Here are a few comments that came to mind while skimming the website: 1) People tend to confuse the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System – “the conservation, management, and where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife, and plant resources and their habitats” – with the mission of the National Park Service – “to [...]

The brevity of this section indicates a lack of interest, at least at the higher levels within the agency. As several of the earlier commenter’s noted, the problem is way beyond a volunteer work force. The sentence in the first paragraph – “More emphasis on prevention and early detection and rapid response may be a [...]

Ira Gabrielson, the first director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, warned wildlife managers about applying “the intensive methods used on research projects” to inventory on large management areas. Inventory is neccessary to determine the success or failure of a program, he noted, but in and of itself it it does nothing for the success [...]

As written this section implies that wildlife and habitat management is mostly gathering information. What about interpreting the information – not just statistical analysis, but understanding what it means in terms of the operations of implementing a project? If all that is needed to implement science based management is statistically valid experimental design and analysis, [...]

There are three components to sustainable resource management – ecology, economics and politics. Working where these three overlap is sustainable. Working where they do not overlap is unsustainable. For example, a project that is ecologically sound but not economically viable or politically acceptable is not a sustainable project. Science encompasses politics and economics as well [...]

The purpose of the NPS, according to the National Park Service Organic Act, is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein. The purpose of the Refuge Sytem, according to the Refuge Improvment Act, is the conservation, management, and where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife, and plant resources [...]

The purpose of the NPS, according to the National Park Service Organic Act, is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein. The purpose of the Refuge Sytem, according to the Refuge Improvment Act, is the conservation, management, and where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife, and plant resources [...]