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The National Wildlife Refuge System stands to lose up to one-fifth of its workforce over the next three years, according to restructuring plans from the Fish and Wildlife Service that project downsized staffing and fewer resources to fit within tight budgetary constraints.
A budget-crunch across the system has forced FWS regional chiefs to develop plans to consolidate staff and equipment. Five of the six regions have turned in their plans so far, which show the refuge system already stands to lose 275 positions.
The hardest hit would be the Southeast, which would lose 88 full-time jobs, closely followed by the Midwest region's loss of 71 positions. Earlier this month, the Southwest region said it would lose 38 positions to attrition, while the Pacific Region announced this week that it would cut 49.5 positions. Another 30 positions are expected to be trimmed from the Northeast and remaining regions. Sources have indicated as many as 75 jobs may be lost at headquarters, as well.
The downsizing comes in response to a budget that has been on the downturn since the refuge system's centennial in 2004. Each region is figuring out how to "live with" the budget crunch, FWS Director Dale Hall told a House Natural Resources Committee hearing this month. That will include the creation of "complexes," where multiple refuges in close proximity would draw from one pool of staff and equipment, Hall said.
There are 545 wildlife refuges across the United States, covering 100 million acres, which provide habitat for wildlife, as well as hunting and fishing grounds for visitors. Refuges range in size from two tiny islands in Minnesota that form the half-acre Mille Lacs National Wildlife Refuge to the 19-million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
Some refuges see tens of thousands of visitors a year, while others are primarily left to nature. Over 200 refuges are currently unstaffed.
The cutbacks are having ill effects on morale. According to a recent survey of refuge managers conducted by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, 94 percent said the situation is deteriorating and that "base funding (salaries and fixed expenses) at my refuge is declining in real terms." PEER also said 62 percent conclude that the refuge system is not "currently accomplishing its missions," while 72 percent estimated that staffing levels for their refuge fall more than 25 percent below core requirements. The survey obtained responses from more than half of the 337 refuge and wetland project managers, PEER said.
"The National Wildlife Refuge System has been put on a starvation diet," said Grady Hocutt, a former refuge manager who directs the PEER refuge program.
Funding crunch
Since 2001, annual funding for refuges has increased by about $83 million, but operations costs have been outpacing those increases. FWS says most of that money has gone to control invasive species, improve border security and meet maintenance needs.
Meanwhile, the agency says, it has struggled to pay its rising energy bills and provide pay raises as more than half of refuge employees have reached a senior level with a higher pay grade.
The Bush administration flatlined funding for the past two years but proposed a $12 million increase in its fiscal 2008 budget proposal. That $394 million request still pales in comparison to the system's $1.5 billion maintenance backlog.
Advocates for the refuges say the continued budget squeeze is crippling the system.
"A flat budget is a cut, with rising costs, if there is a flat budget it will eat away at resources," said Noah Matson of Defenders of Wildlife. "And now we see a complete hemorrhaging in staff for a system that is already running on a shoestring."
The proposed cuts to staff are compounded by other staff vacancies. Refuge managers have not filled many empty positions since 2004, which brings the total blow to 565 fewer employees in refuges in 2009 than there were in 2004, Matson said.
Chris Pease of the Southwest region, which stands to lose 38 staff positions, said the restructuring plan will help "better manage the workforce and prioritize refuge needs."
But Matson and other advocates for the system are afraid the downsizing could shut out visitors and leave at-risk land and species untended. For instance, the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, where scientists say they have spotted the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker, will lose two refuge manager positions.
And the nation's first national wildlife refuge, Pelican Island in Florida, will lose its only public-use staff and have no budget for active outreach (Land Letter, Nov. 16, 2006).
"It started as one man in one boat, now it is back to one man in one boat," Matson said.
Congressional push for funding increase
Partially in response to the budget crunch for the refuges, members of Congress banded together last year to form the first-ever "Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus."
The group is getting reorganized and working to push for higher budgets for the refuge system, Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.), co-chair of the caucus and a member of the House Resources Committee, said in an interview this week.
Kind and other caucus leaders are circulating a "Dear Colleague" letter this week that asks members to join them in pushing for $451.5 million for the refuge operations and maintenance budget this year. That sum would bring the refuge system up to the equivalent, when adjusted for inflation, of its funding peak in 2004.
"Hopefully there will be more focus this session on the state of the refuges and what we can do," Kind said.
The caucus has tight budgets and policies that members must find offsets for spending increases working against them. But Kind said he is hopeful the hunters, recreational fishers, bird watchers and other enthusiasts who enjoy refuges will press their representatives for funding. "We have a natural political constituency," he said.
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