News-Journal.com in Texas reports that the land/water transfer between the Army and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Texas is still on hold, four months after the parties last met.
The Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant is a federal Superfund pollution site, and the USFWS wants assurances that the Army will [...]

On Capitol Hill these days there seems to be a fever that is pushing politicians to call for more and more budget cuts — often without even knowing the impact of the cuts — and that has led land agencies to look for other forms of funding, such as raising entrance fees.
Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

In what is becoming a very common story, the Tea Party has found a new way to attack environmental protection in America. According to the Alaska Dispatch, Tea Party Caucus Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah — who you should note lives nowhere near an international border — has managed to get a bill out of his [...]

The Washington Post recently ran an article titled, “Land and Water Conservation Fund under attack from Republicans in Congress,” which highlights the recent aggressive efforts by Republicans to undermine the LWCF’s ability to protect land in America.
The LWCF is a federal program that was established by Congress in 1964 to provide funds and matching grants [...]

The U.S. Senate has passed a resolution designating the week of October 9-15, 2011 as National Wildlife Refuge Week. National Wildlife Refuge Week was first commemorated by the Senate last year and was initiated under President Bill Clinton.
The resolution (S.R. 288), passed by unanimous consent, recognizes the importance of America’s 553 National Wildlife Refuges and [...]

Today is the 4th anniversary of the founding of this blog — Refuge Watch.
The National Wildlife Refuge System has never faced threats to its existence and its health as great as it does now. The Refuge System is a part of the federal government that is run well, run cheaply considering its size, and run [...]

CNN Money recently posted a video highlighting the budget attack that the House GOP has mounted against the National Wildlife Refuge System in their current appropriations bill. If enacted, H.R. 2584 would:

Completely close or eliminate major programs at 128 National Wildlife Refuges
Eliminate 275 Refuge Staff
Eliminate virtually any new land acquisitions or conservation easements under the [...]

The Politico reports that GOP voters are finally acknowledging that House Republican budget cuts are on track to threaten the wildlife and land resources that Republican-leaning hunters and anglers hold dear.

As the Republican leaders no doubt know, this is not a crowd to mess with. The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation estimates that nearly eight in 10 [...]

The new director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently made some of his first public comments since assuming his new position. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Director Dan Ashe, who was attending the Outdoor Writers Association of America Conference at Snowbird, expressed concerns over the budget cutting proposals put forth by House [...]

Dan Ashe has been confirmed as the 16th Director the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency Ashe has served in for more than 15 years.
Ashe was nominated on December 3, 2010, but Republicans upheld his confirmation as they attempted to use his position as a pawn in their battles over deepwater drilling permits in [...]