The Los Angeles Times is reporting that President-elect Barack Obama plans to nominate Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) to head the Department of the Interior.
According to the Times:

President-elect Barack Obama plans to name Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) to lead the Interior Department — an appointment that could put the brakes on several controversial energy development projects [...]

As I reported in this blog on December 10, the National Wildlife Refuge Association is urging refuge supporters to contact their House representative and two senators and tell them they support the inclusion of $1 billion for “Green Jobs for Refuges” in the upcoming economic stimulus package. You can reach your lawmakers instantly by [...]

The endangered marbled murrelet is a small, chubby seabird that is a relative of the puffin and nests high up in the branches of large trees among coniferous coastal forests (often old growth forests that are targets of the logging industry) from central California to Alaska. The marbled murrelet winters at sea — using its [...]

Group Sues Over Tribal Bison Range Pact

Wildlife refuges to reopen after Ike

Glacial Ridge refuge in Polk County to double in size

Visit a national wildlife refuge this winter

Young sandhill cranes transition to the wild

The National Wildlife Refuge Association has released an Action Alert regarding an opportunity to help national wildlife refuges while also stimulating the economy and creating thousands of jobs.
Details about the Green Jobs for Refuges initiative can be found on the NWRA website, but the basic idea is this:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has [...]

Today’s featured video is of Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, which includes 48,000 acres of prime habitat located in east-central Mississippi. The refuge is an important area for migratory birds and for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. In addition to wildlife habitat, Noxubee offers hunting, fishing, numerous trails, and environmental education opportunities.
The Noxubee NWR video below was [...]

In past posts (October 25, March 30, March 8, January 20, and September 21), RefugeWatch has followed the ongoing controversy of potential drilling by a Canadian energy firm — Lexam Energy Exploration — at Baca National Wildlife Refuge in southern Colorado.
On December 4, 2008, a new wrinkle developed when the San Luis Valley Ecosystem [...]

Massive restoration project to turn salt ponds into wetlands

Eagle Days events delight large crowds at Squaw Creek

Whooping cranes following ultralights over Tenn.

101 Acres of wildlife habitat added to Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge

In the past, this blog has followed the controversy regarding a proposal by the Bush Administration to loosen gun restrictions in national parks and national wildlife refuges. Despite thousands of public comments urging the Bush Administration to not loosen the restrictions, and despite loud protests from current and former National Park Service and U.S. Fish [...]

In the 1939 photo featured below, Works Progress Administration workers are establishing the boundary lines in the Black River bottoms section of what was then the new Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge — a refuge that runs along the river fronts of four states and, at the time this photo was taken, [...]

Search for ivory-billed woodpecker to begin anew

One-year-old wildlife refuge visitor center already a landmark in downtown Kodiak

Feds: Prairie dog no barrier to drilling on refuge

Team studies perennial fix to perennial problem

Fire authorities probe lack of water at gas fire site

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Wildlife Refuge Association have issued an invitation to Friends members to come to the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington D.C., February 21-23, for the 2009 National Wildlife Refuge System Friends Conference: Friends Unite!
As the USFWS explains in their press release:

A forum to energize Friends and [...]