ANOTHER VICTIM OF BUSH'S PRIORITIES: Wildlife Refuges Lack Means to Survive

LAT: Wildlife refuges lack means to survive
The system that spans states is being forced to choose between programs, and in some cases, animals, as staff and funding levels fall.
By Tim Reiterman, Times Staff Writer
February 27, 2007

....The National Wildlife Refuge System, part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was created a century ago to provide a haven for the most imperiled species. But today the mosaic of 547 refuges covering nearly 100 million acres of swamps, islands, wetlands, deserts, grasslands and forests is itself jeopardized by budget constraints.

Distributed across all 50 states, the refuges are home to hundreds of types of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish — many threatened or endangered. But refuge managers say cutbacks are undermining efforts to protect an array of sensitive species, including red wolves, sandhill cranes, pronghorn antelope, sea turtles and rare butterflies.

More than 225 jobs at refuges were cut between fiscal 2004 and 2006, leaving some refuges with no employees. Many refuges operate without full-time law enforcement. Some are losing battles against invasive plant species that choke out wildlife habitat. Education programs for schoolchildren and others are being curtailed or dropped at some refuges....Bill Reffalt, who was national chief of refuges in the early 1980s, said habitat degradation was a nationwide problem.

"Hundreds of millions of birds and other wildlife depend on refuges … and if you reduce the capacity of refuges to take care of them, the animals have no place to go," he said. "They can't just go buy a plane ticket."

Refuge funding, now about $380 million annually, has remained relatively flat since 2003, while salaries and other operating costs have risen. Anticipating that domestic security, hurricane relief, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will remain higher priorities, officials are preparing to trim 75 regional and headquarters office jobs and 248 more field jobs in the next couple of years. That means the field staff will have been cut by one-sixth since fiscal 2004....

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-na-wildlife27feb27,0,1258112.story?track=mostemailedlink

"I mean, there's nothing in this wildlife preserve shit to benefit my fatcat corrupt
republicon cronies, is there? So shut up and sit down."

- Commander AWOL