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CAPITOL FLYER
Friday, December 7, 2007
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Capitol
Flyer is intended to keep you abreast of the latest developments
in Washington affecting the National Wildlife Refuge System.
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Table of Contents:
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Refuge Improvement Act turns Ten!
The Refuge Improvement Act was signed into law on October 9, 1997 and is the guiding legislation for how National Wildlife Refuges should be managed. Among other things, the law calls for strategic growth of the System to ensure the conservation of a diversity of species. It also calls for every refuge in the lower 48 states to complete a Comprehensive Conservation Plan, or "CCP" by the end of 2012. A bold and elegant piece of legislation, it has helped refuge managers set priorities and determine parameters on what actions are appropriate and inappropriate at a refuge.
You can download the Act, a short and succinct read for anyone involved with protecting our National Wildlife Refuge System, at our website:
http://www.refugenet.org/new-pdf-files/NWRS%20Improvement%20Act.pdf
To commemorate the Anniversary, the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE) and the FWS held a joint reception on Capitol Hill the evening of October 10th. Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and FWS Director Dale Hall spoke on behalf of the Department of the Interior and Evan Hirsche, President of NWRA and Chair of CARE, assisted by other CARE representatives and Friends from five states, presented six awards to Members of Congress for their outstanding leadership in promoting increased funding for the Refuge System.
National Wildlife Refuge Association testifies on how the Improvement Act is working:
Also in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Act, Congress held an oversight hearing, "Implementation of the National Wildlife Refuge Improvement Act: Has the promise been fulfilled?" The hearing, held by the House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans, looked at successes and failures of enactment.
NWRA President, Evan Hirsche, testified along with former Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt; former EPA Administrator and Chair of the National Audubon Board, Carol Browner; FWS Director Dale Hall; Director of South Carolina's Department of Natural Resources, John Frampton; and General Counsel of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, William Horn.
NWRA's testimony centered on the inability of the FWS to implement many key aspects of the Act due to slashed budgets over the past several years. Another focus was the positive results from completed CCPs, which has led to increased communications with communities and landowners. You can read NWRA's testimony on our website: http://www.refugenet.org/New-issues/NWRS_Funding.html
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House Hearing on Road to Nowhere
On October 31st, the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on HR 2801, the Izembek and Alaska Peninsula Refuge and Wilderness Enhancement and King Cove Safe Access Act. The long title hides the motive behind the bill - to build a road through the biological heart of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Although road proponents seek to sweeten the deal with a land exchange, a road through these sensitive lands will have profound impacts on wildlife, and the proposed exchange lands would do not provide comparable habitat value to compensate for this irreversible impact to fish, wildlife, and wetlands. It's not about quantity - it's about quality. Further, there are no foreseeable threats to the state and native lands offered up for the trade.
Citing concerns for public safety, the residents of King Cove argue that this road is necessary for access to the airport located in the community of Cold Bay in case of medical emergencies. However, in 1998 Congress denied road proponents a road through the Izembek NWR due to significant anticipated repercussions (which were confirmed in a subsequent Environmental Impact Statement). Instead, legislators appropriated $37.5 million to fund a state of the art hovercraft link between the villages and improvements to the King Cove airstrip and clinic.
In his testimony before the Committee, David Raskin, President of the Friends of Alaska NWRs, explained that in it's short time in service, the hovercraft has excelled and at significantly less cost than expected. With 20 successful medical evacuations thus far, the hovercraft is providing safe and reliable transportation between the villages. Also testifying in opposition to the road was Nicole Whittington-Evans of the Wilderness Society, who spoke eloquently about the threats the road posed to wildlife and Wilderness. The NWRA and Friends of Alaska NWRs created a report, The Road to Nowhere, highlighting the folly of this boondoggle. To download the report, or view our updated Fact Sheet, visit our website at: www.refugenet.org click on "Refuge Issues" and "Izembek."
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Bill To Fight Invasive Species Passes House
H.R. 767, the Refuge Ecology Protection, Assistance & Immediate Response (REPAIR) Act, was introduced earlier this year by members of the Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus and passed the House on October 22nd.
The REPAIR Act would set in law a program successfully promoted by the NWRA with Congress over the past 4 years that provides grants to facilitate the involvement of volunteers and outside organizations such as Friends groups in battling invasive species. In 2002, NWRA's Silent Invasion report (visit www.refugenet.org "Publications" to download) sounded the clarion call for countering invasives on refuges and recommended mobilizing the tens of thousands of refuge volunteers across the country to assist with control and monitoring. To date, Congress has allocated $3 million for volunteer invasives programs and an additional $1 million is included in FY08 House Interior Appropriations bill.
NWRA is currently working with our conservation partners to advance the Senate companion, which could be introduced before the year's end.
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Legislation Guiding Annual Funding Agreements Introduced in House
Under the auspices of the Indian Self Determination Act, the Secretary of Interior, acting through the FWS, can enter into an Annual Funding Agreement (AFA) with a Native American Tribe, to conduct management activities on some national wildlife refuges. The Act is designed to promote Tribal "self governance" - essentially allowing Tribes to do the job of the Federal Government where appropriate. Passed in 1994, section 403(b) of the Act authorized federally recognized Indian Tribes the authority to negotiate funding agreements with the Department of Interior, which included some national wildlife refuges. Some AFAs have been very successful such as the agreement with the FWS and the Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments at the Yukon Flats NWR in Alaska. However, the 2006 agreement between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes at the National Bison Range was a disaster - largely due to the absence of a national policy on how AFAs should be administered by the FWS at NWRs.
On October 30th, legislation was introduced by Representative Dan Boren (R-OK) and co-sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV) of the Natural Resources Committee, to amend the Indian Self Determination Act to provide further self-governance for Tribes. H.R. 3994, the Department of Interior Tribal Self-Governance Act of 2007, is troublesome, and the NWRA cannot support it as written.
NWRA submitted formal comments on the proposed bill in the form of a letter to Chairman Rahall explaining our position and suggesting changes to comport with our AFA Guiding Principles. To view the letter and our Guiding Principles, please see our website at: refugeassociation.org, click on "Refuge Issues" and "National Bison Range."
Annual Funding Agreements can be a way to engage a tribe with ties to the land in advancing the mission of the national wildlife refuge and System. However, because refuges are federally-owned, the U.S. Government, through the Secretary of Interior and the FWS must have control over negotiating such agreements.
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Negotiations Begin Again for New AFA at National Bison Range
On November 26th, Department of Interior (DOI) officials gave the FWS marching orders - get a new Annual Funding Agreement (AFA) in place by March 28th at the National Bison Range (NBR) with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe (CSKT.) This, just days after a report issued by the Department of Interior's Office of Inspector General (OIG) said that DOI officials had exerted "considerable and unusual influence" over FWS in connection with the original AFA negotiations. The previous AFA was terminated by FWS one year ago due to allegations of harassment of FWS staff by tribal leaders. The report goes on to explain that since the beginning, there has been an overarching goal at the DOI to gradually turn over all FWS positions to the CSKT by the year 2010. It is our understanding that this would include the refuge manager's position - a position that by law is "inherently federal" under the Refuge Improvement Act and must be occupied by a FWS employee.
Unless FWS has a national AFA policy which can guide them in these negotiations, it is impossible to imagine an agreement that will not suffer from the same problems and issues that caused so much controversy a year ago. Importantly, what happens at the National Bison Range will have a direct impact on the legislation pending before Congress mentioned above. It is imperative that the FWS has a national policy to guide how these agreements are negotiated.
Visit out website to read the entire OIG report: refugeassociation.org, click on "refuge issues" and then "National Bison Range."
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Appropriations Update
Funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System is still provided through a Continuing Resolution or "CR" as reported in the October issue of Capitol Flyer - now extended until December 15th. The CR retains funding levels at FY07 levels and ensures the Federal Government does not shut down. However, with the stalemate between Congress and the Administration over funding levels for most programs, anything is possible.
Hill insiders expect that many appropriations bills, including the Interior bill, will be rolled into a massive spending bill called an Omnibus. As you may recall from previous issues of the Capitol Flyer, the House-passed Interior bill would fund the Refuge System at $451 million for FY08, a much needed $56 million increase over FY07. This is the amount requested by the NWRA and our partners in the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE) and would take the Refuge System back to FY04 funding levels, adjusted for inflation. The Senate's version included a $19 million increase, for a total of $414 million. NWRA is working to ensure the funding levels for FY08 are as close to the House passed bill as possible.
Action on an Omnibus is expected before the Holidays and could be as early as next week.
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Border - FWS Swaps Refuge Lands and Fence Building Commences
On November 9, the FWS agreed to a land swap of 5.8 acres with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the Buenos Aires NWR along the Arizona border with Mexico. Construction of a 12-15 foot tall fence began the same day. DHS must build 700 miles of fencing by the end of next year under the Secure Fence Act of 2006 and part of the fence was to be constructed on the refuge.
The refuge manager at the time determined that the fence would have a negative impact on the refuge and was thus, incompatible. In this case, even though the fence was deemed incompatible, DHS would likely have overruled the determination and gone ahead with building the fence anyway. Due to a law passed in 2005, DHS can waive any environmental law in the name of national security and has done so at other locations along the Mexico border. FWS is supposed to receive valuable land in exchange for these 5.8 acres, which could include important inholdings at the refuge. Nevertheless, NWRA believes that divesting refuge lands without substantial public review and input is poor policy and harmful to the integrity of the Refuge System.
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FWS gets a new Region!
On November 15, the FWS officially added Region 8, formerly the California and Nevada Operations (CNO) under Region 1. The new Region encompasses 51 refuges and Wildlife Management Areas covering 2.3 million acres, including the largest NWR in the lower 48, the Desert NWR outside Las Vegas, NV.
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Take
Action!
You can make your voice heard by utilizing the Refuge Action Network (RAN), a free, fast and easy way to respond to important national wildlife refuge alerts. Using the RAN system, you can send an e-mail or fax (even if you don't own a fax machine) to your elected officials with a click or two of your mouse. Just visit refugenet.e-actionmax.com to get started.
Please
visit the NWRA Web site, at www.refugenet.org, and click on "Take Action"
for more information.
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Capitol
Flyer, a monthly e-newsletter from the NWRA, is prepared by Desiree Sorenson-Groves, NWRA's Vice-President of Government Affairs. For additional information, please contact dgroves@refugenet.org. |
