Leadership & Management Recommendation: Reorganize the USFWS and NWRS to provide more visible and effective leadership of the Refuge System. First reorganize the FWS into 6 versus the 8 regions to help consolidate regional and administrative management. Generally, these regions would be Alaska, Pacific, North Central, South Central, Northeast and Southeast. (we can talk about [...]

Remember that Diversity in terms of education, skills, discipline and background is also an important component here

Incorporate more information and direction on sustainability and sustainable programs – at all levels of our operations – in this section

Recommend that we inventory all signage with GIS/GPS and ensure adequate locations for directional signage to help the public locate refuge offices, entrances, etc. be planned and designed effectively. Recommend that every NWR has at least one Visitor Contact Point – even if the Refuge is closed to public access – to tell the story [...]

The recommendation on adapative management – page 25 – should be reworked to state that our NWRS management goals, objectives and strategies that are developed in our Refuge CCPs and Step Down Mgmt Plans – should be continuously evaluated in an adaptive management program. As results and feedback from research, monitoring and evaluation inform us, [...]

The recommendation should be reworked as follows:

Complete wilderness reviews for all Refuges, and establish Wilderness Study Areas where appropriate (if not already done in current CCPs – within 2 years). Then determine on a State by State basis our NWRS priorities for proposing Wilderness Designations.

There should be a Federal Invasive Species Database – including the NWRS – and a national process to help determine priorities for fighting invasives.

We need to clarify the use of Refuge funds and personnel on non-refuge areas – and/or expand the definition of NWRS authorities outside of our boundaries. Perhaps incorporation of partnership work into laws or policy would be appropriate.

The water supply, quality and functioning aquatic systems are and will continue to be issues and concerns for all resource managers. Addressing these issues in the next round of CCPs is good, but this effort should also be a part of the land protection/conservation strategies beyond NWR boundaries. A watershed approach to collaborative conservation should [...]

See my comments in the previous section related to Strategic Growth and Planning

Recommendations for helping to guide the NWRS land conservation strategy: Draft New Policy and Procedures for Conducting Landscape Level Planning; Collaborative Conservation; and Site Specific Land Protection Establish a new training program for landscape level planning and land protection planning Revise the LAPS System to be more responsive to Regional Conservation Priorities Engage in leading [...]

in response to the Recommendation – to work collaboratively to develop a National Conservation Strategy for the NWRS – I agree, and actually it should be for the USFWS and the NWRS. There should be a permanent planning and analysis capacity with the NWRS that can use the best available science, work with partners at [...]

I am not convinced that the LCCs are going to adequately inform future land protection priorities and strategies for the NWRS – or anyone else. Maybe it’s too soon for an assessment – but so far, there has been not been anything that seems like a unified approach will develop from this organization. I suggest [...]

Strategic Growth of the NWRS Recommendation: Pursue and encourage assessment of all BLM lands for reassignment of purposes, land transfers to other agencies or disposal to other entities. The USFWS – for the NWRS, along with NPS and USFS should be engaged in the inventory and assessment of all BLM lands to help determine the [...]

It is interesting the priority placed on planning – as a logic first step in this process, and statements such as ” our undeveloped capacity for biological planning, conservation design……” There has been study growth in the planning area through the Refuge CCP process – however, ironically, often the push has been more to get [...]

Add a complete citation for the Roosevelt quote at the top. Suggest that at each location throughout the document – the NWRS Improvement Act of 1997, be more appropriately referred to as the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, as amended. The first such reference, in this section, could elaborate a bit more on the [...]