|
CAPITOL FLYER
Thursday, March 14, 2007
***************
Capitol
Flyer is intended to keep you abreast of the latest developments
in Washington affecting the National Wildlife Refuge System.
***************
Table of Contents:
***************
Appropriations Update
On February 5, president Bush presented his fiscal year (FY) 2008 budget request for the Department of the Interior appropriations, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) National Wildlife Refuge System. Congress has begun hearings on the Refuge System budget and will develop its own budget in the coming months.
The president's request proposes $394.8 million for the Refuge System operations and maintenance (O&M) account, approximately $13.1 million more than the administration's FY 2007 request. While this request represents an increase, the Refuge System needs a minimum of a $15 million increase each year to fully cover actual inflationary costs. By contrast, the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) and the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE) have requested $451.5 million, an amount that will simply keep refuges at the level they were at the height of funding in FY 2004.
In addition to O&M funding, the FY 2008 request includes a $6 million programmatic increase for the Partners for Fish and Wildlife program bringing the overall Partners funding to $48.4 million. The Partners program is vital to the FWS's ability to conduct conservation initiatives on private lands and is operated by the Refuge System in regions 3 and 6.
Also receiving a boost is the construction budget at $23.1 million, an increase of $3.3 million over the administration's FY 2007 request.
Construction:
Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) (IL), Rehabilitate Devil's Kitchen Dam - $2m
Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge (MD), Repair/renovate water/sewer infrastructure - $5m
Midway Atoll Wildlife Refuge (Midway Atoll Islands), Replace fuel farm - $2.346m
Decreases include the FY 2008 request for land acquisition, which totals $18 million, and the Challenge Cost-Share program, which was cut by $1.9 million.
The cut in land acquisition is a reduction of $9.1 million from the administration's FY 2007 request of $27.1 million. According to the request, "$5.5 million is for line-item land acquisition for acquiring interests in lands, including easements that provide important fish and wildlife habitat."
Land Acquisition:
National Key Deer NWR (FL) - $1.044m
Upper Klamath NWR (OR) - $4.5m
Once again, the President's request fails to budget $1 million "for cooperative projects with [F]riends groups on invasive species control," a program that has resulted over the past two years in a total of 1,682 volunteers contributing 33,766 hours to the management of 139,790 refuge acres. We will once again pursue language in Congress to continue this worthwhile program (a priority for the NWRA).
The president's budget request also includes revenue assumptions from oil lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The President's FY 2008 Budget proposal again mandates receipt of $7.0 billion from the first Arctic Refuge lease sale, followed by $1.0 billion from a follow-up sale, two years later. Under the President's proposal, the sales take place in FY 2009 and 2011, respectively.
To take action on these and other issues, be sure to use NWRA's e-advocacy tool. Click on the following link to urge your members of Congress to increase funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System: http://refugenet.e-actionmax.com/showalert.asp?aaid=2322.
(return
to table of contents)
Beyond The Boundaries Workshop Draws 75 Refuge Supporters and Refuge Managers to Washington, DC
The National Wildlife Refuge Association, in partnership with the Fish and Wildlife Service and with support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, New-Land Foundation and Beneficia Foundation, held a second Beyond the Boundaries Workshop, March 3-4, 2007, in Washington, DC, 75 refuge Friends and Professionals from 28 refuges and 22 states participated in workshops providing the knowledge, tools and strategies to work effectively on buffer habitat conservation.
Alarmed by the loss of vital refuge buffer habitat as a result of inappropriate nearby development, competing water interests, mining and fossil-fuel extraction and spreading invasives, the NWRA launched its Beyond the Boundaries (BTB) initiative in the summer of '05 in a bid to shore up the biological integrity of refuges by working beyond refuge boundaries. Our State of the System: Beyond the Boundaries report details a host of threats from outside refuge boundaries and offers a series of recommendations to decision makers to help stem the tide and conserve these unprotected lands external to refuges. The report is available as a downloadable pdf file on our website: http://www.refugenet.org/new-pdf-files/BeyondtheBoundaries.pdf
As part of our "BTB" work, a top priority is to engage refuge Friends in conservation strategies designed to protect refuge buffer habitat and pursue landscape conservation initiatives.
The 2007 BTB workshop brought together a geographically diverse group of refuge supporters from refuges facing urgent challenges. Each refuge was represented by three attendees: two members of the Friends group and the refuge manager or designee. At the workshop, participants learned from a variety of experts about land use trends and threats to refuges and were encouraged to share their experiences - both successes and failures.
Following the workshop, NWRA led Friends representatives to Capitol Hill, where they conducted 85 meetings with members of Congress from 20 states. They urged their members to increase funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System to $451.5 million in FY08, while also promoting individual refuge needs.
(return
to table of contents)
Navy Pushes Jet Landing Field by Pocosin Lakes NWR-Again!
The U.S. Navy is once again proposing to build a jet landing field right next to the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina. A similar plan was proposed two years ago, but that plan was stopped in federal court due to violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In 2005, a Federal District Court ruled that the U.S. Navy distorted an environmental impact statement (EIS) to justify the construction of an outlying landing field (OLF), within five miles of the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, in Washington and Beaufort counties in North Carolina.
Last month, the Navy released a new EIS, as a result of the court decision, but it again endorses the Washington/Beaufort County site for an OLF.
The NWRA and other conservation organizations, along with local citizens in North Carolina, want the Navy to consider sites that are not so near the Pocosin Lakes NWR. Pocosin Lakes attracts tens of thousands of migratory waterfowl each winter, posing a severe risk of collisions between birds and aircraft for much of the year. Building an airfield so close to a refuge with so many birds creates a high risk of bird collisions.
(return
to table of contents)
Congressman Dingell Raises Concerns Over Bison Range Agreement
Congressman John Dingell (D-MI), a longtime Refuge System supporter, has asked the House Natural Resources Committee to examine the annual funding agreement (AFA) and issues surrounding the agreement at the National Bison Range Complex in Montana.
As the longest serving member in the House of Representatives, Rep. Dingell is referred to as the "Dean of the House." He was involved in drafting the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act and National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act.
Specifically, Mr. Dingell asked Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Chairwoman Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans Subcommittee, respectively, to look into the Department of the Interior's transferring management of the National Bison Range from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Native American tribes and other agencies.
(return
to table of contents)
Key Committee Rosters Set for 110th Congress
Recently, the 110th Congress organized committee and subcommittee assignments in both the House and Senate. Below are the subcommittee rosters for those with direct jurisdiction and oversight of the National Wildlife Refuge System:
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT AND RELATED AGENCIES
Democratic Members:
Norman D. Dicks (Chairman) (WA)
James P. Moran (VA)
Maurice D. Hinchey (NY)
John W. Olver (MA)
Alan B. Mollohan (WV)
Tom Udall (NM)
Ben Chandler (KY)
Ed Pastor (AZ)
Dave Obey (WI), (Ex Officio)
Republican Members:
Todd Tiahrt (Ranking Member) (KS)
John E. Peterson (PA)
John T. Doolittle (CA)
Jo Ann Emerson (MO)
Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (VA)
Jerry Lewis (CA), (Ex Officio)
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES
Democratic Members:
Dianne Feinstein (Chairman) (CA)
Robert C. Byrd (WV)
Patrick Leahy (VT)
Byron Dorgan (ND)
Barbara Mikulski (MD)
Herb Kohl (WI)
Tim Johnson (SD)
Jack Reed (RI)
Ben Nelson (NE)
Republican Members:
Larry Craig (Ranking Member) (ID)
Ted Stevens (AK)
Thad Cochran (MS)
Pete Domenici (NM)
Robert Bennett (UT)
Judd Gregg (NH)
Wayne Allard (CO)
Lamar Alexander (TN)
SUBCOMMITTEE ON FISHERIES, WILDLIFE AND OCEANS
Democratic Members:
Ms. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (Chairwoman) (Guam)?
Dale E. Kildee (MI)
Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (American Samoa)
Neil Abercrombie (HI)
Solomon P. Ortiz (TX)
Frank Pallone (NJ)
Patrick J. Kennedy (RI)
Ron Kind (WI)
Lois Capps (CA)
Nick J. Rahall, II, (WV), (Ex Officio)
Republican Members:
Mr. Henry E. Brown, Jr. (Ranking Member) (SC)
Jim Saxton (NJ)
Wayne Gilchrest (MD)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA)
Bobby Jindal (LA)
Tom Cole (OK)
Bill Sali (ID)
Don Young, (AK), (Ex Officio)
SUBCOMMITTEE ON PRIVATE SECTOR AND CONSUMER SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL WARMING AND WILDLIFE PROTECTION
Democratic Members:
Joseph Lieberman (Chairman) (CT)
Max Baucus (MT)
Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
Bernard Sanders (VT)
Republican Members:
John Warner (Ranking Member) (VA)
Craig Thomas (WY)
Johnny Isakson (GA)
(return
to table of contents)
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.
Please
visit the NWRA Web site or contact Michael Woodbridge,
Director of Government Affairs, at 202.333.9073 or mwoodbridge@refugenet.org
for more information.
(return to table of contents)
***************
Capitol
Flyer, a monthly e-newsletter from the NWRA, is prepared by Michael
Woodbridge, NWRA's Director of Government Affairs.
For additional information, please contact mwoodbridge@refugenet.org. |
