American Conservation Experience of Flagstaff provided a 6 person Americorps crew for 12 days in March and April 2021 to replace and retrofit 4.5 miles of boundary fence on the Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
Wildlife Refuges Targeted for Huge Funding Increase by White House
The National Wildlife Refuge Association is thrilled to see a large increase for the National Wildlife Refuge System Operations and Maintenance Fund in the President’s FY2022 budget request. This increase to $584 million, $81 million more than current enacted funding, will go towards hiring additional staff to tackle invasive species, protect wildlife and habitat, and perform biological work and visitor services on wildlife refuges. This request is historic: $584 million is by far the largest proposed budget for Refuge System O&M ever.
30x30 For The National Wildlife Refuge System
The Biden Administration released their 30x30 campaign outline. We fully support efforts to fully fund National Wildlife Refuge System operations and maintenance, establish wildlife corridors, and expand protected lands. This plan seeks to do all this, plus increase outreach to private landowners, many of whom are all in on protecting their land for wildlife.
Saving The Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge
From Orlando south to Lake Okeechobee lies the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge, a region that plays an essential role in protecting and restoring water resources and contains more endemic species (found nowhere else) and some of the highest biodiversity in the nation. This area supplies the water needed for Everglades restoration and drinking water for one-third of all Floridians, and supports iconic species such as the Florida panther, the round-tailed muskrat, Everglade Snail Kite, Crested Caracara, wading birds galore, and many others that make Florida one of the most vibrant wildlife areas in the country.
Florida Grasshopper Sparrow - There is hope.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association and its partners are advancing critical conservation efforts by working to protect habitat for the Florida grasshopper sparrow. Our land conservation projects within the region are resulting in significant gains in protecting remaining wild Florida grasshopper sparrow populations.
The Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is the most endangered bird in the continental United States; it will almost certainly go extinct without herculean efforts to recover the population. Over the past few decades, the total number of these birds known to exist on the planet dwindled from in the thousands to a low of only a few dozen left in the wilds of south-central Florida just a few years ago.
However, there are signs of hope. In the last two years, the outlook has improved for this delicate little bird characteristic of Florida’s unique dry prairie landscapes. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), White Oak plantation, and other partners have been working together over the last five years to increase population numbers for the Florida grasshopper sparrow through arduous habitat management, nest protection, and predator management in conjunction with intensive captive breeding.
The program has now successfully reared and released dozens of sparrows on several public and private conservation lands in south-central Florida. And it is working; the released birds are breeding and the population numbers in the wild are increasing.
All this work is happening within the boundary of the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge (EHNWR). This essential refuge has an acquisition boundary that encompasses almost a million acres – an area that stretches from just south of Orlando down to Lake Okeechobee. It will eventually protect a combination of public and private lands of at least 150,000 acres that includes land that contains newly discovered populations of Florida grasshopper sparrow.
If successful, these efforts will ensure the future of Florida dry prairie and the ranchlands of the region, which will continue to provide the critical wildlife habitat, water conservation, wildlife corridors, and natural resource recreation benefits in this region of rich and unique biodiversity and cultural history.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association has worked closely with the University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, the USFWS, Florida state agencies, and others to ensure that the best available science is used to guide conservation-based land protection resulting in the most strategic return on investment, including the identification and protection of the best remaining habitat of the Florida grasshopper sparrow.
Identifying properties that might contain habitat conditions that could support these birds is a challenging task that requires painstaking property analysis by experts in botany and avian ecology. To find these tiny sparrows in thousands of acres of wilderness requires laborious surveys performed by teams of avian ecologists who can discern the faintest note of their song and parse out the reproductive implications of any behaviors that they may observe.
Our partner, Lance Arvidson of Common Ground Ecology, recently discovered a previously unknown population of the Florida grasshopper sparrow on a private ranch. We supported Common Ground Ecology to subsequently assemble and lead a team of Florida grasshopper sparrow experts to thoroughly document the population. This analysis found that the new population likely contains nearly as many wild Florida grasshopper sparrows as are in each of the only two known populations of significance.
We are proud that our support better documented an unknown population of this critically imperiled bird. We are facilitating a state-federal partnership to protect this land and the sparrows; we are working with USFWS and the state’s Florida Forever Program to leverage enough funding to ensure the protection of this 6200-acre ranch forever.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association – working with USFWS, the State of Florida’s Forever and Rural and Family Lands Protection Program and other partners such as Audubon Florida, Ducks Unlimited, and Open Space Institute has also helped protect other nearby properties that are adjacent to the largest remaining block of Florida grasshopper sparrow habitat in the Kissimmee Prairie State Preserve, including over 4,000 acres on the Triple Diamond Ranch; another 1,300 acres of dry prairie habitat will be protected in 2021.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association is committed to ensuring that the goals of the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge are achieved, which includes protection of all the remaining occupied habitat of the Florida grasshopper sparrow as well as opportunities to re-establish populations on other available habitats within the core range of this extremely rare and endangered species.
We are continuing to work with the UFSWS, the state of Florida, and many other partners to raise the critical funds to protect the ranches and other lands critical to the Florida grasshopper sparrow and the many other threatened and endangered species dependent on the dry prairie landscape of south-central Florida before they are lost to development.
The Refuge Association works closely with the University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, the USFWS, Florida state agencies, and others to ensure that the best available science is used to guide conservation-based land protection resulting in the most strategic return on investment, including the identification and protection of the best remaining habitat of the Florida grasshopper sparrow.
National Wildlife Refuge Association Updates From Across The Country
Salt Bayou Restoration Project Provides Protection to Critical Marsh Habitat in Texas During Hurricane Laura
Salt Bayou is a 139,000-acre landscape that includes freshwater to estuarine marsh, coastal prairie grasslands, tidal flats, creeks and basins, and associated fish and wildlife species. Salt Bayou is the largest contiguous estuarine marsh complex in Texas. Hurricane Laura made landfall just 20 miles to the east in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The wetland habitats in the Salt Bayou provide foraging and nesting habitats for numerous species of birds along one of the most important migratory flyways in the world, as well as essential nursery habitat for ecologically, commercially, and recreationally important species of fish and invertebrates.
Leatherback Sea Turtle Habitat Restoration In Puerto Rico
The National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA), the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER), and various community-based groups are working together to reduce major threats affecting leatherback nesting beaches around Puerto Rico with funding provided by the National Fish and Widlife Foundation (NFWF).
Duck Stamps Conserve Wildlife Habitat
Buying a Federal Duck Stamp (Stamp) is one of the most effective ways you can conserve wildlife. Approximately 98% of the $25 Stamp directly funds land acquisition and easements that provide critical habitat for wildlife. These lands are part of the National Wildlife Refuge System and you can access many of them!
Refuge Radio Season 3 Episode 1: A Partnership For Wildlife With Partners For Conservation
We are highlighting our partnership with Partners for Conservation, an all-volunteer non-profit group established in 2008. In 2012, we recognized this group of ranchers and landowners were filling an important void in public-private partnerships and the importance of communication and collaboration in working landscapes. The Refuge Association provided the initial funding for an executive director position to help them grow as an organization.