Wildlife Refuge Staff Reductions Continue

A recently released plan calls for cutting staff at New Mexico and Arizona wildlife refuges by up to 20% more than already reduced levels. With a nearly three billion dollar budget backlog, refuges across the system are losing programs and closing doors.

>> More about the current Refuge funding crisis

From wetlands to forests, prairies to seashores, the National Wildlife Refuge System (Refuge System) includes more than 95 million acres of some of the most visually stunning and biologically diverse lands and waters in America.  These wild lands harbor 21 million acres of designated wilderness and more than 50 million acres of potential wilderness.  Our national wildlife refuges are the only federal public lands established to protect species and their habitat. The Refuge System is an excellent place from which to build an even grander nationwide network of wildlands. 

The 548 refuges in the Refuge System are more evenly distributed across the 50 states and 435 congressional districts than other national lands systems and contain a more diverse array of habitats; there is at least one national wildlife refuge within an hour's drive of every almost every metropolitan area. Their benefits include filtering drinking water, reducing flooding, providing places for wildlife dependent recreation such as hiking, photography, hunting and fishing.  Of our many public lands systems, the Refuge System has great potential for growth and for the restoration of degraded lands.

Map of the National Wildlife Refuge system. Click for large version.

Conversion of natural habitats to housing complexes, shopping malls, and other development threatens America's fish and wildlife as never before. Today, more than ever, our national wildlife refuges are a critically important natural resource.