Sharing Our Stories: How Are Ongoing Budget Cuts Affecting YOUR Refuge or Hatchery?

By Sue Wilder, Member of the Board, Coalition of Refuge Friends and Advocates (CORFA)

Is your Friends organization, refuge or hatchery, and community feeling the effects of the ongoing Fish and Wildlife Service budget shortfalls? Has the lack of refuge or hatchery staffing affected the ability of your Friends organization to meet its mission? What are you experiencing?  

Let’s tell our stories! Please join us to share your thoughts and observations during a series of upcoming virtual sharing sessions created to hear your concerns and do some brainstorming.

We hope that, by gaining an understanding of what you are seeing on your refuge or hatchery, we can work together to help build messages to send to our local, regional, and national representatives and emphasize the need for adequate funding and staffing for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sites and programs.

We want to hear from all Friends groups so are offering multiple sharing sessions. Catch one session or participate in all. We hope to hear from you! 

What and When

Old and New Friends Sharing | Garry Tucker, USFWS

Three 1-hour sessions as follows – all times Eastern Standard Time (EST):

  1. Wednesday, January 25, 7:00-8:00 pm

  2. Thursday, February 2, 2:00-3:00 pm

  3. Thursday, February 9, 5:00-6:00 pm

You can register here for all listening sessions or check the CORFA Facebook page. 

Homework: We ask participants to be prepared to discuss the following questions:

  1. What are the greatest impacts to Friends organizations resulting from ongoing budget cuts? Share what you are seeing that affects your Friends group and the local community: land and water conservation, management, recreation and visitor services, and public use (i.e., hunting, fishing, wildlife observation, photography, environmental education, interpretation).

  2. What is the one issue that you most want your federal legislative representative to understand? Together, we all become stronger advocates for our beloved refuges and hatcheries. So, let’s start by sharing our stories.