| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
photo: Greater yellowlegs, Donna Dewhurst |
|
 Have you ever started a woodworking project without measuring your materials?
Or pulled off a dinner party without planning the menu first?
Without a
plan, it’s hard to get where you think you should be going.
When Congress
amended the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration
Act (Act) in 1997, it incorporated an underlying philosophy of “wildlife
first” on refuges. The Act provided the Fish and Wildlife Service
with guidance for managing refuges to ensure the long-term conservation
of fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats. The Act also established
six priority public uses on National Wildlife Refuges (wildlife observation
and photography, hunting, fishing, interpretation, and environmental
education) and strengthened the compatibility determination process for
assuring that these and other activities do not conflict with refuge
management purposes and goals.
Comprehensive
Conservation Planning
The Act requires
development of a Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for each refuge.
CCPs are intended to describe future conditions of a refuge and provide
long-range guidance and management direction to achieve the purposes of
the refuge, refuge policy requirements, and
the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System. The Act requires all
National Wildlife Refuge System lands to be managed in accordance with
a CCP.
The CCP for
the Willamette Valley Refuges will outline refuge goals, objectives, and
management strategies for achieving the purposes for which the Refuges
were established. It will be a flexible, “living” document
that will be updated every 15 years. Most importantly, a CCP ensures that
the management of each refuge reflects the purposes of that refuge and
the mission, policies, and goals of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Who Develops
the Plan?
Plans are
developed by the refuge or complex staff with the help of planners, according
to specific Refuge System policy guidelines. Plans are developed in collaboration
with other Service personnel, and in consultation with other federal,
state, tribal, and local governments. We also ask the public about their
concerns and issues early in the process, and the public has a chance
to comment on the draft plan before it is finalized. Once draft plans
have been publicly reviewed, any necessary amendments are made and the
plans are forwarded for approval by the Regional Director of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service.
How Do We
Know the Plans are Environmentally Sound?
Concurrently with the CCP, we will develop documentation that analyzes
the environmental consequences of implementing various management alternatives.
This analysis will be developed in compliance with the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA), which requires the identification of resource issues,
the development of alternative management scenarios, an evaluation of
the effects of the alternative scenarios on the environment, and the solicitation
of public comments on the alternatives.
Implementing
the CCP
Because CCPs are strategic in nature, they do not constitute a commitment by the Service for staffing increases, operational or maintenance increases, or funding for future land acquisition. Thus, the Service envisions partners with other agencies and private organizations as a key to implementing the goals, objectives, and strategies of each plan.
|
