Advertisement
He studied fish. He wrote national refuge recreation policy. He enforced refuge laws. He even became an engineer for a while.
Frietsche, a 30-year U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service veteran, has sampled a little of nearly everything the agency can offer.
His experience has led him to the 240,000-acre Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, where he joins the staff as an assistant manager.
The 56-year-old began his new job last week at its Winona headquarters. He will provide staff support for 11 other refuges in the Upper Mississippi River system with refuge manger Don Hultman.
“Rick will provide needed assistance on a host of issues and programs on our river refuges, including the recently authorized Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program, which should accelerate habitat improvements,” Hultman said.
The Arkansas native is no stranger to the Mississippi River. He was an assistant refuge manager and later manager of the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge from 1986 to 2001, jobs he considered the best in his diverse career.
“I had the opportunity to be a biologist, to be a manager and when it needed to be done, to be a maintenance worker,” he said.
Big rivers have always been a part of Frietsche’s life. He grew up hunting and fishing along the Arkansas River with his father.
He remembers when Cleveland’s oily, contaminated Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969. It created awareness of pollution’s problems, and the Environmental Protection Agency started to ramp up, Frietsche said.
“We were becoming aware we were pretty big polluters, and we needed to take care of how we treat our waste,” he said.
Frietsche earned his graduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of Arkansas. He started with the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1978 as a fishery research biologist in Arkansas, where he studied things such as the effect of reservoirs on fish populations.
The reservoir research program expired five years later, and Frietsche was assigned to the division of refuges office in Washington, D.C.
He remembers asking if they meant Washington state.
“It was a big transition,” Frietsche said.
First, he packaged federal register documents. But eventually, he worked on resource management policies regarding sport fishing, wildlife management and public use issues.
“We worked on policy about motor boat use on the national wildlife refuge in Nevada and deer hunting issues in the Everglades,” Frietsche said. “They were politically sensitive policies.”
He learned that relationships and communication are necessary parts of the job. Not everyone will agree with the Fish and Wildlife’s point of view, he said, but it’s important folks understand the position.
Before working at the Trempealeau refuge, Frietsche managed Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge in southern Illinois.
He has been the chief of engineering in the Midwest regional office since 2004. The eight-state engineering program built ships, dikes, water control structures and visitor centers.
Frietsche said he is excited to return to the Mississippi River valley with his wife, Maryann.
Contact reporter Amber Dulek at amber.dulek@lee.net or (507) 453-3513.
