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The National Wildlife Refuge System encompasses more than 850 million acres of lands and waters across America’s 568 National Wildlife Refuges, including 5 Marine National Monuments. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is responsible for managing these lands and is expected to fulfill its obligation to the Refuge System’s 59 million annual visitors and diverse wildlife on a budget of a mere 59¢ per acre, a fraction of what other land agencies receive per acre. For comparison, the National Park Service receives $31 per acre for land management.
Since taking office in January 2017, President Donald Trump has made environmental deregulation and habitat destruction one of the hallmarks of his presidency. From the clear-cutting of national wildilfe refuge lands along the US/Mexico border, to the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas development, to the support for expansion of the military even further into the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, we have seen a constant and unrelenting disregard for long-standing conservation principles.
The Great American Outdoors Act, S. 3422, led by 54 Senate co-sponsors, proposes to put up to $95 million each year over the next five years towards the maintenance backlog for the National Wildlife Refuge System. It would also fully and permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million.
Former Secretaries of the Department of the Interior Babbit and Kempthorne both visited the National Wildlife Refuge Association office to conduct interviews of oral history with our former Board member John Cornely for the USFWS Heritage Committee.
On February 6th, 2020 National Wildlife Refuge System Advocates testified at Public Witness Day before the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee.
Today, the Trump Administration announced that they are finalizing a rule that will eliminate protections of certain streams and wetlands. The Waters of the United States regulation has been instrumental in protecting streams and isolated wetlands, particularly in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana. With the repeal of this rule, farmers and developers will be able to drain wetlands that are critical habitat and nesting grounds for millions of waterfowl, and turn it into row crops. Wildlife Refuges will be greatly affected by any draining of wetlands, given the connectivity of these wetlands units and streams.
