Happy visitors enjoy snowshoeing at Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota. Many refuges provide fun activities for visitors during the winter months. Be sure to check out your local refuge for upcoming events, and have a happy holiday season.

The National Wildlife Refuge Association has posted the latest news on the ongoing budget wars in Congress:

Nearly a quarter of the way through the fiscal year, Congress at last passed a spending bill for the Department of the Interior. The final bill, a compromise between the House and the Senate, included a $6 million cut [...]

The National Wildlife Refuge Association has a newly redesigned website, which showcases beautiful wildlife and landscape photography from their Refuge System photo contest and features a new design that makes the site easier to use and navigate.

NewOK.com reports that nearly half of Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge’s 59,020 acres in Oklahoma were burned in an early September fire.

“In the long term, we’ll be fine,” said Tony Booth, refuge manager. “In the short term, we’ll just have to wait and see. There are just so many variables. In fact, we have [...]

From the Land and Water Conservation Fund Coalition:
DC—In a letter to President Obama, more than 100 economists and academics in related disciplines today issued a strong call for the President to “create jobs and support businesses by investing in our public lands infrastructure and establishing new protected areas such as parks, wilderness, and monuments.”
Members of [...]

The Associated Press reports on an issue that should not come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the impact of lead poisoning in America — the continued use of lead bullets by hunters is preventing the recovery of the endangered California condor.

A recovery program aimed at restoring the California condor to much of [...]

San Antonio Express News reports that a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expert has been required to testify in a lawsuit brought by The Aransas Project, which claims that the state of Texas has failed to keep enough fresh water flowing into bays and estuaries to allow endangered whooping cranes to survive.
The Justice Department [...]

As this blog has reported in the recent past, there is a great deal of controversy at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia regarding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed plans to move beach access and parking at the refuge in response to the impact of erosion and sea-level rise. The USFWS has posted [...]