The “Managing Refuges to Support Ecological Resilience and Climate Adaptation” section is generally good, but it needs to recognize that some resistive or adaptive responses to climate change that are desirable or necessary in non-wilderness refuges may be inappropriate or not permissible in designated Wilderness. This is also a shortcoming of the “Strategic Plan for [...]

Chapter 4, Human-Nature The first sentence in the Welcome to Your NWR section is telling: “The number of people interested in wildlife watching and learning is actually growing.” Why should this be surprising? Several authoritative studies have documented this fact, and the fact that the interest in hunting is declining. Yet, all the recommendations for [...]

Revise the FWS Wilderness Stewardship Policy The Wilderness Stewardship Policy needs to be revised and updated to be more consistent with the intent and language of the Wilderness Act and to better address the challenge of maintaining wilderness character in the face of climate change. Twelve years ago, the last visioning process, Fulfilling the Promise, [...]

Refuges, Wilderness, and the Hunting Tradition National Wildlife Refuges open to hunting should be formally recognized and managed as places providing opportunities toward the traditional end of the hunting ethic spectrum. Former administrative guidelines for refuge hunts, such as promoting “positive hunting values and hunter ethics such as fair chase and sportsmanship” and “limited interference [...]