refuge staff are making plans for in-person meetings, workshops, and training sessions beginning later this year. Staff have continued to work on Refuge System rebranding, and Friends will have opportunities before long to participate in this valuable program. After a period of readjustment as visitor centers reopen and stalled projects resume—and when it is safe to do so—Maggie and her team are very eager to visit refuges to see what volunteers are doing. Friends and refuge volunteers across the country will be thrilled to welcome them!