You Shared, Coalition Of Refuge Friends & Advocates and the National Wildlife Refuge Association Listened

Earlier this year the Coalition of Refuge Friends and Advocates (CORFA) with the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) hosted three sharing sessions. The goal of the sessions was to bring refuge and hatchery Friends organizations together virtually to share information regarding the impacts of inadequate funding and reduced staffing. 73 participants from across the country attended the three sharing sessions.

Friends members shared their observations, examples, and stories about the impacts insufficient budgets are having on their refuge and hatchery partners, their organizations, and their communities. The comments of the participants were compiled, and general themes emerged. A white paper with the findings from the sharing sessions is housed in CORFA Resource Center. The themes that emerged from the sharing sessions are being used to help Friends organizations build messages to local, regional, and national decision-makers to make them aware of the need for adequate funding and staffing for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service programs.

The summary of the sharing sessions was prepared by Sue Wilder, CORFA Board Member and member of the Friends of Louisiana Wildlife Refuges (LA). The Executive Summary appears below.

Executive Summary – Friends Sharing Sessions 2023

By Sue Wilder, CORFA Board Member

For more than a century, Congress has established a network of public lands dedicated to the conservation, protection, and enhancement of fish and wildlife and their habitats for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans. These lands and waters that are essential for threatened and endangered species are under the responsibility of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This agency provides outdoor space for Americans to learn, experience, and support the conservation of its natural resources for generations to come. Americans support the protection of their public lands and feel it is important to protect lands for their conservation and the economic value they provide to local communities (Defenders of Wildlife Factsheet, 2022).

The more than 500 refuges and 70 fish hatcheries support public environmental education for youth programs, provide a place for outdoor recreational activities (e.g., hunting, fishing, hiking, bird watching, and nature photography), and encourage overall health benefits through outdoor experience. Since 2010 the US Fish and Wildlife Service has seen a significant reduction in funding and the loss of over 800 staff positions (NWRA, 2023 Fact Sheet; “Funding Challenges of the National Wildlife Refuge System). This detrimental loss in staff positions has also resulted in a critical loss of operations and maintenance funding tied to each position. Thus, this loss also results in the loss of operational capabilities in addition to the loss of positions.  Over the past decade, reduced staffing and funding erosion have contributed to significant impacts experienced across the refuges and hatcheries by the American public.

This report summarizes the current impacts shared by many Friends organizations across the country felt because of the current reduced staffing crisis. From the three sharing sessions attended by Friends organizations across the country four general categories of impacts were discovered:

  1. Law Enforcement

  2. Visitor Services

  3. Biological

  4. Maintenance & Facilities

In general, national wildlife refuges have experienced increased crimes (i.e., poaching, litter, immigration issues, illicit sex, and drug activities), increased safety risks for visitors, increased closure of visitor centers, and reduced operations of environmental education programs for youth and adults, reduction of volunteer opportunities, increased invasion of non-native species, lack of habitat management for wildlife and endangered species, loss of biodiversity, and increased concern over the erosion of infrastructure including buildings, water control structures, fences, trails, roads and equipment in the absence of maintenance funds and positions.

Friends are encouraged to continue to reach out in their communities, to their Members of Congress, and other representatives to voice the need for increased funding to adequate levels (1.5 billion, Refuge Association, 2023 Fact Sheet; “Funding Challenges of the National Wildlife Refuge System”) to preserve the integrity of the public lands that are so valuable to every American now and for generations to come.