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