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