Hosted by the Department of Biology and the UND Wildlife Society, join the free Paur Seminar lecture with Suzanne D. Fellows. The lecture will be followed up with an open social hour. 

Fellows was born and raised in Hawaii where she was encouraged to “play biologist” from an early age. Her earliest experiences as a second grade “biologist” included categorizing Hawaiian land snails at the Bishop Museum and then, as a teenager, recording behavior of nene (Hawaiian geese), surveying forest birds, and trapping wild pigs and rodents for a variety of research projects.   

Although she officially started her college journey as a history major at Northern Arizona University, she quickly realized that she missed the world of wildlife. On a Christmas visit to North Dakota, Fellows had her first exposure to wide open prairies and potholes. Returning the following spring, she witnessed the wonder of spring waterfowl migration as the skies filled with returning geese.  She was hooked and by August she had formerly changed majors and began pursuing a Wildlife Ecology degree from the University of North Dakota.  

Mentored by a flock of shorebird behaviorists at UND, Fellows graduated and began working for National Audubon Society following wintering sanderlings along the Pacific Coast. Deciding she was ready to go back to school but declaring that she did not want to work on “ducks, deer, or ducks”, she earned a Master’s degree at Utah State University in Wildlife Management studying shorebird numbers and their behavior around Great Salt Lake, Utah.   

A term position as a biotech at Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge in northwestern Colorado provided an opportunity for a  first permanent position with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service thru the clerical series.  While her primary duties included helping to manage the office, she also assisted with waterfowl surveying and banding, prescribed burning and wildfire control and assisting with other wildlife management activities.   

In 1996, Fellows took another career turn transferring to the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita, Kansas as the USFWS representative to this unique partnership between the City, State, School District and the USFWS. Here she learned the critical role of environmental education and outreach in conservation and served as the state coordinator for the Junior Duck Stamp Program, led field trips to Quivira NWR and other conservation areas, and led nature walks and environmental education activities for a variety of audiences. In 2000, Fellows transferred to the Migratory Bird Management Program in Lakewood, Colorado to help address shorebird, waterbird, and environmental education needs in the USFWS’s Mountain-Prairie Region. Here she also worked with waterfowl, raptor and passerine specialists, Joint Ventures, universities, and other conservation partners.   

Fellows formally joined the Duck Stamp Office in 2013 at the USFWS Headquarters and was honored to be able to help with this aspect of wetland conservation. She served as the National Coordinator for the Junior Duck Stamp Program and formally attained the title of the Chief of the Federal Duck Stamp Program in 2019. She gained experience in event planning and execution, art and stamp design, and policy and regulation development – again making new friends and learning how much behind-the-scenes work goes into one of the greatest tools we have for habitat conservation.   

As a retiree, Fellows has returned to Jamestown, N.D. to be closer to family and the wildlife resources of the prairie coteau region. Between visits with family, she quilts, dabbles in the kitchen (she loves making cheese, baking and trying new recipes), gardens, reads, birds, and explores with her dog Grit. Fellows continues her involvement with the Duck Stamp Program through Duck Stamp Quill & Brush, LLC. She hopes to help share and preserve the duck stamp tradition and promote the art, artists, history, stories, and message of the Duck Stamp – a truly successful American wildlife conservation tool.  

Suzanne Fellows retired from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) in December 2024. She had been working in the Federal Duck Stamp Office in the Migratory Birds Program in their Headquarters’ Office since 2013 where she served, first as the National Coordinator for the Junior Duck Stamp Program, and then, as the Chief of the Duck Stamp Office.   

Prior to going to the D.C. area, Fellows worked for the USFWS in their Colorado Regional Office primarily addressing shorebird and waterbird issues. She has also worked on other bird and mammal species and habitat management projects in several western states and Canadian provinces.  She has worked with several different conservation partners including Joint Ventures, universities, National Audubon Society, National Park Service and U. S. Geological Survey. 

Suzanne has a wildlife ecology Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Dakota (1987) and a Master’s degree in wildlife management from Utah State University (1995).   

Upon retirement, she returned to Jamestown, N.D. to be closer to family and enjoy a relatively calmer lifestyle. She keeps her professional hand in the conservation world by assisting the Federal Duck Stamp Office at events, promoting the artwork and artists, and sharing the message of the Duck Stamp every chance she can.