This week the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE) issued a press release and a report which warns that unless Congress provides adequate funding for the Refuge System, the economic benefits refuges provide, along with the lands, waters, wildlife, and recreation and education opportunities that refuges were established to protect, could be in jeopardy. [...]

At the Conserving the Future website, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been soliciting ideas and comments from citizens regarding the future vision for the National Wildlife Refuge System.
If you visit the site, you’ll see volunteers, staff, refuge Friends, conservation leaders, and many other types of individuals participating in the conversation. The site has [...]

The “Take Pride in America” National Awards recognizes individuals, groups, or organizations for outstanding volunteer service on public lands. Volunteers nominated must have volunteered during May 1, 2010-April 30, 2011. Categories include: individual, school program, youth/youth group, corporation or business, non-profit organization, faith-based group, Federal volunteer event/program, local government event/program, state event/program [...]

The National Wildlife Refuge Association has just announced the winners of the 2011 National Wildlife Refuge System Awards.
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NWRS 2011 Friends Group of the Year Award
This award recognizes a Friends group that has shown outstanding leadership as a voice of the community and as an advocate for the protection, conservation, and enhancement of local refuges and [...]

The National Wildlife Refuge Association has just announced the winners of the 2011 National Wildlife Refuge System Awards.
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NWRS 2011 Volunteer of the Year Award
Denis Mudderman, Tamarac NWR, MN
Denis Mudderman combines his technological expertise with his enthusiasm for environmental education and public outreach to continually find new and creative ways to promote the conservation mission of [...]

TCPalm.com is reporting that Joanna Webb — long-time refuge ranger at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida — is being promoted to National Friends and Partnership Coordinator, which is a position that will allow her to help support 230 existing Friends groups and work to bring in new volunteers at refuges around the country.
Among [...]

On the website “Conserving the Future: Wildlife Refuges and the Next Generation” (which was just redesigned), there’s an important discussion going on about the future of America’s National Wildlife Refuge System.
If you’re a refuge advocate, a refuge employee, a refuge volunteer, a hunter, angler, bird watcher, or wildlife conservation supporter, you should visit the site, [...]

The White House website has announced that on January 4, President Obama signed the National Wildlife Refuge Volunteer Improvement Act of 2010, which was approved by Congress right before the holiday break.
According to the THOMAS website, the bill does the following:

Amends the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 (the Act) to authorize appropriations for FY2011-FY2014 [...]

As this blog mentioned last week, National Public Lands Day is on September 25 and there are many volunteer activities that are planned for that day (see the NPLD activities database).
And now the National Public Lands Day site has announced a photo contest called “Volunteers in Action.”

Participate in our Tenth Annual “Volunteers in Action” Photo [...]

National Public Lands Day is on September 25 this year, and it celebrates service and recreation on public lands while educating volunteers about the problems that our lands face, such as climate change.
Last year, National Public Lands Day volunteers:

Removed an estimated 900,000 lbs of trash
Collected an estimated 20,000 lbs of invasive plants
Built and maintained an [...]

In an August 31 entry in the Fish and Wildlife Journal, Kristin Reakoff of the Alaska Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported on the annual Henshaw Creek Weir Science Camp, held for students in grades 6-12 who live in villages near Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge in central Alaska.
The article highlighted the valuable [...]

The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, in partnership with the Gulf Response Involvement Team, is looking for over 400 volunteers to help with a 2-week long marsh restoration project within Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana.
Volunteers are needed to plant over 5,000 plugs of smooth and marshhay cordgrass per day [...]