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A 4:1 Proposition for Increased Refuge System Funding
Unique along the Gulf Coast of southern Florida, the islands of Sanibel and Captiva not only draw tourists for a warm climate, calm waters and popular beaches, but also bring outdoor enthusiasts eager to view the fascinating wildlife native to the area. In contrast to the many densely populated communities along the Florida Coast, much of the narrow barrier island is protected from development as part of J.N. “Ding” Darling NWR. Visitors to Sanibel and the refuge come to see South Florida’s famous wildlife- elegant roseate spoonbills wading alongside American alligators while docile manatees loaf in the shallow estuaries and kites soar overhead- for a truly one-of-a-kind and rewarding experience.
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People flock from all over the country to see roseatte spoonbills at J.N. "Ding" Darling NWR
©Richard Weiblinger
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With more than 850,000 visitors to the refuge each year, from casual birdwatchers to paddlers and kayakers to professional photographers, the communities of Sanibel and Captiva Islands depend on the financial boon the refuge supplies to the local economy. As we eagerly anticipate the President’s FY11 budget request for the National Wildlife Refuge System and associated Fish and Wildlife Service programs amidst a challenging economic climate, we are compelled to talk not only about the incredible wildlife conservation values of these natural wonders, but also the critical role they play in generating jobs and investment in local economies.
Consider this: according to the to the Banking on Nature report produced by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2006, federal spending on refuges offered a 4 to 1 return to local economies. In other words, every $1 appropriated by Congress generates $4 in economic activity and in many cases, it’s much more. In fact, nearly 35 million people visited wildlife refuges that year, supporting 27,000 private sector jobs and $543 million in employment income.
While wildlife-appreciation tourism is vastly important, refuges also support local communities by employing refuge staff and by hiring contractors for construction projects and large-scale habitat restoration. Funding from the President’s stimulus bill passed last year has also directly helped boost refuges and create much-needed jobs across the country. For instance, Nisqually NWR in Washington State is using stimulus funds to undertake a major construction project to remove dikes and restore a natural estuary that has been disrupted for over 100 years. Located south of Seattle, Nisqually NWR is within 100 miles of more than 4 million people, and new boardwalks built with stimulus funding will allow visitors to easily access and experience the restored landscape. Overall, by the end of this fiscal year, approximately 23,000 jobs will have been created nationwide resulting in improved and more efficient infrastructure and habitat created or restored.
And, thanks to $105 million worth of increases in annual appropriations over the past 3 years brought about by the efforts of refuge Friends and the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE), refuges have been able to add staff, purchase heavy equipment, and hire contractors to replace aging infrastructure.
For instance, these increased funds allowed Fergus Falls Wetland Management District (WMD) in Minnesota to hire a new law enforcement officer to focus on wetland and grassland easement violation investigations, one of several new law enforcement professionals in the region. At St. Croix WMD in Wisconsin, the Fish and Wildlife Service has worked with local loggers to restore oak savanna by removing invasive trees, which are in turn converted to bio-fuel to heat homes in St. Paul, Minnesota. And at the Bitter Lake NWR in New Mexico, they are reconnecting the Pecos River to its historic channel restoring approximately 6 river miles of Pecos River floodplain. Projects such as these improve habitats, create jobs in the local community, and support renewable energy.
In short, wildlife refuges are vital to America’s wildlife heritage, economic prosperity and quality of life. Thus, spending by the federal government on their infrastructure and operations generates an extraordinary investment that will yield substantial dividends for years to come. Much to its credit, Congress has recognized these values in recent years by stepping up funding for refuges. It is now incumbent on the President to present an FY11 Refuge System budget that recognizes that an investment in our wildlife refuges and wildlife heritage is also an investment in our economic prosperity.
Onward and upward!
P.S.
The substantial Refuge System funding increases over the past three years stem largely from the work of NWRA and Friends speaking out in support of the Refuge System. This week we heard President Obama say his FY11 budget proposes a 3-year spending freeze on ‘discretionary’ programs. If Refuge System operations and maintenance funds are among the targeted programs, it would mean an effective $45 million cut, resulting in lost jobs, inability to control invasive species, and reduction in public outreach programs, to say nothing of the impact to local economies.
I appeal to all the refuge Friends organizations to send at least one representative to Washington, DC for our Hill Rally on March 9th. An in-person visit from a constituent is among the most effective tools on Capitol Hill. For more information about the Fly In and Hill Rally visit, read below or visit our webpage.
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Join the Friends for the 2010 Refuge Friends “Fly In” and Hill Rally!
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Last February over 200 Friends visited lawmakers to promote increased funding for refuges. Thanks to the support of refuge Friends and advocates, the Refuge System received a much needed $40 million budget increase last year!
©Evan Hirsche
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On Tuesday, March 9th, 2010, the National Wildlife Refuge Association and Friends head to Capitol Hill to tell Congress about the importance of refuges to our wildlife and the American people.
Friends successfully rallied on the Hill last February to secure a $40 million increase for the Refuge System! In the words of Norm Dicks, Chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, “The NWRA and its affiliated Friends groups are indispensable to alerting Congress to the needs of our national wildlife refuges.”
We urge you to send at least one representative from your Friends group to join others from around the nation on March 9th, culminating with a reception on Capitol Hill that evening.
Friends will arrive March 8th in time for a short advocacy training session in late afternoon. Differing from past years, there will not be a National Friends Conference in 2010; we are asking you to come to Washington for the sole purpose of communicating the needs of your refuge and the Refuge System to Congress.
Be sure to budget for transportation, food and lodging. NWRA has reserved a block of reasonably priced hotel rooms in the area for the nights of the 8th and 9th. So that we may better estimate our needs, please contact Joan Patterson, Director of Grassroots Outreach, for more information and let her know as soon as possible.
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NWRS Budget, LWCF funding, Climate Change and Arctic NWR Wilderness top NWRA’s priorities in 2010
With the 111th Congress convening for its second session, NWRA has developed a set of priorities that will advance the wildlife conservation mission and purposes of our National Wildlife Refuge System, while contributing to landscape-level conservation critical to addressing the effects of climate change on America’s wildlife and habitat.
As in recent years, NWRA will focus on ensuring the Refuge System receives adequate funding to restore and conserve our most important wildlife habitats, while also underwriting programs to engage and educate a public that is increasingly disconnected with our natural world. But funding is just one part of the puzzle, and NWRA will also advocate for legislation that ensures protection of some our most treasured wild lands, while also creating the framework for expanded conservation opportunities into the future.
Funding Refuges and Wildlife
The Administration will deliver its proposed budget to Congress on February 1st. With a renewed emphasis on reducing the federal deficit, as outlined in the President’s State of the Union, federal programs such as the National Wildlife Refuge System are likely to see reduced or frozen discretionary spending across the board. NWRA is asking Congress to fund the Refuge System at $578 million in Fiscal Year 2011, a step toward the recommended $900 million annually that is needed to best meet the conservation goals of the System. Since refuges provide an economic return to communities through job creation, wildlife related recreation, and ecosystem services such as clean and clean water, investing in wildlife refuges benefits both wildlife and people.
NWRA is also advocating for dollars under the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to complete refuges and create new ones in connection with our Beyond the Boundaries landscape conservation priorities. Created to ensure our nation’s most treasured resources and habitats are protected, the LWCF has used receipts from oil and gas leases to protect approximately 1.5 million acres of land that is now part of the NWRS. The LWCF has the potential to be one of our most powerful land conservation tools, yet it lacks adequate funding to achieve its stated mission -- the LWCF has only been funded at the authorized level of $900 million once in its 40 year history. Read more about the LWCF here.
As climate change forces wildlife and habitat managers to rethink their conservation strategies, it’s more important than ever that they have the best science available upon which to base their decisions. To that end, NWRA will back funding for the Fish and Wildlife Service, in partnership with other federal agencies, to develop Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs). Acknowledging the need for more collaboration between land management agencies, scientific institutions, and local communities, LCCs bring a fresh landscape driven approach to federal wildlife conservation efforts and will streamline efforts to inventory and monitor the vast natural resources in the Refuge System. Visit the FWS LCC website for more information.
LCCs are currently being developed at an eco-regional landscape level, with geographic designations that include the Arctic, the Gulf Coast Prairie and the Plains and Prairie Potholes. The LCC approach closely dovetails with NWRA’s “Beyond the Boundaries” work to conserve vital habitats surrounding and linking refuges to other conservation areas and we are eager see the new partnerships take hold in some of our most treasured landscapes such as the Everglades and the northern Great Plains.
Protecting America’s Unique Wildlife Heritage
While the creation of LCCs, and increased LWCF funding will help begin to address the effects of climate change on wildlife, more will need to be done to successfully respond to even the most conservative scientific predictions. Consequently, NWRA will continue to urge Congress to pass comprehensive climate change legislation that both reduces harmful greenhouse gas pollution and provides funding to help wildlife adapt to a changing climate. NWRA strongly supports a measure that would require that at least 5% of revenue collected from a climate change bill be designated for wildlife adaptation programs, including funding to inventory, monitor and adaptively manage wildlife refuges in a changing climate.
Finally, 50th anniversaries in 2010 of Arctic and Izembek NWRs in Alaska present an opportunity for the NWRA to generate visibility and attention to two iconic refuges that remain among the most threatened in the Refuge System.
At nearly 20 million acres, the vast Arctic NWR embodies the American ideal of Wilderness; it is a truly rare landscape-level wilderness refuge at a scale impossible to achieve anywhere in the lower forty-eight. For fifty years the magnificent refuge has protected wildlife across the Alaskan arctic landscape, from the coastal plain to the towering Brooks mountain range. NWRA believes now is the time to finally accord Wilderness status to the refuge’s fragile coastal plain to once and for all eliminate the possibility of oil drilling in what amounts to the last 10% of the Alaska’s north slope off limits to fossil fuel exploration.
While we will fight for Congressionally-designated Wilderness in the Arctic, we will, ironically, fight to keep a Wilderness designation intact at Izembek NWR on the Aleutian Peninsula, where an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) mandated by Congress is underway to evaluate construction of an unnecessary and expensive road through the heart of the refuge. NWRA and its partners succeeded last Congress in forcing this comprehensive study on the proposed “Road to Nowhere,” and we’ll work this year to ensure Congress understands that the estimated $50 million in tax-payer dollars required to build this road would be far better spent reducing the deficit. Click here to read more about the Road to Nowhere.
Expect to hear more in the coming months about the 50th anniversaries of these landmark refuges - including birthday party celebrations where you can participate!
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Cold Weather Drives Manatees to NWRA Priority Project – Demonstrates Critical Conservation Need
Nobody likes taking a cold bath, so it is no wonder that when temperatures began to dip along the gulf coast recently, manatees went looking for warmer water. Over one hundred manatees crowded into the Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, Florida over the past few weeks, as record low temperatures earlier in the month turned the sunshine state into an icebox. The event illustrates the critical need to protect this vital habitat where NWRA is leading a partnership to leverage federal, state and local dollars to acquire the Three Sisters Springs for the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge.
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A West-Indian manatee taking advantage of the warm waters at the Three Sisters Springs in Florida
©Evan Hirsche
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The endangered West-Indian manatee lives in fresh, brackish and salt water, and feeds on seagrass and other aquatic vegetation. Extremely sensitive to temperature, the docile creatures struggle to survive in water below 68 degrees Fahrenheit. When the weather does get cold, they congregate in warm springs such as Three Sisters Springs to huddle together.
Manatees face incredible challenges in the wild, ranging from deadly run-ins with motorboats to poor water quality and the destruction of critical habitat. The recent weather and record numbers of manatees seeking refuge in the warm springs demonstrate the importance of securing Three Sisters Springs for the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge. The current owners of Three Sisters Springs have had plans to subdivide the property for residential development in the past and to pump and bottle spring water - putting manatees at risk of further harassment and providing them with no shelter from the cold.
NWRA and our partners are closer than we’ve ever been to securing permanent protection for this vital West-Indian manatee habitat, but we (and the manatees) need your help to get across the finish line!
Contribute to NWRA’s Save the Manatee Campaign
Learn more about the NWRA’s efforts to conserve West-Indian manatees in Florida.
Watch a video on the Three Sisters Springs manatees
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NWRA/Conservation Partners Acquire Habitat for Montana Wildlife Refuge
Last month the NWRA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), six other conservation organizations, and a private individual partnered to acquire a 177-acre private in-holding within the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (CMR) in Eastern Montana. The property contains key riparian habitat along the Missouri River.
CMR is truly a wild landscape, serving as home to critters big and small, from majestic elk to the critically-endangered black-footed ferret. Acquiring the property for the refuge is an important step to further the conservation mission of the FWS, NWRA, and the other partner organizations.
"Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding lands represent an iconic American landscape that protects some of our most cherished wildlife and wild lands. We're proud to play a role in a diverse public/private partnership that will enhance this natural treasure for the benefit of future generations" said Evan Hirsche, President of the National Wildlife Refuge Association.
The partners included American Prairie Foundation, American Rivers, Montana Audubon, National Wildlife Federation, World Wildlife Fund and Yellowstone Valley Audubon Society.
For more information read the press release
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NWRA Announces Refuge Standouts in 2010 Refuge Awards
The National Wildlife Refuge Association and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation have selected the following standouts in the Refuge System community to receive the 2010 National Wildlife Refuge System Awards.
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NWRS 2010 Awards recipients, clockwise from top left: Vernon Byrd, Kevin Foerster, the Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges, Zeeger de Wilde.
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Kevin Foerster has been selected to receive the Paul Kroegel Refuge Manager of the Year Award for his outstanding management of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex in California.
Vernon Byrd, a biologist at Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, has been selected to receive the Refuge System Employee of the Year Award for demonstrating dedication and vision protecting marine species of coastal Alaska.
Zeeger de Wilde will receive the Volunteer of the Year Award for his unwavering support and commitment to the Chesapeake Marshlands National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Maryland and Virginia.
The Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges will receive the Friends Group of the Year Award in recognition of their dedication to the colossal task of protecting and raising awareness for over 75 million acres of lands in Alaska’s 16 national wildlife refuges.
The awards will be presented March 9th at the 2010 NWRS Awards Reception on Capitol Hill in Washington D. C. For more information on the stellar recipients of the 2010 NWRS Awards, please visit: http://www.refugeassociation.org/new-events/NWRS2010.html
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Friends Connection – Friends of San Pablo Bay
While it is best known as the setting of one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the United States, the San Francisco Bay is also one of the nation’s largest and most productive estuaries, and home to many endangered and endemic species. There are several wildlife refuges in the Bay Area protecting and complex ecoystems of the region. One of them, located at the northern end of the San Francisco Bay, is the San Pablo Bay NWR.
The San Pablo Bay NWR encompasses one of the largest intact pickleweed marshes in the northern San Francisco Bay and provides habitat for endangered California clapper rails and salt marsh harvest mice, as well as state threatened clapper rails. The marshes provide a critical stopover point for millions of birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway as well as important wintering habitat for thousands of shorebirds and waterfowl, including the largest wintering population of canvasbacks on the west coast. The refuge’s pristine marsh gives visitors a taste of what the San Francisco Bay may have looked like before being widely developed. The refuge encompasses a variety of estuarine habitats, which support a stunning array of shorebirds, dabbling and diving ducks, passerines and raptors.
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Friends help count endangered Lange's metalmark butterfly at the refuge.
©Essig Museum, The University of California, Berkeley
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The Friends of the San Pablo Bay NWR support the San Pablo Bay, Marin Islands and Antioch Dunes NWRs and their mission to restore, enhance, protect and preserve the wildlife and its environment while providing educational opportunities and increasing public awareness, involvement, appreciation and enjoyment of the Bay Area refuges. Although West Marin Island is home to one of the largest heron and egret rookeries in the Bay Area, East Marin island is a former vacation retreat that had been overrun by invasive species. But the Friends, Refuge Staff and other members of the community have been hard at work planting native species and restoring habitat. Friends help with the annual count of the endangered Lange’s metalmark butterfly. The rare butterflies depend on the refuge, where the larvae and adult butterflies feed on naked-stemmed buckwheat plants growing on the sand dunes.
The Friends have also been involved in Bay Area environmental education programs. Thanks to a grant the Friends received last year, local high school students were able to attend classroom workshops and field-based restoration projects at Antioch Dunes NWR, where they learned about animal tracking and water quality assessment and helped with dune restoration efforts.
The Friends of the San Pablo Bay are great advocates for the San Pablo Bay and Marin Islands NWRs, and have been hard at work promoting the refuges and conservation in the Bay Area. Upcoming events with the Friends include a refuge photo contest and the San Francisco Bay Flyway Festival. To learn more about the Friends, visit www.pickleweed.org
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Become a Fan of NWRA on Facebook!
Become a fan on Facebook and show your friends that you support NWRA! If you haven’t become a fan already, we are easy to find by either visiting www.facebook.com/RefugeAssociation, or by searching for “National Wildlife Refuge Association” on Facebook. Don’t forget to tell your friends to become fans as well by clicking “Suggest to Friends” beneath the NWRA logo on our Facebook page!
Now it is also easier than ever to share the Flyer with your Friends on Facebook by clicking the Facebook link at the bottom of each article!
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Join us for the 2010 Refuge Friends “Fly In” and Hilly Rally!
The National Wildlife Refuge System needs YOU on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 9, 2010! Please join the NWRA in Washington D.C. and urge your members of Congress to continue their support of the Refuge System.
For more information visit: http://www.refugeassociation.org/New-events/frhillrally2010.html
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Regional Friends Conferences
This year U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Regional offices will host regional Friends conferences. NWRA is working with the Service to provide speakers and sessions that are tailored to the needs of the groups attending. These conferences are a way for the Service to support the growth and effectiveness of Friends by providing a forum for Friends to build their skills and interact with Service staff from around their Region. The regional conferences are an incredible opportunity to build regional esprit de corps and support networks. Here is the current schedule for regional Friends conferences:
March 5 -7, Region 5 at the National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, WV
April 9 – 11, Region 4 in Crystal River, FL
April 9 – 11, Region 6 &7 in Wichita, KS
April 16 -18, Region 3 in Lacrosse, WI
April 23 - 25, Region 1 in Newport, OR
May 14 - 16, Region 2 in South Padre Island, TX
Early June Region 8 in Stillwater, NV
Other Upcoming Dates for the NWRS:
February 15-21, Congressional President’s Day Recess and opportunity for Friends to invite decision makers to visit their refuges.
March 14, 107th Anniversary of the NWRS
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Brown Pelican ©Evan Hirsche
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Take a walk through refuge history at Pelican Island NWR!
Did you know that Pelican Island NWR, the oldest wildlfe refuge in the Refuge System has a boardwalk using planks that name every refuge in the System in chronological order? Pelican Island was established in 1903 by Teddy Roosevelt. The first manager at Pelican Island NWR was Paul Kroegel - the namesake for the NWRS Refuge Manager of the Year Award!
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