News
President Geoffrey Haskett of the National Wildlife Refuge Association testified before Congress on the proposed revisions to the Biological Integrity, Diversity, and Environmental Health (BIDEH) rule for the National Wildlife Refuge System.
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.
Just now, the House has voted 225-193 to pass H.R. 1146, to prohibit oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We are thrilled that the House has acknowledged the importance of this landscape. We will continue the fight in the Senate and beyond to ensure that oil and gas drilling never happens in the Arctic Refuge.
