Newly confirmed Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar was in Colorado today to promote stimulus projects that benefit public lands, including the National Wildlife Refuge System. As reported by the Environment News Service:

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar returned to his home state of Colorado today to view possible economic stimulus projects at chemical and [...]

The Oregonian recently offered an interesting look at historic homes that are located on national wildlife refuges throughout the country. Among the homes described are Native American plankhouses at Ridgefield NWR, near Ridgefield, Washington; a restored plantation house at Black Bayou Lake NWR, just north of Monroe, Louisiana; historic pioneer cabins at Kofa NWR in [...]

Girl Scouts, 4-H stress conservation and sustainability

Strong Opinions on Proposed Port Wentworth Wastewater Treatment Plant

Wildlife Refuge Brings Science To Students’ Fingertips

Amateur Radio Operations to Begin Again on Midway Atoll

On January 25, The Washington Post published an article that highlights the greatest threat to national wildlife refuges — climate change.

At the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, sea-level rise threatens to drown the brackish marsh on which migrating shorebirds depend. In Northern California, the shrinking snowpack has reduced stream flows that sustain [...]

MLive.com in Michigan is reporting that the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge plans to spend $2 million in federal funding to improve their 7.5 mile auto tour — or wildlife drive. Improvements are predicted to bring in 30,000 more visitors to the refuge.
According to MLive.com

The improved road with observation decks will showcase “the wildlife spectacle that [...]

The snow bunting in North America breeds along the shores of Alaska and northern Canada and also at high elevations in Alaska, and winters throughout southern Canada and the northern United States (and at similar latitudes in Europe and Asia).
The snow bunting is a hardy bird. As breeding season approaches, the males return north [...]

Judge: Oil co. must pay $525K for polluting refuge

Whooping Cranes Finally Safe and Sound at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge

Nestucca Bay Refuge expansion helps rare geese

Visitors flock to see true reality TV at Chincoteague NWR

Great Florida Birding Trail “signs” on in Panhandle

Today the U.S. Senate confirmed Ken Salazar as the new Secretary of the Interior.
From MSNBC:

The Senate confirmed six of Obama’s Cabinet nominees, plus Peter Orszag for OMB Director. (Though OMB is cabinet-rank, it is not an official cabinet post.)
The members were confirmed by unanimous vote. They were: Steven Chu (Energy), Arne Duncan (Education), Janet [...]

According to the Department of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne has expanded the National Wildlife Refuge System by 54 million acres, or 58 percent, by assigning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service the responsibility for overall management of the three new marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean designated by President Bush [...]

On January 18, NJ.com reported on an effort by the Friends of Supawna Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey to save a barn that is home to approximately 2,000 bats.
According to NJ.com:

The barn was slated for demolition by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Maintenance Management System, but Friends of Supawna Meadows has [...]

Kern National Wildlife Refuge Faces Avian Cholera Outbreak

Widower’s gift sped Refuge approval

Final senatorial acts protect Valley

Birds aplenty?

The National Wildlife Refuge Association announced today that the House Appropriations Committee has recommended $300 million in economic stimulus funds for green jobs on national wildlife refuges. From the NWRA press release:

If enacted, the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will provide critical funding to the National Wildlife Refuge System to improve visitor facilities and [...]