Implementation Charter Signed, Taking the Vision into Implementation.
Download the charter for the Executive Implementation Council.
Director Dan Ashe signing the vision document.
On July 14 at the Conserving the Future conference, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe signed a charter for the Executive Implementation Council that will oversee the important work of implementing the renewed vision for the National Wildlife Refuge System.
An internal team of agency and Refuge System leaders is currently going through the feedback from the facilitated discussions and online chats in order to make any remaining changes to the vision document prior to final publication by National Wildlife Refuge Week in mid-October.
The draft version of the vision used at the Conserving the Future conference.
Download the “Conference Draft” vision document that was the focus of the facilitated discussions during the conference July 11-14, 2011.
After the release of the draft in February 2011, more than 10,000 comments were received from you, along with 9,000 votes on over 240 bold ideas and with more than 2,000 members joined the social network.
The revised draft vision document that came out of that process — referred to here as the “Conference Draft” — was the result of a comprehensive review and analysis of all submitted comments and bold ideas and an internal review of the document within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The content of that draft version was further discussed in the first day of facilitated discussions at the Conserving the Future conference in Madison, Wisconsin, on July 12.
Thanks to the many partners, Friends and concerned citizens, and employees of federal, state, and tribal governments who shared your perspective on what should be the long-term priorities for wildlife conservation and the Refuge System. Watch a thank you video from Greg Siekaniec, Chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System, and Evan Hirsche, President of the National Wildlife Refuge Association.
Next Steps
View the content of the Online Conference
Visit the web page at AmericasWildlife.org/conference to view the archived content from the Conserving the Future conference, which was held from July 11-14, 2011. You must be registered for the social network in order to have full access to all of the online content.
Read the “Conference Draft” of the Vision
The revised conference draft of the vision document.
There was a clear consensus among the public comments on the draft vision that the document was too broad and long in its scope. The revised “Conference Draft” is 30 pages long with 24 recommendations, in addition to a broad charge to continue the conversation about conservation through the America’s Great Outdoors (AGO) initiative, which is a forum for a 21st century conservation and recreation agenda developed by the Department of the Interior.
A copy of the archived draft Refuge System vision document — along with all of the public comments — is available here. A full listing of the Bold Ideas and votes each idea received is also posted. This document was released for broad public input on February 24, 2011 until April 22 — Earth Day.
