Nearly 70 years ago, Refuge System Chief J. Clark Salyer II signed the first edition of the Field Manual for Wildlife Refuges. This first Refuge Manual, as it became known, incorporated policies and procedures that employees of the Division of Wildlife Refuges at all levels were directed to follow.
The year was 1942, and, according to that first manual, the National Wildlife Refuge System consisted of 272 units totaling 17,643,915 acres. Of those, 170 were new refuges established over the previous eight years, largely through the efforts of Salyer. His primary tools in determining the best places for new refuges were binoculars and a government–issued Oldsmobile in which he crisscrossed the country in search of the best habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife.
Section 1421 of the Refuge Manual identified the primary purpose of the refuge program: “to preserve a minimum amount of basically natural habitat for every important species of mammal or bird requiring such facilities for its continued preservation for all time.” Subsequent subsections identified the need to establish additional refuges along the breeding, migration and wintering areas of the major flyways. In particular, Section 1422 identified “gaps” in the refuge program and directed refuge managers “to be on alert to detect important concentration points or areas [for waterfowl refuges] capable of restoration.”
Such remains our challenge today.
Guided by the Conserving the Future: Wildlife Refuges for the Next Generation vision, the Strategic Growth implementation team has been charged to develop new policy concerning the growth of the System. Although the tools of the managers, biologists, realty specialists and conservation planners on our team are no doubt more sophisticated than Salyer’s were, we face the same question that he faced as chief: With limited financial resources, where and for what purpose do we acquire additional refuge lands that provide the greatest benefit to wildlife and to people?
Rapid Assessment
Over the next year, this team will complete a rapid assessment of existing refuge acquisition projects and use this information to formulate a strategic growth policy. Data to be collected will likely include the project’s biological objectives; percent completed; feasibility of completion; and degree of threat from off–refuge development. In formulating the new policy, the team will factor in national and regionally important wildlife species, impacts associated with climate change, and the ongoing loss of ecologically significant native habitats.
Just as Salyer used his own powers of observation combined with those of field managers to identify important Refuge System lands during the Dust Bowl era, this current effort will tap the knowledge and skill sets of many—including wildlife managers, biologists and landscape–level planners from the Service, state agencies and private conservation organizations. Upon implementation, the work completed by this team will help determine land acquisition priorities for the National Wildlife Refuge System over the next 15 to 25 years.
Rick Schultz, Midwest regional refuge chief, is a co–chair of the Strategic Growth implementation team. The team will focus on recommendations 3, 4 and 5 of the Conserving the Future vision.
