Last year, hundreds of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees and partners forged the Conserving the Future: Wildlife Refuges and the Next Generation vision for the National Wildlife Refuge System. This year, we collectively are implementing that vision.

In 2012, Refuge Update is presenting a series of Focus sections devoted to the implementation. The sections emphasize and parallel the realms of various Conserving the Future implementation teams.

This Focus section, titled Partnerships That Work, centers on the objectives of the Community Partnerships team as they pertain to recommendations 11 and 12 of the vision.

Recommendation 11: Develop and nurture active and vibrant Friends groups or community partnerships for every staffed refuge or refuge complex.

Recommendation 12: Develop a national strategy for recruiting, coordinating and supporting a more self–sustaining volunteer corps, while creating new opportunities for community involvement in implementing refuge priorities.

The Focus section includes articles about some—but by no means all—Refuge System partnerships that work well.