Jaime Gonzalez, President of the Friends of Aransas and Matagorda Island (FAMI) National Wildlife Refuges, has sent out an email to Refuge System supporters regarding help for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel who were affected by Hurricane Ike.
The letter states:

As you well know, Hurricane Ike dealt a severe blow to portions of the [...]

The call is going out to Refuge Friends groups — and any concerned citizens who are reading this — to urge their representatives and senators to fight for passage of the “No Child Left Inside Act” (H.R. 3060 and S. 1981).
The more well known “No Child Left Behind Act” (NCLB) has had the unfortunate [...]

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that on May 18, 2008, volunteer Doug Domedion at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in western New York, saw two individuals fishing in a closed area of the refuge that was off limits to vehicles. Domedion managed to get an excellent photo of the violators’ vehicle and turned it [...]

Region 2 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently handed out their EPA Environmental Quality Awards, and one of the awards went to Marie Springer, founder and president of the Friends of Wallkill River Refuge in Sussex, New Jersey.
According to the EPA’s award page:

Marie Springer is the founder and President of the Friends of [...]

The National Wildlife Refuge Association and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation have announced the winners of the 2008 National Wildlife Refuge System Awards.

Paul Kroegel Refuge Manager of the Year Award: Kevin Brennan, Fergus Falls Wetland Management District, Minnesota
Refuge System Employee of the Year: Clyde Morris, Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, California
Volunteer [...]

In the previous post I gave an overview of what 2007 meant for the Refuge System. But no end-of-year review is complete without setting resolutions for the upcoming year. So what kind of resolutions can we all make to help wildlife refuges in 2008?
1) Call your representatives and senators in Congress
Few things can be as [...]

As I reported in this blog back on December 19, the National Wildlife Refuge System earned a big budget win during the Fiscal Year 2008 budget negotiations in December by securing an almost $39 million increase over the Fiscal Year 2007 budget. Considering the tough budget climate that the country is currently in, this was [...]

On the community website Gather.com, community member Jennifer F. — whose parents have worked at various national parks — has posted a beautiful photo essay of Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, which is located approximately 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas in the Amargosa Valley of southern Nye County, Nevada.
Ash Meadows NWR was established [...]

In this post, I have more news about Friends groups making a difference in the National Wildlife Refuge System. On December 7, Plenty Magazine published a story about how the Friends of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico have completed the purchase of 6,272-foot Chupadera Peak and 140 acres of surrounding [...]

The Tigard Times in Oregon recently ran a story about the upcoming opening of the new visitor center at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, which is located on the outskirts of Portland and is one of only a handful of urban national wildlife refuges in the country.
The article does a good job of highlighting [...]