The National Wildlife Refuge Association has laid out their 2010 priorities in advocating for the National Wildlife Refuge System:
Funding: With a renewed emphasis on reducing the federal deficit, as outlined in the President’s State of the Union, federal programs such as the National Wildlife Refuge System are likely to see reduced or frozen discretionary spending [...]

Volkswagen is working with CarbonFund.org to plant a forest that will offset CO2 emissions released by cars. The VW forest will be located in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley in northeast Louisiana, and will be planted on a 1,100-acre piece of land, which will eventually expand the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge.
Volkswagen says the [...]

The Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges have been awarded the “2010 Friends Group of the Year” award.
From the National Wildlife Refuge Association announcement:

The Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges will receive the Friends Group of the Year Award. Alaska is home to some of the largest and wildest refuges in the country. Some refuges, [...]

NC’s Alligator River Refuge to get visitor center

USFWS Approves 4,000-Acre Panther Passage Conservation Bank in Florida

Manatees Rush to Keep Warm

Pelicans suffer as they stick around coast

Trumpeter swan returns to Turnbull Wildlife Refuge

Duck River has time in ‘National Geographic’ spotlight

Zeeger de Wilde of the Chesapeake Marshlands NWR Complex in Maryland has been awarded the 2010 “Volunteer of the Year” award.
From the National Wildlife Refuge Association announcement:

Zeeger de Wilde will receive the Volunteer of the Year Award for his unwavering support and commitment to the volunteering on wildlife refuges and at the Chesapeake Marshlands National [...]

The Houston Chronicle reports that wildlife officials are worried that a lack of blue crabs may cause another die-off of endangered whooping cranes:

The world’s last remaining natural flock of endangered whooping cranes, which suffered a record number of deaths last year, will probably see another die-off because of scarce food supplies at its Texas nesting [...]

Vernon Byrd, of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska has won the 2010 Refuge System “Employee of the Year” award.
From the National Wildlife Refuge Association announcement:

Vernon Byrd, a biologist at Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, has been selected to receive the Refuge System Employee of the Year Award for demonstrating dedication [...]

Refuge gives preliminary OK for relay tower

Group says deal pending in refuge drilling suit

Off-limits wildlife refuge along St. Johns to consider public access

Broomfield pleased that Jefferson Parkway gets key approval

Bringing Back A Rabbit

Refuge restoration: Project to plant 250,000 trees in Avoyelles

Stimulus fund pay for wildlife refuge levee repair on Tennessee River

Skaggs Island naval base buildings [...]

The 2010 Refuge System Awards have been announced, and Kevin Foerster of Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex in California is winner of the Paul Kroegel - 2010 Refuge Manager of the Year Award.
From the National Wildlife Refuge Association announcement:

Kevin Foerster has been selected to receive the Paul Kroegel Refuge Manager of the Year Award [...]

Private in-holding in CMR National Wildlife Refuge purchased by feds

Man Sentenced for Stealing Artifacts from Wildlife Refuge

Manatees crowd springs for warmth

Hunters become rescuers

U.S.-Mexican Border Wall Destroying Habitats for Endangered Animals

Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge - Photo Essay

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reporting that two waterfowl biologists have been killed in a plane crash:
Two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists died in the crash of their small aircraft on January 17th in western Oregon. Pilot-biologist Vernon Ray (Ray) Bentley, 52, from Blodgett, Oregon, and David Sherwood (Dave) Pitkin, [...]

Mother Nature Network offers a brief interview with Noreen Clough, who is the former Southeast Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and former president of the Blue Goose Alliance. Noreen discusses the interesting yet controversial topic of forming a National Wildlife Refuge “Service.”

Tags:
National Wildlife Refuge System, Blue Goose Alliance