The National Post in Canada recently reported that Canada’s conservative government — led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper — has been lobbying against America drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge:

Harper himself was not asked about ANWR and did not state a position on the drilling issue during his most recent pre-election tour of the Arctic this past summer.

But documents obtained by the Canwest News Service show that the Conservative government continued to oppose drilling in ANWR as recently as this past winter as it was monitoring the U.S. presidential primaries.

The Foreign Affairs Department’s most recent “Advocacy Plan” for the Canadian Embassy in Washington lists “opposing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge” as one of Canada’s top environmental objectives with the United States.

In the past, Canada has been against drilling in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge because of the acknowledged impact it would have on the habitat of the porcupine caribou herd in the Yukon, which borders the Arctic Refuge.

While Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain, and Senator Joe Biden are all against opening the Coastal Plain to drilling, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska is — not surprisingly — a supporter of drilling in the refuge, and McCain has gone so far as to label her an “energy expert.”

But Peter Harder, who is Canada’s recently retired deputy minister of Foreign Affairs (serving under both Harper and the previous Liberal governments), disagreed with that assessment:

“I understand that energy is important,” he added, “But simply being a governor from a state that has reserves doesn’t make you the expert necessarily.”

To catch a glimpse of the amazing wildlife on the Coastal Plain and in the Arctic Refuge, be sure to visit the online Arctic Refuge galleries of photographer Jim M. Goldstein, who visited the refuge with well-known wildlife photographer Art Wolfe.

Tags:
wildlife, wildlife refuge, National Wildlife Refuge System, Arctic NWR, Alaska, Canada

Jaime Gonzalez, President of the Friends of Aransas and Matagorda Island (FAMI) National Wildlife Refuges, has sent out an email to Refuge System supporters regarding help for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel who were affected by Hurricane Ike.

The letter states:

As you well know, Hurricane Ike dealt a severe blow to portions of the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast which has impacted thousands of people residing in Ike’s path. The impact includes U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Personnel in Texas and Louisiana.

Because we understand that there are many that have been asking how they can assist during this difficult time, the Friends of Aransas and Matagorda Island Refuges (FAMI) have established a voluntary Hurricane Ike fund to help U. S. Fish & Wildlife employees that were significantly affected by this storm.

To help our U. S. Fish & Wildlife employees and their families that are displaced with a monetary contribution, they can do so by sending their donations to the FWS Hurricane Ike Fund. Checks should be made out to the FAMI and state in the memo field “FWS Hurricane Ike Fund.” Please mail your donations to:

FAMI
P.O. Box 74
Austwell, Tx 77950

or they can make a deposit at any Wells Fargo Bank to the Friends of Aransas and Matagorda, FWS Hurricane Ike Fund. If the Wells Fargo Banker has any questions they should contact Deana Justice, Wells Fargo Personal Banker at the Victoria, Texas Navarro Office by calling 361-485-6676. All contributions will be tax deductible as FAMI is a 501(c)3, tax exempt organization. FAMI is contributing $1,000 to help kick off this effort.

For additional information concerning donations, please contact Charla or Carroll Marsh at 361-645-8746.

You can read more about the Friends of Aransas and Matagorda Island on the Aransas NWR website.

Tags:
wildlife, wildlife refuge, conservation, National Wildlife Refuge System, Hurricane Ike, Aransas NWR, US Fish and Wildlife Service

As I write this, President Bush is about to sign a continuing resolution, which will keep the government operating into the new fiscal year. The CR would fund at current levels the budgets of most departments and federal agencies until March 6, 2009 — after a new administration has been sworn in.

Meanwhile, national wildlife refuges across the country continue to struggle with budget and staffing issues that threaten these vital public lands.

The Star-Ledger in New Jersey just published an article about the impact that budget cuts are having on New Jersey’s national wildlife refuges.

According to the article:

Resources at New Jersey’s five wildlife refuges are frighteningly strained after significant cutbacks two years ago, staff officials said. Thousands of publicly owned acres of wildlife in the Northeast are operating with about 14 percent fewer staff members (about 60 fewer positions) than in 2006.

The result: an uptick in vandalism, torn-up trails from illegal ATV riders and dumping on woodlands and natural habitats they are charged with overseeing.

The article goes on to state that Supawna Meadows NWR is now without any staff and as a result has had to cut back programs like hunting activities. At Wallkill NWR, the staff is a biologist and a manager, who’s position is scheduled to be eliminated. The staff at Cape May NWR has to manage their refuge and Supawna Meadows NWR, and the staff at Great Swamp NWR has manage their own refuge, as well as Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge 52 miles north, and Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge in Ulster County, New York.

The Star-Ledger reports on how the situation got this dire:

“Refuges nationwide are underfunded by 43 percent right now,” said Desiree Sorenson-Groves, vice president of government affairs for the National Wildlife Refuge Association. She noted that the entire refuge system is funded at $434 million, and Hurricane Ike alone did $216 million worth of damage to the wildlife refuges in that area. “So they’re barely able to do what they’re supposed to do anyway, and then you have things like this on top of it? They are struggling all across the country.”

Volunteers and employees have tried to fill the void, with the Friends of Wallkill helping to run refuge programs, like many Friends groups do. But Friends groups — and volunteers in general — cannot do it alone. The National Wildlife Refuge System belongs to the American people, and as such it deserves enough federal dollars to be run properly.

As Eric Stiles from the New Jersey Audubon Society states:

“A refuge needs a manager, it needs law enforcement, it needs habitat management staff, it needs education staff. People get there, you have to immediately engage them. You need the trail infrastructures, you need facilitated trips. You need the habitat to be managed for the endangered species … safe canoe ramps and launches.”

Even during difficult economic times, these are the responsibilities of the federal government.

Tags:
wildlife, wildlife refuge, conservation, National Wildlife Refuge System, budget, Congress, New Jersey

Today is National Public Lands Day — an annual event that is a program of the National Environmental Education Foundation, which promotes volunteerism on all publicly accessible lands at the federal, state, and local levels.

As part of this year’s celebration, one million trees have been planted to honor the 75th anniversary of the Civilian Conservation Corps. At a ceremony in Prince William Forest Park (in Virginia) on Saturday, September 27, volunteers will plant the one-millionth tree of a nationwide campaign to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the CCC. Prince William Forest Park hosts the signature National Public Lands Day event, one of over 1600 volunteer sites nationally, with 75 sites in the D.C. area.

NPLD began in 1994 with three federal agencies and 700 volunteers. Last year 110,000 volunteers worked in 1,300 locations and in every state. Now, eight federal agencies (including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and many state and local lands participate in this annual day of caring for shared lands. NPLD continues the promise of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the “tree army” that worked from 1933-1942 to preserve and protect America’s natural heritage.

Visit the National Public Lands Day website for more information. Also enjoy a copy of their 2008 National Public Lands Day poster.

Tags:
wildlife, wildlife refuge, conservation, National Wildlife Refuge System, National Public Lands Day, Civilian Conservation Corps

The National Wildlife Refuge Association has just put out this important announcement regarding an upcoming congressional vote on refuge funding for recovery from natural disasters, including the recent Hurricane Ike:

Dear Friends,

A few weeks ago, Hurricane Ike battered refuges along the Gulf Coast and before that, refuges in Florida, the Midwest and the east coast were also hit by flooding and other storms. The damages to refuges caused by natural disasters were severe - so far, overall damages from all storms in 2008 is already estimated at $300 million. Hurricane Ike’s damages alone are estimated at $260 million.

The USA Today ran a great piece on some of the impacts from Ike - specifically, refuges along the Texas coast including Anahuac NWR. The Friends of Anahuac NWR are trying to help the best they can but Friends across the country can help them by doing a simple thing - call your Senators and Representative and urge them to support emergency funding for refuges damaged by storms. They are expected to vote on a Continuing Resolution or “CR” tomorrow and the draft text includes some funding for FWS to address these issues - the draft bill includes $75 million for refuges - a great step in the right direction.

Please take a look at the great USA Today piece and give your elected officials a quick call - you can reach them by the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Let them know the damages for these refuges are estimated at $300 million - that’s approaching three quarters of the entire refuge budget for this year! (refuges are currently funded at $434 million for FY 2008)

View the USA Today article:
http://www.refugenet.org/new-pdf-files/article/USAtoday.pdf

Tags:
wildlife, wildlife refuge, conservation, National Wildlife Refuge System, National Wildlife Refuge Association, Congress

As this blog previously reported (here and here), the Department of Homeland Security had requested permission to build permanent towers for the Secure Border Initiative Network on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona.

Today azcentral.com published an Associated Press story saying the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made a final determination on the issue and will give the DHS a special use permit to build the towers.

According to azcentral.com:

The service reached its final assessment of the Department of Homeland Security’s proposal after soliciting and weighing public comments and receiving eight stipulations from DHS, spokesman Jose Viramontes said.

The proposal calls for placing four permanent surveillance towers and one communications tower on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge…

Viramontes said the stipulations DHS agreed to included a decommission plan if DHS were to decide the towers aren’t working as hoped and giving Fish and Wildlife the authority to eliminate the permit if DHS is out of compliance.

“But we do not expect the need for that to arise,” Viramontes said.

Tags:
wildlife, wildlife refuge, conservation, National Wildlife Refuge System, Buenos Aires NWR, Arizona

Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne recently announced that the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission approved $4.1 million in funding to add more than 4,400 wetland acres to seven national wildlife refuges.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service press release:

Among the wetlands that will be acquired in national wildlife refuges are 2,027 acres for the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge in St. Bernard and Orleans Parishes, LA. By permanently protecting these coastal wetlands, this addition will conserve critical marsh habitat for migratory waterfowl species including gadwall, northern pintail and mallard in addition to providing storm surge protection to inland areas.

The commission’s approval also secured funding to add feeding, breeding, and resting habitat to six other national wildlife refuges. These approved projects include:

• Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, Georgetown, Marion and Horry Counties, South Carolina - Acquisition of 1,292 acres to protect and manage a diversity of habitats for waterfowl, with a focus on the American black duck; and conserve wetlands and provide opportunities for wildlife-dependent recreational activities.
• Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, Seneca County, New York - Acquisition of 64 acres that provide important feeding and nesting habitat for migrating,
  wintering, and breeding waterfowl such as mallard, canvasback, lesser scaup, and ring-necked ducks.
• Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge, Mohawk River and Pondicherry Divisions, Coos County, New Hampshire- Acquisition of 108 and 105 acres, respectively, to conserve and protect important migratory waterfowl habitat, with special consideration to the American black duck.
• Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge, Liberty County, Texas- Acquisition of 924 acres to protect important wetland habitats benefiting migrating, over-wintering, and breeding waterfowl including wood duck, mallard, gadwall, American widgeon, green- and blue-winged teal, and lesser scaup.
• Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, Jackson, Prairie, Woodruff and Monroe Counties, Arkansas - Acquisition of 24 acres protecting wintering areas vital to the long-term conservation of migratory waterfowl including mallard, northern pintail, teal, and Canada goose.
• Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, Wapato Lake Unit, Washington and Yamhill Counties, Oregon - Acquisition of 15 acres to manage as a migration and wintering area for waterfowl, especially for tundra swans.

Tags:
wildlife, wildlife refuge, conservation, National Wildlife Refuge System, Migratory Bird Conservation Commission

On September 16, the Houston Chronicle reported that Tim Cooper, project leader for McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Texas, reported to the Associated Press that the tidal surge from Hurricane Ike had left a “sheen” of oil at the refuge. Cooper also reported that a smaller amount of oil had flowed into the nearby Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.

According to the Chronicle:

Cooper described the oil as a “continuing seep” and said he believes it is coming from ruptured tanks and pipelines that are part of an oil field within the McFaddin refuge.

Papco Inc., a Warren, Pa., company that drills within the refuge, notified the Texas Railroad Commission on Tuesday of an oil spill in Jefferson County near Sabine Pass. All spills of five barrels or more must be reported to the state.

However, company officials said the spill it reported involved less than two barrels and was unrelated to the oil discovered in the McFaddin Refuge…

In addition to the oil, Cooper said the refuges also lost much their infrastructure due to the storm surge.

“The wildlife will come back,” he said. “I don’t know what we’ll have to greet the public and manage the marsh.”

On September 18, the Houston Chronicle did a follow-up story detailing the damage that Hurricane Ike inflicted on many state parks and refuges. The following was the news regarding national wildlife refuges:

Federal officials said the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge had severe damage to all buildings.

“We estimate the water to have been 6 to 7 feet inside the buildings at the refuge. As water rose outside the buildings, the doors and windows were broken out, allowing water to flow through buildings,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown.

“All that remains from these buildings is the cinder block walls and roof structure,” she said.

Fish and Wildlife officials are sending trailers from other sites for employees and temporary work space.

Slown said the McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge and Texas Point National Wildlife Refuge on the upper Texas coast received catastrophic damage from the hurricane. Slown said an oil spill was discovered at McFaddin and booms were placed to halt the spread.

Note: USA Today published an update on the damage at the Texas refuges.

Tags:
wildlife, wildlife refuge, conservation, McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge, Texas Point National Wildlife Refuge, Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Texas

As I reported in this blog (here and here), the House and Senate had been considering a land swap bill that would build a $15.6 million, nine-mile gravel road through federally designated wilderness at Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. This is a project that has been heavily pushed by Alaskan lobbyists, Governor Sarah Palin, and the Alaskan congressional delegation.

In April, the House Committee on Natural Resources passed the House land swap bill — sponsored by Don Young (R-AK) — on a voice vote, meaning the votes were not recorded so that we could see how each committee member voted on this controversial bill.

Now the Senate has followed suit, determined to make all Americans pay for this road. From the National Wildlife Refuge Association:

September 11, 2008 - the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee advanced S. 1680 by attaching the measure to over 50 other public lands bills. These are expected to join 98 other bills already reported out of the committee earlier this year to create a massive public lands package. The House Natural Resources Committee approved the measure on April 23rd; the next action in the House could be with the full chamber or like in the Senate, the version could be attached to the larger lands package. NWRA and our conservation partners will be actively working to remove the Izembek road proposal from the larger package.

As for the history of this project, the NWRA reports:

The proposed road would connect the two small villages of King Cove (population 800) and Cold Bay (population 80). In 1998, advocates argued they needed a road through the fragile wilderness, but Congress ruled that such a road was not in the public interest. They instead gave the Alaskans $37.5 million to address their concerns with funding to upgrade medical facilities, upgrade the airport and to build a state of the art hovercraft that would be able to transport people in a medical emergency.

More than $25 million has already been spent on construction of a road connecting King Cove to a hovercraft terminal conveniently situated at the wilderness doorstep. Steep slopes and unstable volcanic soils have forced re-routing and contributed to construction delays and escalating costs amounting to $2 million per mile. Extending the road, in some of the harshest weather conditions in America, is expected to cost you, the American taxpayer, at least $30 million more.

Furthermore, the hovercraft, which travels on a cushion of air up to 58 MPH across water, ice and land is up and running and has so far transported more than 1090 passengers, 110 vehicles and at least 32 successful medivacs.

It’s important to note that Alaska has one of the wealthiest state governments in America. Due to tremendous oil and gas royalties, the citizens pay no sales tax or income tax, and receive an annual stipend just for living there — this year it was $3200 for every eligible man, woman, and child. In addition, Alaska leads the nation in earmark requests, with Governor Sarah Palin asking for funds for special projects this year totaling $198 million, or about $295 per person.

Governor Sarah Palin likes to say she once told congressional appropriators “no thanks.” Now it’s time for her to actually do it.

Call your senators and congressional representatives today and tell them to say “no thanks” to the new “Road to Nowhere.” Visit Congress.org to find the contact information for your senators and representatives. Then call their DC office and tell them to prevent passage of any bill that allows a road to be built through the wilderness of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

Tags:
wildlife, wildlife refuge, conservation, Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

As many readers may already know, the Bush administration has decided to make one last assault on the Endangered Species Act before leaving office for good. Apparently it’s not enough that the Bush administration has repeatedly refused to list endangered species during the last eight years unless forced to by a court of law — now the administration is trying to weaken the Endangered Species Act with a backdoor stunt made out of desperation — not sound wildlife management.

The following is a statement made by Bob Irvin, Senior Vice President for Conservation Programs at Defenders of Wildlife, right after the announcement:

Yesterday’s announcement by the Bush Administration regarding changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was a last-ditch effort by a near-extinct administration to impose the same fate on America’s endangered species.

The so-called “narrow revisions” are just wide enough to ensure that agencies can go ahead with projects without being subject to checks and balances, or consultation. This calculated and political decision leaves America’s most threatened species at the mercy of a wholly inadequate review process, with no requirement for a scientific understanding of the impact on affected species. In fact, many of the agencies now required to determine the impact of an action on a species do not even have biologists on staff.

By unilaterally allowing agencies to decide that consultation is not necessary, the burden of liability is placed wholly on the individual agencies, leaving them open to citizen suits. And, by putting a 60 day limit (subject to a 60 day extension by FWS) on completion of informal consultations, the proposal will increase the likelihood that harmful agency actions could slip through, again necessitating more citizen suits.

Secretary Dirk Kempthorne’s narrow definition of what actions would actually be subject to consultation means that consideration of the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on polar bears or other wildlife affected by global warming is completely off limits. This narrow definition will also affect all listed species and critical habitat from being protected from a host of indirect effects resulting from federal actions, permits, or funding.

Proposing these drastic changes with only five months to go in the administration is clearly an effort to secure changes that the administration has been unable to achieve through legislation. The concepts of self-consultation and deadlines that place the burden of delay on listed species protection were both key elements of the Pombo bill that died in the Senate. This is an egregious example of leaving the fox to guard the chicken coop.

By allowing these changes to take place, the chances of qualified species gaining federal protection diminishes greatly. Which is exactly what George W. Bush and Dick Cheney both hope will happen.

National wildlife refuges protect a great many endangered species, and as supporters of the Refuge System, we have an obligation to comment on this assault made on a law that gave us back the American bald eagle.

The comment period for the public has been limited to 30 days — another trick that the Bush administration hopes will result in fewer comments. The deadline for comments is September 15, so be sure to comment now by following these two steps:

Go to Regulations.gov and search for the term: “50 CFR Part 402 proposed rule”. When your search results appear, you should see FR Doc # EB – 18938.

Click on the “Send a comment or submission” link to submit your comments. Say that you strongly oppose the recently announced plan to weaken protections for threatened and endangered wildlife under the Endangered Species Act, and that you believe wildlife protection should be carried out by trained wildlife professionals. If you have personal feelings or observations about the importance of the Endangered Species Act, be sure to include those as well.

Tags:
wildlife, wildlife refuge, conservation, National Wildlife Refuge System, Endangered Species Act