U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service News

President Requests $1.6 Billion in Fiscal Year 2016 for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The President’s Fiscal Year 2016 discretionary budget request supports $1.6 billion in programs for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an increase of $135.7 million over the 2015 enacted level.

“Investing in the conservation of our wildlife and habitat resources results in myriad health and economic benefits to U.S. communities,” said Service Director Dan Ashe. “Investing in the next American generation is also critical, so we are creating new ways to engage young audiences in outdoor experiences, both on wildlife refuges and partner lands. With 80 percent of the U.S. population currently residing in urban communities, helping urban dwellers to rediscover the outdoors is a priority for the Service.”

This budget invests in the science-based conservation and restoration of land, water and native species on a landscape scale, considering the impacts of a changing climate; expansion and improvement of recreational opportunities — such as hunting, fishing and wildlife watching — for all Americans, including urban populations; increased efforts to combat illegal wildlife trafficking, which is an international crisis; and the operation and maintenance of public lands.

America’s Great Outdoors – This initiative, a Service priority, seeks to empower all Americans to share the benefits of the outdoors, and leave a healthy, vibrant outdoor legacy for generations to come. In 2016, a total of $1.5 billion in current funding is proposed for the Service as part of the Administration’s initiative to reconnect Americans to the outdoors while developing a landscape level understanding of a changing climate. This includes $1.3 billion for Service operations, an increase of $119.2 million over the 2015 enacted level.

A critical component of America’s Great Outdoors is the National Wildlife Refuge System. Funding for the operation and maintenance of the Refuge System is requested at $508.2 million, an increase of $34 million above the 2015 enacted level. Included in that increase is an additional $5 million for the Urban Wildlife Conservation Program, which will extend opportunities to engage more urban youth and adults.

The budget also requests $108.3 million for grant programs administered by the Service that support America’s Great Outdoors goals. Programs such as the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants are an important source of funds for the conservation and improvement of a range of wildlife and the landscapes on which they depend.

Land Acquisition – The 2016 Federal Land Acquisition program builds on efforts started in 2011 to strategically invest in the highest priority conservation areas through better coordination among Department of the Interior agencies and the U.S. Forest Service. This budget includes $164.8 million for federal land acquisition, composed of $58.5 million in current funding and $106.3 million in proposed permanent funding. The budget provides an overall increase of $117.2 million above the 2015 enacted level. An emphasis on the use of these funds is to work with willing landowners to secure public access to places to recreate, hunt and fish.

Cooperative Recovery – Species recovery is another important Service priority addressed in this budget. For 2016, the President requests a total of $10.7 million, an increase of $4.8 million over the enacted level, for cooperative recovery. The focus will be on implementing recovery actions for species nearing delisting or reclassification from endangered to threatened, and actions that are urgently needed for critically endangered species.

Ecological Services – The budget includes $258.2 million to conserve, protect and enhance listed and at-risk wildlife and their habitats, an increase of $32.3 million compared with the 2015 enacted level. These increases include a $4 million program increase to support conservation of the sagebrush steppe ecosystem, which extends across 11 states in the intermountain West. Conservation of this vast area requires a collaborative effort unprecedented in geographic scope and magnitude. To achieve sustainable conservation success for this ecosystem, the Service has identified priority needs for basic scientific expertise, technical assistance for on-the-ground support, and internal and external coordination, and partnership building with western states, the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and other partners.

Additionally, the budget request contains a
$4 million increase to ensure appropriate design and quick approval of important restoration projects that will be occurring in the Gulf of Mexico region in the near future. The Gulf of Mexico Watershed spans 31 states and is critical to the health and vitality of our nation’s natural and economic resources. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill dramatically increased the urgency of the Service’s work in the Gulf and our leadership responsibilities. Over the course of the next decade, billions of dollars in settlement funds, Clean Water Act penalties and Natural Resource Damage Assessment restitution will be directed toward projects to study and restore wildlife habitat in the Gulf of Mexico region. The Service is in high demand to provide technical assistance and environmental clearances for these projects, and this funding will ensure that this demand can be met.

To learn more about the President’s FY 2016 budget request for the Department of the Interior, visit: www.doi.gov/budget.

Read more information from the National Wildlife Refuge Association.

Photo courtesy of USFWS

For more stories like this, visit https://www.fws.gov/refuges/friends/newswire/

Friends of Anahuac Refuge Mini Gator Tales November 2014

Attention beginner and expert birding enthusiasts!

The Gulf Gazette USFWS Inventory & Monitoring-Gulf Coast Zone November 2014 Newsletter

Check out the first edition of The Gulf Gazette! It is a newsletter from USFWS Inventory & Monitoring biologists working in the Gulf Coast Zone, including Anahuac NWR.

Topics include:

• What is the Gulf Coast Zone?
• Sea-level rise
• Wintering waterfowl habitat studies
• Upcoming projects and research

Attention beginner and expert birding enthusiasts!! 

A FREE birding workshop is scheduled for December 15, 2014.  The workshop is presented as a result of an exciting new partnership between Audubon Coastal Texas and The Friends of Anahuac Refuge (FOAR).  The goals of this partnership are to conduct monthly free workshops to train volunteers to identify waterbirds along the upper Texas coast including Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and other good birding locations in this coastal area. The waterbird monitoring project is needed to first establish a baseline of numbers of birds and secondly to use the information to manage waterbird populations by species.

These workshops will teach volunteers how to collect information by waterbird monitoring at the coastal locations such as Anahuac refuge and other sites. This workshop will be approximately one hour and will be paired with a 1-2 hour field trip which will help volunteers become comfortable with identifying waterbirds and filling out the census form. Beginner and experienced birders are all welcome to participate.

The first workshop will begin at 9:00 am until approximately 10:00 am December 15, 2014 at the USFWS Chenier Plains NWR Complex Headquarters (ANWR Visitor Center) on FM563 about 2 miles south of I-10 and 4 miles north of Anahuac.  Then there will be a 1-2 hour bird survey in the field ending by 12pm. Bring your binoculars and favorite field guide, Audubon will bring extras for those who have none. Also, bring a bottle water and a light snack for this event and wear weather appropriate clothing including walking shoes/hiking boots. 

For additional information contact Travis Lovelace, 409 277-9112 or 409 252-3454 or email at atl3454@windstream.net .

Ibis photo by Danni Hill Previte

Prescribed Fire and Other Heated Language

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service firefighters regularly reduce wildfire risk and help restore wildlife habitat by conducting prescribed burns at national wildlife refuges. When they do so, they use technical talk that can be confusing. Here’s a primer of some commonly used terms:

Wildland fire: Any fire burning in a natural area, either a prescribed fire or a wildfire.

Prescribed fire: A planned wildland fire started and managed by professional firefighters in accordance with an approved prescribed fire burn plan, which specifies allowable conditions for burning and desired results. Also called a prescribed burn. Sometimes called a controlled burn.

Drip torch: Hand-held steel canister with a spout commonly used by wildland fire specialists to ignite prescribed fires or fight wildfires by dispensing flaming liquid – a mixture of diesel and gasoline – onto burnable vegetation. Related tools include: flame thrower (aka Terra Torch ®), usually mounted on a truck, trailer or off-road vehicle, used to shoot a horizontal stream of gelled gasoline; helitorch, hung from or mounted on a helicopter to disperse ignited lumps of gelled gasoline from the air; and ping pong balls, plastic balls filled with flammable chemicals that are dropped from a helicopter and ignite after hitting the ground.

Fuels: Live or dead vegetation – such as grass, overgrown brush, trees or logging slash – that could fuel a wildfire. Also called hazardous fuels when referring to conditions creating high risk of wildfire.

Fuels management: The practice of reducing wildfire risk through planned and approved actions to thin or remove vegetation that could fuel a wildfire. Fuels treatments can also improve wildlife habitat and commonly are done on a rotating schedule using prescribed fire, mechanical removal with chainsaws or heavy equipment, and chemical treatment with herbicides. Also called hazardous fuels reduction when referring to conditions creating high risk of wildfire.

Control line: An inclusive term for constructed or natural barriers used to stop the spread of a wildland fire. The part scraped or dug to mineral soil is called a fireline.

Spot fire: A new fire start ignited outside of control lines by blowing or falling embers from the main fire. Wildland firefighters must routinely monitor for spot fires, which can occur miles away, depending on weather conditions.

Smoke management: Decisions and actions taken by wildland firefighters, land managers and air quality regulators, especially during prescribed fire, to minimize or divert smoke from settling into populated or high-traffic areas. This prevents health and safety hazards, such as poor air quality or impaired visibility. Managing smoke is more difficult during wildfires. It sometimes involves scientific monitoring of particulate levels and public notice of air quality.

Cohesive Strategy:  An initiative of the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture in which governmental and non-governmental organizations collaborate to manage wildland fire by responding to individual wildfires, supporting fire-adapted communities, and restoring and maintaining fire-resilient lands. It is officially known as the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy.

Photo: USFWS Fire Crew working on wildfire on McFaddin NWR, 2013

For more stories like this visit: http://www.fws.gov/refuges/friends/newswire/

FOAR Partnering with Audubon Texas for Waterbird Surveys, Volunteers Needed

The Friends of Anahuac Refuge (FOAR) is partnering with Audubon’s Texas Estuarine Resource Network (T.E.R.N.). TERN supports the Texas coastal areas, including 177 coastal islands. The goals of this partnership are to conduct monthly free workshops to train volunteers to identify waterbirds on or near Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and to provide free guided field trips. This waterbird monitoring project is needed to first establish a baseline of numbers of birds and secondly to use the information to manage waterbird populations by species. Collected information will be shared with wildlife professionals such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (including the Anahuac NWR) and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The program is designed to train individuals to conduct monitoring with a group or independently. These activities will then support continuing education so new birders are learning to identify waterbirds better, and experienced birders are sharing their knowledge with new or intermediate birders.

One of the first workshops will be the T.E.R.N. monitoring workshop to teach volunteers how to collect information on waterbird monitoring at the refuge and other sites. The workshop will be approximately two hours and will be paired with a 1-2 hours field trip to become comfortable with identifying birds and filling out the census form. Each survey takes 20 minutes to conduct and more than one location could be visited.

The second workshop will focus on identification of colonial waterbirds such as egrets, herons, Black Skimmers, cormorants, pelicans, ibis, etc. and how to identify these birds in breeding and winter plumage, or as juveniles. The workshop will be followed by a 1-2 hour field trip. This workshop was recently conducted in Galveston County and was a huge success with 30 people attending.

We need your help to get started on this exciting and important project. Come join novice and experienced birders to observe waterbirds and record theirs numbers and behaviors. I’m looking forward to all of us gaining experience and knowledge and to learn of new areas for birding.

For more information about volunteering for this project on the refuge,
please contact Travis Lovelace at (409) 252-3454 or (409) 277-9112 or atl3454@windstream.net.

Refuge Rangers Fight Myths about Creepy Crawlies and Other Wildlife

It’s not just snakes. Other wild creatures inspire exaggerated fears, too: bats; spiders; birds; fish – yes, fish.

In the course of greeting tens of thousands of visitors a year, rangers on national wildlife refuges bump up against many such bugbears. They know which natural–world denizens invariably make some people flinch or go ewww.

One thing they’ve noticed: Whether it’s because today’s visitors tend to live more indoor lives than past generations or watch too many TV survival shows, fears of nature are flourishing -- in all ages.

“We’re seeing more kids sheltered and afraid,” says Ashley Inslee, a biologist at Bosque del Apache Refuge in New Mexico. “Even college kids interested in conservation haven’t been out hunting, fishing, hiking. They’ve seen TV shows or National Geographic and think being outdoors is cool, but it can be uncomfortable at first.”

Different tactics are called for at Florida’s J.N. “Ding” Darling Refuge, where gators are star attractions. “There should be a natural fear we have of them, and they of us; it’s a good thing to be fearful of a large predator like an alligator,” says supervisory refuge ranger Toni Westland. But she puts visitors’ fears in perspective. “We tell them we’re not going to have alligators jumping out of bushes. It’s safe. But it’s only safe because we respect wild animals and don’t feed them.”

Some visitors want to beat back old fears. Mary Stumpp signed on this winter as a volunteer at crane-filled Bosque del Apache Refuge undefined an odd choice for someone with a lifelong fear of birds. Her task: using a tractor to mow corn for feeding sandhill cranes. Slowly, she grew accustomed to seeing flocks overhead. Writes Stumpp, “I began to see the cranes not as a threat but as beautiful creatures. To my surprise, I began to care about them…”

To help anxious visitors, refuge staffers share some proven tactics:

Admit fears of their own. Visitors may be surprised to hear refuge staffers aren’t all fearless. Bosque del Apache Refuge’s deputy manager Aaron Mize owns up to a fear of heights and snakes.

Find out what they know. At Patuxent Refuge, staff meets students on familiar turf before a refuge visit, and throws softball questions: “Do you spend any time outside? What’s your favorite animal?” Staff also invites students to confide fears in writing so they are not embarrassed in front of classmates.

Don’t dissemble. To a child nervous about snakes, you might try: ‘There are snakes here, but we almost never see any. That’s because they’re shy, and they can feel the ground tremble, and they go and hide when they hear people coming.’

Educate about feeding a wild animal. Remind people that wildlife loses their fear of humans if regularly fed by visitors.  And tell them never to challenge wildlife.   

Let kids adjust at their own pace. Let young people decide if they want to touch a live frog or snake. Respect youngsters’ rights to say “no”.  Some refuge staff appoint an anxious young visitor to become their assistant for a day.   

Show enthusiasm. Students see that you’re not afraid and they respond.  When a youngster sees salamanders and turtles and responds, ‘Oh gross,’ that’s your chance to say, ‘No, they’re so cool,” and explain why. 

Caption:

These kids at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, AZ, are none too sure that they want to get near that snake, harmless as it is.  Photo by Andrea Brophy. 

For more stories like this, visit: http://www.fws.gov/refuges/friends/newswire/

$1 Million to Fund Urban Engagement Efforts at Southern California Wildlife Refuges

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced that San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex will receive an additional $1 million in funding to reach new audiences and engage Southern California urban communities and youth in conservation and outdoor recreation. The refuge is the first among the nation’s urban national wildlife refuges to receive this new award through a nationwide competition.

“From teaching urban youth about the magnificence of the California condor to unlocking opportunities to explore nature along the Los Angeles River, the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex is a model of how we can leverage innovative partnerships to connect new and diverse audiences to the great outdoors,” said Jewell. “This dedicated funding will help engage the next generation of conservationists while also strengthening connections between the community and these public lands that belong to all Americans.”

The refuge’s winning proposal, the SoCal Urban Wildlife Refuge Project, incorporates outdoor learning, service and stewardship of natural habitats, and conservation-based projects for youth and young adults from diverse communities. It encompasses activities not only at the San Diego Refuges but also to the north at the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex and in Los Angeles under the auspices of the Los Angeles Urban Wildlife Refuge Partnership and Friends of the Los Angeles River.

Ten exceptional programs have been incorporated into the SoCal Project that will complement and expand current outreach and education programs on the refuges, including:

• Working with the Los Angeles Conservation Corps to develop job skills with inner city, low-income young adults to restore wildlife habitats along the Los Angeles River and to lead outdoor education activities;
• Expanding the partnership with Earth Discovery Institute to build a cadre of young technology-savvy environmental stewards and to expand service opportunities for volunteers and communities to connect with their wild lands;
• Growing the next generation of environmental scientists and developing skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics with the Living Coast Discovery Center; and
• Training teachers and students on the use of cutting-edge science to solve conservation problems with the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.

Director Ashe launched the competition in March 2014 to encourage innovative proposals from refuges across the country to engage new and diverse audiences.

Earlier this year, Secretary Jewell announced that Los Angeles was selected as one of eight pilot cities under the administration’s Urban Wildlife Refuge Program to connect urban youth with the great outdoors.

“As the second largest metropolitan area in the United States with 17 million people, Southern California can be a laboratory for the rest of the country to show how to help people who live in a world made of bricks and concrete connect with a world of grass and rivers, fish and wildlife,” said Jewell. “Helping kids feel welcome on public lands at a young age can help create the next generation of conservationists or spark a passion to be good stewards of nature that will last a lifetime.”

For more stories like this, visit: http://www.fws.gov/refuges/friends/newswire/

By Jim Kurth

Chief, National Wildlife Refuge System

I sometimes wonder how many professions can claim to have friends like we do.

I doubt there are “Friends of the IRS” or “Friends of Podiatrists.” Not that those aren’t noble enterprises, but I doubt that they would draw a loyal following. 

What is it about our profession that draws people to volunteer their time and offer money to help? Honestly, it really isn’t about us. People care about the wildlife they find at national wildlife refuges. There is a special sense of place that refuges evoke. People experience more than mere “fun” at refuges. They find deeply personal meanings that are essential to self-identity.

You will hear people talk about “the swamp” or “the beach” or “the marsh” as if there were no others. They talk about my refuge with a reverence and a sense of stewardship. Our Friends and volunteers have a personal relationship with these special places and the wild creatures that live here.

I remember a volunteer who was the first treasurer of the Seney Natural History Association, the Friends organization at Seney National Wildlife Refuge in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Harold Peters was an 86-year-old retired game warden. He came in every day to count the money from the bookstore and deposit it in the local bank. He would recount stories about his career – stories a lot older than I was. 

He told me about the time he was on patrol during the second week of deer season when a big snowstorm blew in and his Model A Ford was stuck in the backwoods all winter. He went back in the spring to discover that porcupines had eaten the wooden spokes off of all the wheels. 

His stories were the stories of his connection to the place, and he wanted to share those connections with me.

Refuges draw people from local communities together for a common cause. Many times local communities have rich histories with places that are now called national wildlife refuges. The culture of communities is often anchored in a long-standing relationship with the land. Friends groups are special communities that share a strong connection to their refuge and its wildlife.

These two characteristics – a sense of place and a sense of community – are the essential keys to effective stewardship. Conservation is like politics: All effective conservation is local. 

Our Friends and volunteers are the essential core of support for effective conservation. Their collective efforts make a huge difference for the National Wildlife Refuge System. And they know how to have fun. They have my thanks and admiration.

For more stories like this, visit: http://www.fws.gov/refuges/friends/newswire/index.html