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Excerpts from Spring 2007
President's Message
by Tim Armstrong
The National Wildlife Refuge system just celebrated the 10th anniversary of the 1997 Refuge Improvement Act. This landmark legislation provides direction for the management of refuges, and continues to affect each refuge on a daily basis. To me, the most important pat of the act was its focus on conservation. It directed US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to "sustain and, where appropriate, restore and enhance healthy populations of fish, wildlife, and plants utilizing...methods and procedures associated with modern scientific resource programs".
The law was significant for several reasons. First,k it allowed the refuges to focus on conservation as the primary mission, and avoid the conflicts inherent in the multiple-use doctrines that govern many of our federal lands. Second, tit allowed refuges to focus on the importance of healthy habitats. Third, it explicitly directed the management decisions be based on modern science. This emphasis on scientific management continues to be critical today, when natural resource management decisions are increasingly driven by politics, emotion, and the narrow focus of special interest groups.
When Congress passed the Refuge Improvement Act, it directed the USFWS to maintain the "biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health" of refuge lands. This directive is the most ecologically sound policy of all federal public land management agencies. The act reemphasized the concept of a "national network' of refuges, based on modern ecological vies of the complex relationship among interconnected metapopulations. This national network of refuges will be especially important if the earth's climate continues to change as predicted, which may shift the ranges of many plants and animals northward.
The Refuge Improvement Act also defined the public benefits of refuges by establishing priority recreational uses for refuges. Thes wildlife-dependent uses include: hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and photography, environmental education and interpretation. These uses receive priority consideration in refuge planning and management, and are enjoyed by many of our members on or local refuges.
Today, the National Wildlife Refuge system is the world,'s
largest network of land devoted primarily to conservation. I encourage
all of our members to share the importance of the refuge system with their
friends and colleagues, to celebrate this unique resource by visiting
their National Wildlife Refuges, and to support the refuge system by volunteering
with their local Friends group.
Results of 50th Monte Vista NWR Christmas Bird Count
by Lisa Clements
The Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge held their annual Christmas Bird Count on December 15,2007 in the San Luis Valley of south-central Colorado. Nine people spent a total of 17 party hours and covered over 181 miles on the count. Weather conditions during the day were frigid with partly clear skies with light and variable wind. Temperatures ranged from a brisk -20°F to 16°F. Coverage of the count circle was not completely thorough as the mountain roads were covered by drifted snow and it was really, really cold, but the rest of the count circle was thorough.
This year's numbers were relatively low. A total of 45 species were documented and 4034 individual. Sixty-three species is still the record. Numbers were down due to the snow coverage of the count circle. Best birds were Wilson's snipe, large numbers of Horned larks, Peregrine falcon, and Sandhill Cranes.