WASHINGTON (January 17, 2007) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced staff cutbacks among Midwestern National Wildlife Refuges that will severely affect fish and wildlife, science and habitat.
In the Midwest, 71 positions will be eliminated; 27 of those positions are in Minnesota where two refuges, Hamden Slough and Crane Meadows, will no longer have any staff on site. Wisconsin will lose ten full-time positions; Illinois, nine; Iowa, eight; Indiana and Missouri, six apiece; Michigan, four; and Ohio, one.
"These large cutbacks will hurt wildlife and visitors," said Maribeth Oakes, Director of the National Wildlife Refuge Program at The Wilderness Society. "There will be fewer biologists to monitor fish and wildlife to ensure they are maintaining viable populations, fewer staff to enforce protective rules, and fewer people to answer visitors' questions."
By the end of fiscal year 2009, the region will have lost 18 managers/resource specialists; 17 biologists/biological technicians; 15 park rangers; 13 maintenance workers, and eight administrative staff. The Midwest Region is home to 54 refuges and 12 wetland management districts.
"The government spends a pittance on national wildlife refuges," says Oakes, "and yet the Refuge System maintains a whole host of important benefits. For example, these sanctuaries filter water before it runs downstream to municipal water systems and, in many areas, limit flooding because they can store excess storm water. Our national wildlife refuges also clean the air and promote the health of fisheries. Of course, all of these natural services bring economic benefits, as well."
Oakes said that the 96-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System "is buckling under the weight of persistent under-funding and a crippling $3 billion budget backlog."
Without sufficient funding, the Service cannot adequately manage and restore wildlife habitat, safely maintain facilities, or provide quality education and outdoor recreation programs for millions of visitors. As a result, these chronic funding shortfalls have led the Fish and Wildlife Service to target dozens of refuges for mothballing, a step that withdraws staff from the refuge and eliminates programs for public access and other activities on refuges.
Since 1903, when President Theodore Roosevelt established Pelican Island in Florida as our nation's first wildlife refuge, the National Wildlife Refuge System's network has grown to include 545 refuges. With over 40 million visitors annually, refuges help to return $1.4 billion dollars to the national economy each year and create over 24,000 jobs.
"The only way to reverse the trend of dramatic reductions in service, including habitat management, recreational programs, and trail maintenance, is for the administration and Congress to support increases to the refuge system operations and maintenance budgets," Oakes said.
