A couple of thoughts: – I’m glad to see communities of practice mentioned again. See my comment in the previous section (or maybe the one before that). – It is critical that you understand that a “knowledge system” is a social system that is often supported by technology – it is NOT a computer system. [...]

A couple of thoughts. (Note, I am a volunteer and friends group board member who has worked in technology for 26 years) Communities of Practice – I have been involved with these and have seen them be very successful when done right. I recommend following the CoP practices suggested by Richard McDermott and Etienne Wenger. [...]

I would like to see fire used more frequently on refuges. Before fires were suppressed by European settlers, I would guess that most habitats experienced low-intensity fires fairly often. In fact where I live the native people deliberately set fires every year, to maintain large oak savannas. So these days instead of frequent, low-intensity fires [...]

Amen to a makeover of the uniform! Also please consider how volunteers can identify themselves. The FWS gave me a vest and a baseball cap. I don’t like wearing a hat, and lots of times it is too hot to wear the vest, or I am doing work that would destroy the vest (e.g. tromping [...]

1. You have a typo – “motive” should be “motivate”. 2. If I were king, I would charge a “screen tax” on electronic entertainment devices, services and software that are aimed at anyone under age 20. The money would be used to get kids outside. 3. I believe that “outdoor school” programs are quite effective [...]

I agree, this section is very well written! Re: reporting on ecosystem services. I would guess that most people don’t have a clue what an ‘ecosystem service’ really means, nor do they care how many dollars of services a refuge provides. It is not something that they face in their daily life. On the other [...]

I agree that we need to be very careful here. A wildlife refuge with lots of people but no wildlife isn’t much of a wildlife refuge. On the other hand, currently many refuges allow hunting, which seems to be about the worst thing you can do to wildlife (and I am not alone in that [...]

1. I encourage you to read Toby Hemenway’s article on Invasive Species: “Native Plants: Restoring to an Idea” http://patternliteracy.com/nativeplantsres.html He makes some good points. Although I don’t agree with all his assumptions & conclusions. 2. IMHO the best way to deal with invasive plants long-term is through public education. If I were…[Read more]

I did not realize there was a lot of agriculture happening on the refuges. I recommend that you adopt permaculture practices for your agriculture efforts. Please see my posting to the Bold Ideas forum: http://ideas.americaswildlife.org/forums/96077-bold-ideas/suggestions/1537745-look-for-intersections-between-permaculture-and-re?ref=title

If…[Read more]