The vision described in this draft document is just a beginning. It reflects the thoughtful deliberations of five core teams, informed by the commentary of hundreds. It is not yet complete, but it is ready now for broader discussion and your bold new ideas. After significant engagement and comment on the vision for the Refuge System, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will publish a version of the draft vision that reflects your comments in July 2011 and establish an implementation process that will guide the path ahead.
A final chapter summarizing our call to action will be written only after the critical input from reviewers like you when the revised draft vision is published in July of 2011.
The delivery of conservation on wildlife refuges must be in the context of the surrounding landscape, looking beyond boundaries and involving neighbors. This will require better conservation planning and design, enhanced by broad public involvement. It must be based on science, inclusiveness, and partnership. The Service’s shared responsibility and partnership with State fish and wildlife agencies is foundational to success. The Service’s long-standing partnership with America’s hunters and anglers remains an unwavering commitment.
We all must look to grow support of national wildlife refuges and look for new friends who love our nation’s wildlife heritage and America’s great outdoors to join us.
The need for clear vision is urgent. Thank you for taking the time to review the draft vision, share your comments and give your bold ideas. Comments on the draft vision will be accepted until April 22, 2011 – Earth Day.
Innovation and leadership are needed to build on the successes of the past to meet the challenges of conserving the future for the next generation. Join us in crafting this renewed vision for your National Wildlife Refuge System.
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The vision document certainly offers something for every current refuge program activity and even suggets some future program activities. It would be a wonderful vision to implement but without increasing the FWS budget by 3 or 4 fold, it’s not very realistic. In my opinion, the work to be accomplished during the Conserving the Future Conference is to decided which elements of the draft vision are most important to implement being conscience of current and reasonably foreseeable budget projections. A curmudgeonly comment perhaps but one developed over nearly 30 years of watching programs and activities come and go with various budget fads.
Although very well written, I am not sure that I see a new vision clearly articulated. Perhaps because there wasn’t anything given up (and something has to give), just more focus on climate change, and therefore SHC being incorporated. But I would argue that many refuges have been implementing SHC for some time now, and so this is not a new vision for all, but maybe for some? In which case why don’t you just say that you would have all refuges incorporating SHC into their management by a certain date?. When you are trying to change something, particularly an agency as big as ours, the first thing you must do is get people to see the need. This document does that to some degree (the spectre of climate change and what we don’t know about it), but it misses some of the next critical steps including a clear vision to overcome that problem and clear steps to implement that vision. Now that I think back to what I have read, Is the problem climate change? Is it more than that? Is it “threat amelioration”? Is the problem that our refuges have taken on to many kinds of issues and therefore not cohesive in vision? Is that a problem or perhaps just our own way of adapting to new circumstances and societal needs? Although I can’t recommend what the vision needs to be, I can suggest that, at least for me, this document does not make a clear arguement for what that new vision is and why it is needed.
I appreciate the hard work of the team members and their investment. We’re off to a great start! Some of the recommendations are very good and should be implemented. Others miss the target. Those that recommend a plans, a policy, a strategy, a review, are like writing IOUs for action. A few examples:
After-action review of the first round of CCPs
Develop Service standards for credibility, efficiency
Review the operations of Land Management Research and Demonstration wildlife refuges,
Conduct an analytical review of and report on wildlife refuge hunting
Develop a new, integrated strategy for using technology, social media,
Regional transportation planning.
Compile an up-to-date inventory of visitor facility enhancements
Conduct periodic, scientific surveys to monitor and evaluate visitor expectations an
Review the Appropriate Use Policy
Update Service policies that address the administration of specialized uses
Regional recreation planning
Develop clear research-based documentation of the viability and effectiveness of using the outdoors as a classroom.
Develop an Environmental Education Strategy that inventories existing efforts, identifies priorities for
An integrated strategy that assures a consistent and professional refuge brand
A multi-faceted, long-term communication strategy, identifying key
Review the Refuge System organizational structure and design a business model
Identify needed staffing levels for wildlife refuges (already done)
An annual review of each Refuge unit’s activities to ensure that operations are compliant and mission critical. (This recommendation was a surprise – I thought – Who will serve as the mission critical police?)
Evaluate the training opportunities at NCTC
The greatest challenges we face won’t be solved by plans, policies, or strategies. Managers fight the good fight in spite of severe staffing shortfalls, declining budgets, full scale re-direction of the few remaining staff to accountability measures and databases, inadequate investment in infrastructure, inflexible funding processes, a long term void in the recruitment and retention of entry level staff, significant hiring delays, and looming over everything – climate change’s impacts on refuge habitats and species.
We have this fantastic opportunity to speak, to develop a bold plan, to chart a course for the future. Let’s not water it down with IOU’s.
Congratulations of a well done document . It was well choreographed and I really like the modern commenting process. My comment relates to aquatics. As the Service’s Fisheries Program continues to struggle with its vision and purpose, I encourage you consider ways to merge conservation hatcheries into the Refuge system. A conservation hatchery has more affliation with the vision you articulate here, than elsewhere in the Service. Good luck with your continued process and thanks for considering my comments.
It seems like the vision is to do more of everything…fully implement and fund everything we are doing now, plus some!