One month after Hurricane Katrina, four national wildlife refuges remain closed to public use in southeast Louisiana including Big Branch Marsh NWR in Lacomb; Bayou Sauvage NWR in New Orleans; Breton NWR in the Gulf of Mexico; and Delta NWR in Venice. Bon Secour NWR in Gulf Shores, Alabama, has been closed to public access since Hurricane Ivan last fall.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 fishery resource offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to State fish and wildlife agencies.
