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Refuge Update One-Third of the Government Must Be a Better Partner Interior USFWS-NWRS Lands in the United and Supporter of Local Conservation

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Refuge Update One-Third of the Government Must Be a Better Partner Interior USFWS-NWRS Lands in the United and Supporter of Local Conservation U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service May/June 2011 | Vol 8, No 3 RefugeUpdate National Wildlife Refuge System www.fws.gov/refuges A male sage-grouse presents a mating display at Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern California, one of 11 western states in the species’ shrinking range. (Dave Menke/USFWS) National Conference: Enthusiasm in Madison Montana Refuge Saves Sage-Grouse And Beyond As Part of Broader Initiative our nationally acclaimed figures from divergent By Bill O’Brian F backgrounds will be among ast winter, Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge played a vital role the major speakers at the Conserving in a tale of survival involving two countries, hundreds of sage-grouse and a the Future: Wildlife Refuges and larger lesson about the importance of partnerships and habitat connectivity the Next Generation conference in L mid-July in Madison, WI. There, 1,200 in the West. participants are expected to gather at The refuge—by its mere existence—saved an imperiled Canadian population of the Monona Terrace Community and sage-grouse from starvation after a once-in-a-century snowpack blanketed southern Convention Center—and thousands Saskatchewan and northeastern Montana, according to David Naugle, a University more will participate electronically— of Montana wildlife biology professor and science advisor to the Department of to ratify a new vision to guide the Agriculture-led Sage-grouse Initiative. growth and management of the National Wildlife Refuge System for Those 300 birds make up the only viable population of sage-grouse in Canada, the next decade. where the species is endangered. They are also unusual. Most sage-grouse in the American West stay within 10 miles of their lek. The Canadian sage-grouse migrate. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad After feeding on short silver sagebrush during spring and summer at their lek in Allen, hailed for his leadership as Grasslands National Park along the U.S. border in Saskatchewan, the Canadian the national incident commander birds travel 70 miles south each fall. for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, will speak, as will Rice University They head to sagebrush flats near Montana’s Milk River. Much of that habitat, history professor and author Douglas owned by the Bureau of Land Management and private ranchers, has never been Brinkley, who recently wrote The tilled, and it is home to plentiful sagebrush tall enough to protrude through snow. Quiet World: Saving Alaska’s FOCUS: Conserving the Future, People to Land, pages 10-19 continued on pg 26 continued on pg 10 Chief’s Corner For a Legacy to Endure RefugeUpdate By managing more Apparent in both the Refuge System Ken Salazar Address editorial than 671 million vision and the AGO Initiative action Secretary inquiries to: acres—roughly plan is the concept that the federal Department of the Refuge Update one-third of the government must be a better partner Interior USFWS-NWRS lands in the United and supporter of local conservation. 4401 North Fairfax Dr., Rowan Gould States—the federal We have to maximize the conservation Room 634C Acting Director Arlington, VA government is the benefits of every taxpayer dollar, bring U.S. Fish and Wildlife 22203-1610 nation’s biggest private landowners and a broad range Service Phone: 703-358-1858 land caretaker. of conservation partners into the picture Fax: 703-358-2517 Greg Siekaniec Greg Siekaniec E-mail: How well the and, ultimately, engage a new generation Assistant Director [email protected] National Wildlife of Americans. National Wildlife Refuge System manages the 150 million Refuge System This newsletter is Americans are seeking a 21st-century published on recycled acres we steward—including natural, Martha Nudel approach to conservation. The Refuge paper using soy-based cultural and historic resources—is Editor in Chief critical to the physical and social well- System stands ready to deliver. In ink. being of the nation. today’s economic climate, the Refuge Bill O’Brian Managing Editor C That’s why the Refuge System has worked so hard for the better part of a year to solicit Americans’ Inside opinions about our future direction and management. Tsunami at Midway Atoll Refuge Then-acting refuge manager John That’s also why Klavitter tells what it was like on the the America’s night of March 10-11 and in the days Great Outdoors that followed. Pages 4-5 (AGO) Initiative That the land we steward belongs to the American people is the principle at spent months last the heart of both the Refuge System’s Conserving the Future vision and the A Refuge Officer’s Best Friend year conducting America’s Great Outdoors Initiative. (Steve Hillebrand) 51 public listening Since the mid-1990s, law enforcement sessions across System and other government agencies dogs have been used in an the country. More than 10,000 people must be wise in how we spend taxpayer increasingly official capacity on participated live; more than 105,000 dollars. But the nation must also be wise refuges. There are now six such K-9s. comments were submitted. The national enough to understand that investment Page 7 conversation that President Obama in natural resources protection is an started through AGO will reinvigorate investment in the future. Whooping Crane Recovery America’s enjoyment, conservation and At Aransas Refuge in Texas, this was stewardship of the nation’s outdoors. Those who have commented via the a record season for whooping cranes. Conserving the Future Web site, At Necedah Refuge in Wisconsin, the The Refuge System’s Conserving the http://americaswildlife.org/, clearly focus is on raising cranes egg by egg. Future conversation is doing much the understand that. Government working in Pages 8-9 same thing for lands and waters that are partnership with state agencies, private visited annually by more than 44 million landowners, sportsmen and interested people and create tens of thousands of citizens can ensure that future FOCUS: Conserving the Future, private sector jobs. generations will have the benefits of the People to Land The land we steward belongs to the conservation legacy we inherited. That is Now more than ever, the National American people. That principle is at the the most important message we heard Wildlife Refuge System’s ability to heart of the Refuge System’s Conserving from both the Conserving the Future connect people to natural habitat is the Future vision and the AGO Initiative process and the America’s Great vital to the future of conservation in action plan, which is available at http:// Outdoors Initiative. America. Pages 10-19 americasgreatoutdoors.gov. 2 • Refuge Update eBird Trail Tracker Puts Millions of Eyes on the Sky By Bill O’Brian ust inside the visitor center entrance at Great Swamp National JWildlife Refuge in northern New Jersey is a sleek computer kiosk that is hard to miss. That’s the point, says refuge Friend Laurel Gould. “It’s a magnet.” “People respond to it,” she says. “Once they start to use it, they are just blown away. Everything is there. The picture is there, the sounds are there, the information is there, the sightings are there, the map is there. It’s just everything in one.” “It” is the eBird Trail Tracker that the refuge installed last fall with the support of its Friends group. Great Swamp Refuge is one of 16 refuges using the tracker that is connected to The northern harrier is one of more than 200 bird species that have been documented at Great Swamp the eBird.org database managed by National Wildlife Refuge 26 miles west of Times Square. (Steve Byland) the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. The eBird and being citizen scientists helping is a real-time, online checklist program wildlife conservation in the greater that collects an average of 1.6 million sense,” says deputy refuge manager bird observations a month from around Steve Henry. the nation and the world. The tracker “It’s interactive,” says Randy Little, displays local observations at a given site. a retired electrical engineer who is a An eBird Trail Tracker kiosk is useful tech-savvy, bird-savvy volunteer at to refuge visitors before they go out Great Swamp Refuge. “It engages you into the field because it enables them to take part, and you realize all of a to learn what birds others have seen on sudden, ‘I’m a citizen scientist’ … Heaven the refuge in recent hours and days. It knows that, in ornithology at least, the is useful to visitors after they return reports of large numbers of lay people from the field, because it enables them make up for an impossible task for a to use photos or audio clips to identify few professionals. They make for a very which birds they saw or heard and then substantial, usable database.” enter into the database how many they “This is a modern, cool-looking thing saw, when and where. It is useful to that kids can relate to,” says the refuge’s birders and casual visitors alike because visitor services manager, Jonathan it contains a browsable photo- and fact- Rosenberg. “It’s real time … There’s no filled list of information about avian lag time.” species on a refuge. “People respond to it,” refuge Friend Laurel Great Swamp Refuge, a 7,768-acre oasis Gould says of the eBird Trail Tracker in the “A Modern, Cool-Looking Thing” in the exurbs 26 miles west of Times Great Swamp Refuge has enthusiastically visitor center. (Susan O’Brian) Square, is well-positioned to use the embraced the eBird Trail Tracker. tracker. It is a birdwatching hotspot that It allows visitors “to feel part of a attracts about 155,000 visitors a year.
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