Something exciting has touched down in Roswell— and this time, it’s not from another planet. The National Wildlife Refuge Association is thrilled to welcome Marianne Kelso as our new biologist at Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), where she’s bringing her skills, smarts, and species-saving know-how to southeastern New Mexico’s Pecos River watershed.
Imagine seeing 5,000 redhead ducks on one 300-acre impoundment or a dozen black bears on a single ride through forest roads. These sights are available to North Carolinians in what Mike Bryant calls “the hidden treasures” — the 11 National Wildlife Refuges in the state.
Recently, NPR’s All Things Considered featured a story about the refuge lands that are threatened in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Our own Vice President of Government Affairs Caroline Brouwer was interviewed for the report. I couldn’t be prouder of the work she is doing on behalf of wildlife, refuges, and you. But she can’t do it alone. I am asking you to take 7 minutes to listen to the story and ask, what more could you be doing to protect these important refuges?
On Tuesday, December 10th, a federal judge in El Paso, Texas blocked the Trump Administration from using more than $3.5 billion in military construction appropriations to build new border walls in national wildlife refuges and elsewhere at the U.S.-Mexico border. The nationwide injunction will halt projects, including the construction of more than 31 miles of unnecessary and destructive border wall across refuges like the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona.
