Entries Tagged 'NWRs' ↓

South Dakota National Wildlife Refuges are facing a $15.7 million deficit in funding.

Nearly 200,000 people visit South Dakota refuges each year: places like Lacreek and Waubay NWRs. These wonderful places for wildlife as well as four others and six wetland management districts are losing out on restoration and management efforts.

The Badlands of South Dakota

South Dakota harbors a lot of grasslands, a habitat in serious decline. Grassland birds as a whole are some of the most periled species in the U.S. Without proper funding, we could be losing out on all the wonderful efforts that have been put in place to protect wildlife.

At Sand Lake NWR alone, a staggering one million Snow Geese congregate during their annual migration. - C.A.R.E.

It is high time that not only this deficit be erased, but that much more money gets put into our nation’s greatest natural wildlife areas.

Wisconsin National Wildlife Refuges are facing a $16.7 million deficit in funding, greatly hurting the management of these wonderful bird havens.

A typical scene at Horicon in July

Horicon National Wildlife Refuge staffing will be reduced to a single maintenance worker, shared with three other refuges. This will severely impact maintenance of the miles of dikes and levees upon which the 32,000 acres of Horicon marsh… -C.A.R.E.

The lack of proper funding will also hamper efforts to restore Whooping Crane populations at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge as well as protect federally endangered species such as the Piping Plover.

Wisconsin is home to 7 National Wildlife Refuges and gets over 1.5 million visitors a year. To learn more about ways you can help support these wildlife havens, visit RefugeNet. Or you can check out Pathways to Nature - Friends of Necedah.

Started on September 20th of this year, Refuge Watch is a wonderful blog showcasing the “News and Events From America’s National Wildlife Refuges”.

Why exactly are National Wildlife Refuges important? How about because they are home to:

• over 700 species of birds
• around 220 species of mammals
• approximately 250 reptile and amphibian species
• more than 200 species of fish
• over 250 threatened or endangered plants and animals
• used by millions of birds during spring and fall migrations

Little Blue Heron at Santa Ana NWR

All 50 states have at least one refuge and in total there are 548 National Wildlife Refuges. No matter where you live in the U.S. there is a refuge relatively nearby. The refuge system provides wonderful natural places for not just for birding but for photography, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, and other wildlife viewing. Without our refuges we would lose much more than great places to go birding.

This is why it is vital birders unite as one group to promote the importance of the National Wildlife Refuge system. It is up to us to convey the conservation message and to support proper funding for our wildlife refuges.

Illinois is the proud home of 11 National Wildlife Refuges, protecting land along the mighty Mississippi River down to cypress swamps in the southern part of the state. These refuges provide habitat for millions of migrating birds including the endangered Piping Plover.

Unfortunately, Illinois’ NWRs are facing a $47 million budget deficit, reducing the ability to properly manage vital habitat, provide proper maintenance of roads and buildings, and allow for adequate staffing in biological and educational fields.

Due to budget shorfalls, Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge has been forced to eliminate the refuge’s entire environmental education and interpretive programs, which was attended by more than 5,000 schoolchildren. ~fundrefuges.org

Are the hundreds (thousands?) of Bald Eagles that use the Mississippi River in winter worth proper funding?

Some Illinois Refuge Facts

• Cypress Creek provides nesting habitat for Cerulean Warblers and Acadian Flycatchers as well as an ecosystem that still has top predators like bobcat and coyotes.
• Chautauqua has been named a Globally Important Bird Area and a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site due to the large numbers of waterfowl and shorebirds that use the 6,000 plus acres
• Upper Mississippi River - Lost Mound Unit is spectacular during migration, protecting land along the Mississippi Flyway; Blue Grosbeak and Upland Sandpiper have nested in the area
• Over 1.5 million people visit Illinois refuges each year providing economic incentives to communities all around the refuges

The National Wildlife Refuges in Illinois provide some of the best birding, nature-watching, hiking, fishing, and photography opportunities in the state. Without proper funding, these wonderful places will be degraded and effect not just the wildlife here, but birds that use the Mississippi Flyway to get to places way beyond.

Two things remain certain with regard to Michigan’s National Wildlife Refuges: they provide critical habitat for an amazing diversity of bird species and they are seriously underfunded.

Kirtland’s Warbler

Perhaps the best known bird of Michigan is the Kirtland’s Warbler. An endangered species, the Kirtland’s is a bird that mostly breeds in Michigan but because of sound conservation efforts, has recently expanded its range. Just this year, nesting Kirtland’s Warblers were found in Wisconsin.

Much of the progress of the Kirtland’s Warbler would not have been possible without conserved lands such as the Kirtland’s Warbler Wildlife Management Area. But there are also many other wonderful refuges found in Michigan.

Seney

Seney National Wildlife Refuge provides some of the best birding in Michigan most notably for the high concentration of Common Loons and Trumpeter Swans. But it also holds another important key to conservation in Michigan: the staff at Seney Administers Kirtland’s Warbler NWR and Huron Islands, Michigan Islands, Harbor Island and Whitefish Point refuges in Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan.

We’ve seen Common Loons in four states but none so wonderful as at Seney NWR

Budget Shortfalls

Michigan’s NWRs are facing a $22.3 million budget shortfall and with it comes serious personnel cuts.

Because of financial constraints, Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge managed many fewer wetland acres than planned due to the loss of a biological technician. | Due to budget shortfalls, all education programs and teacher workshops will be discontinued at Seney National Wildlife Refuge.

If there isn’t enough money, how will habitat for the Kirtland’s Warbler be managed properly? What will we lose in educational programs, maintenance, and biological studies? What can be done about this serious decline in funding?

Funding Help

As always, we can buy duck stamps - 98% of every dollar goes to purchasing new habitat. But there are other ways to help too. For starters, we can take action at the Refuge Action Network. Michigan citizens can petition to their senators and representatives to support bills that fund the NWR System. But it doesn’t have to stop there.

We can also join the Seney Natural History Association or Friends of Shiawassee NWR to directly support these individual refuges.

All birders that have had the pleasure of seeing a Kirtland’s Warbler are most likely indebted to the wonderful people that manage their habitat. It is your responsibility (along with all birders) to support these lands in every way possible. We owe it to future generations of people as well as birds.

Well, it isn’t an official partnership, but the Birdfreak Team has made it a top priority to promote the National Wildlife Refuge System.

We will be highlighting the problems the NWRs face and potential solutions to these problems. We have birded on numerous NWRs and they are some of the best places to bird.

Common Loons and Trumpeter Swans are typical sights at Seney National Wildlife Refuge in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

As part of our overall effort to promote bird conservation, we feel the NWRs are in one of the best positions to provide instant habitat protection as well as long-term conservation of a large number of endangered and threatened birds.

Join us in our partnership to protect this nation’s most valuable resource - natural habitat!