Underfunding cripples US national wildlife refuge system

In an attempt to cope with a huge budget backlog, the US Fish and Wildlife Service is cutting and redeploying staff in the National Wildlife Refuge System across the Southwest and the Pacific Regions. Reductions in services will impact refuges in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Guam and several Pacific islands. As a result of the cuts, environmental education programs for school children will be eliminated, there will be cuts in endangered species recovery programs, habitat management and law enforcement will be diminished. In the face of "increasing operating costs and increasing conservation needs," Chris Pease, chief of National Wildlife Refuges in the Southwest, says the region will be eliminating 38 positions over the next three years. The Southwest workforce plan consists of a mix of cost-savings measures over a three year period to obtain a budget ratio of 80 percent salary to 20 percent operating expenditures. "Permanent staff reductions are planned as personnel costs consume a hefty portion of the budget," Pease said. Staff reductions will occur through retirement, attrition and relocation, and staffing reductions will also occur in the regional office located in Albuquerque with the savings to be directed to the field stations, Pease explained. These reductions come on top of the 22 positions left vacant since 2004. The plan further states that "each subsequent year beyond fiscal year 2009 may require annual reductions of five to seven positions just to cover cost of living increases." The Pacific region contains 64 national wildlife refuges covering more than 3.5 million acres of public land and waters. According to the workforce plan that outlines the cuts, the Pacific region is leaving 32 positions vacant and will eliminate another 17 jobs by fiscal year 2009, resulting in a total of 49 eliminated positions. Because of these staffing cuts, 28 refuges, or 44 percent of the refuges in the region, will remain completely unstaffed and 21 refuges, or one-third of the refuges in the region, will experience further reductions. The plan calls for the elimination of almost a quarter of the biologists in the Pacific region, crippling the wildlife agency's ability to monitor and restore wildlife populations. One quarter of the staff that actively manages habitat will also be eliminated, causing over 40 invasive species control projects and wetland restoration projects to be reduced or abolished outright. Only six full-time law enforcement staff will remain in the entire Pacific region. Since 2001, funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System has increased from $300 million to $383 million in fiscal year 2006, but the increase has been directed to specific priorities such as invasive species control, borderland security and maintenance needs at specific refuges, said Pease. "Our national wildlife refuges are literally crumbling before our eyes. Across the country we're seeing how the culmination of years of negligent funding devastates these special places," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "At the same time President Bush is championing funds for our national parks, he should also push for adequate funding of another national treasure, the national wildlife refuges," Schlickeisen said. Refuges are currently managed at a cost of less than $4 per acre. By comparison, the National Park System receives more than $20 per acre for management. Alarm bells warning of the funding crisis have been ringing for years. "The Refuge System already suffers from a crippling $3 billion backlog in top priority operations and maintenance needs," Michael Woodbridge, director of government affairs for the nonprofit National Wildlife Refuge Association told a Congressional hearing in July 2006. "Without modest funding increases from Congress, refuges will continue closing their gates, and the public will be the ones who pay the price." The Southwest region's workforce plan is part of larger effort nationally to strategically manage the nation's refuge system. Each regional office is tasked with finding ways to balance salary and operational costs to maintain workable ratios. The other regions have not yet issued their workforce plans. "If the Service and the refuge system do not act decisively now, it will spend the next few years reacting," said Pease. "By instituting these cost-saving measures, we can better address our conservation mission." The Southwest region includes 45 refuges located in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas and contains 2.86 million acres of habitat that attracts a variety of wildlife. These refuges are part of the larger National Wildlife Refuge System that is managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Altogether, there are 547 refuges with nearly 100 million acres. Under the new plan, Southwest refuges will be classified into one of three tiers based on each refuge's habitat management needs, visitation and law enforcement requirements. "We've created three strategic tiers of refuges which clarifies the roles that individual refuges play in terms of habitat management, visitation and law enforcement needs, and have structured the staffing needs accordingly," said Pease. Tier 1 is composed of focus refuges, which tend to have the largest landholdings, diverse habitats, rare fish and wildlife species and offer extensive visitor services programs. They will be expected to have a full range of staff in a variety of disciplines and will support Tier 2 and Tier 3 stations. Tier 2 are the refuges targeted for staff reductions although some staff will remain to conduct basic refuge management and maintenance. Some visitor services will be offered such as wildlife viewing and interpretation and special events. Tier 3 are the unstaffed refuges and tend to be of a size that does not require extensive habitat manipulation to achieve wildlife objectives. While the refuges may be opened for visitors for special events or for self-directed tours, there will not be staff on site. Staff from a neighboring Tier 1 or 2 refuge will manage these refuges. Four refuges will be grouped into two complexes, and maintenance teams will be used to complete small construction projects.