News
The National Wildlife Refuge Association is requesting Refuge Friends’ testimony on behalf of National Wildlife Refuge System funding levels for the Fiscal Year 2023— this time for the Senate! Many of you already submitted testimony for the House back in March, but even if you didn’t you can still submit testimony to the Senate!
The National Wildlife Refuge Association strongly supports increased funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System, the largest system of public lands set aside for wildlife in the world. Covering 95 million acres of land and 750 million acres of ocean, the Refuge System is currently funded at just under 60¢ per acre per year. Year after year, the Refuge System remains underfunded, with little traction in Congress to increase funding for habitat that serves not just wildlife species, but people as well.
I truly appreciate all the Friends and Friends Groups who submitted testimony to the House and Senate last spring. We are *still* waiting to see the results of that push for increased funding since Congress has still not passed an FY2022 appropriations bill. The House of Representatives, however, is beginning their Fiscal Year 2023 push without any final FY2022 numbers and without the release of the President’s Budget Request (which we are expecting any day).
