National wildlife refuges are not usually the destinations for vacations of a week or two. Instead, most people visit just for the day, are from the local area or are just traveling through. National wildlife refuges are community assets, providing economic and environmental benefits, as well as the intangible aesthetic benefits of having an abundance of wildlife and natural scenery as a part of the community landscape. National wildlife refuges evoke a deeply meaningful sense of place for local communities.

The economic benefits of wildlife refuges are undeniable. As an example, recreational use on wildlife refuges generated almost $1.7 billion in total economic activity in 2006. In addition, property values surrounding Refuges are higher than equivalent properties elsewhere. Cities and communities are more frequently recognizing the value of ecosystem services. Regarding the benefits of nature, they are realizing that it is less expensive to preserve the function of providing clean water, for example, than creating technological solutions to mitigate societal impacts. The value of the ecosystem services the National Refuge System provides has been estimated at almost $27 billion per year.

Recommendation: The Refuge System should continue studies and publish and share results on the economic benefits of wildlife refuges to communities, the economic benefits of ecosystem services from wildlife refuges, and the beneficial effect they have on property values.

Humans all share requirements for food, water, oxygen, and shelter. Every person – regardless of religion, political affiliation, age, or economic status – must have these things. National wildlife refuges provide these benefits and services from nature that help meet human needs. Wildlands like wildlife refuges are places where the rain and snow fall freely to the soil and are filtered through plant roots into the Earth. Natural processes on wildlife refuges clean the air and water that communities need. Trees and other plants prevent runoff and erosion and recycle heat-trapping gases. Bees, bats, and butterflies live and breed in these natural places and pollinate food crops. Game species such as moose, turkey, bass, and grouper thrive on the lands and in the waters of national wildlife refuges. The Service needs to better communicate such benefits and engage neighbors hand-in-hand in efforts to better understand and expand the impact of those benefits.

Recommendation: Engage communities to identify what is important to them and articulate the ecosystem services that their wildlife refuge(s) provide(s). As a pilot effort to quantify these benefits, the Refuge System will prepare an ecosystem services benefit report for 10 wildlife refuges in every region within the next 10 years. If successful, these benefit reports will become a standard part of the Refuge System comprehensive conservation planning.

National wildlife refuges are community assets in other ways that no currency could ever measure. Well-trained employees of the Service are often first on the scene following natural disasters like hurricanes, floods and tornadoes. In times of crisis, Service employees help local emergency response officials with specialized skills and equipment. Service employees are integral in their community, whether they are a member of the local nature club or active at a religious, senior, or community center. Being a Service employee means being a good neighbor.

Many national wildlife refuges are successfully collaborating with community groups and are a consistent, engaged, and fully integrated presence in their communities. Local visitors, volunteers and community leaders have banded together to form locally chartered, nonprofit wildlife refuge Friends groups that work in partnership with the Service. Friends organizations help build links between wildlife refuges and local communities. Refuge Friends epitomize the idea that all conservation is local: they do everything and anything imaginable to advance conservation and serve the visiting public. All of them pour their heart and sweat into the wildlife refuge they love.

Blossoming over the past 25 years, there are now over 230 supporting Friends groups around the nation helping bridge the interests of the local communities with refuge operations and management. The Service will continue to build on this successful model and reach out more broadly in the community and create relationships with people that may not have traditional links to wild lands and wildlife.

Recommendation: Every staffed national wildlife refuge should have a Friends organization.

Support from Friends organizations is a benchmark of effective public-private partnerships that leverages resources, saves money and better serves the public. Friends organizations are a consistent, engaged and fully integrated presence in their community and are an excellent vehicle for involving a new generation in making a real difference on-the-ground for wildlife conservation. Strong connections to local communities come naturally in some areas and must be nurtured in others.

Recommendation: The Service will support Friends organizations with education, training, and capacity building resources and provide incentives for Service staff to work closely with Friends and volunteers.

Recommendation: The Service will provide assistance and networking opportunities to fledgling Friends groups in marketing and diversifying their membership and leadership.

Recommendation: The Service will partner with the National Wildlife Refuge Association to create a campaign to grow the Refuge Friends membership to 100,000 people within a decade.

Not all individuals who want to help at a wildlife refuge are members of Friends organizations. The Refuge System has succeeded in building a cadre of more than 42,000 dedicated volunteers – more than 10 times larger than the entire Refuge System workforce – who participate in every aspect of stewardship. The Refuge System could recruit yet more volunteers, but lack of staff to organize, recruit, and engage volunteers is one limiting factor. Development of additional recreational vehicle sites with hook-ups could attract more volunteers, as would travel support and reimbursement and construction of bunkhouses and other facilities.

Recommendation: To fulfill the National Wildlife Refuge System Volunteer Improvement Act, signed January 4, 2011, the Refuge System must develop a national strategy for the coordination and utilization of volunteers.

Comment below and/or move on to next section of Chapter 4 - The Next Generation of Conservationists