The National Wildlife Refuge Association’s staff has stayed busy throughout the country despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out their stories below to find out about the amazing work being done for our National Wildlife Refuge System.
EVERGLADES HEADWATERS NATIONAL WILDLIFE Refuge— Florida
Julie Morris, Conservation Programs, Florida and Gulf Coast Programs Manager
Land conservation within the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most important issues facing the National Wildlife Refuge System today. Hear from the experts from the National Wildlife Refuge Association about what is happening on the ground and what realizing the potential of this refuge could mean for Florida, for critical species like the Florida panther and Florida grasshopper sparrow as well as the drinking water of Floridians and the working heritage of Florida's ranchers.
The Covid-19 pandemic brought many unexpected challenges to our project. Since March 18, an executive order has been implemented in Puerto Rico with several restrictions to control the spread of the virus. Restrictions include lockdowns, curfew, and bans on social gatherings, plus the mandatory use of face masks. Some of these measures had consequences in our project. For example, we had to make appointments and long lines to purchase materials. In addition, materials and supplies were scarce or not available in Puerto Rico, so we had to order them online causing delays in our plans and activities. Furthermore, group activities such as beach clean-up have been suspended so far, and meetings with partners have been virtual or individually.
Despite all these challenges, we have been able to tackle them and comply with the project timetable and major goals for this first year of the project. Sea turtles nesting monitoring was completed for most leatherback nesting beaches thanks to a letter of support and Covid-19 protocol developed by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER). This allowed authorized community-based groups to conduct field surveys needed to assess the outcomes of the restoration activities in our project. Major outcomes of this first year were completing all the paperwork related to agreements and sub-contracts and the construction of the greenhouse. Contract with our partners ATMAR and Chelonia allowed starting restoration activities in the most important leatherback nesting beaches. Also, we advanced on the development of the Light Pollution Retrofit Plan in collaboration with PRDNER. For more information on the project’s accomplishments check out our latest progress report.
MID-COLUMBIA RIVER AND CENTRAL WASHINGTON REFUGE COMPLEX— Oregon and Washington
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way I work. Like most employees in the Columbia Pacific Region, I no longer go into the office and am instead working entirely from home. Although field work wasn’t a huge part of my job before, visiting refuges and occasionally assisting with projects gave me a better sense of the invasive plant management challenges while face to face time with refuge staff helped forge professional relationships. This year I began working on projects at refuges that I’d never been to before, but the pandemic made it impractical to make site visits until early autumn when restrictions eased up a little. I took that opportunity to travel to Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge and Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, a trip that was long overdue but very worthwhile. Wildlife, of course, still need food and shelter whether there’s a human pandemic raging or not, and the dedicated staff of the National Wildlife Refuge System have done an amazing job at getting essential tasks accomplished. All of the projects that I’ve been working on have continued despite the challenges; adaptation is something our species has proven itself very good at. I have hopes of making it out to some of the refuges I’m working with in Southeastern Idaho next year, but I guess we’ll see what happens. In the meantime, I will be adding Zoom, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting skills to my resume.