National Wildlife Refuges closed due to government shutdown

01 Oct 2013

All National Wildlife Refuges closed effective October 1, 2013 due to United States federal government shutdown.

GENERAL INFORMATION
  • 561 national wildlife refuges, 38 wetland management districts, 150 million acres.
  • Refuges on average return over $4 for every $1 to run them.
  • There is a refuge within an hour’s drive of every major city.
  • All refuge staff are furloughed except Refuge Managers and Federal Wildlife Officers for public safety and protecting property.
  • 42,000 Friends and volunteers that contribute more than 1.4 million hours annually, the equivalent of 700 staff performing 20% of work in the Refuge System, cannot volunteer during the shutdown.
  • The shutdown comes on top of years of deep budget cuts to Refuges and if the sequester cuts continue, refuges will lose 500 positions and experience a nearly 30% cut.
SHUTDOWN CASUALTY #1: NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE WEEK (OCT 13-19)
  • National Wildlife Refuge Week began in 1995 and has been celebrated every year since, until now.
  • Hundreds of celebrations nationwide have been cancelled, leaving local communities in the lurch.
  • Visitors for such events stay in local hotels, eat in restaurants and shop in local businesses.
SHUTDOWN CASUALTY #2: HUNTING AND FISHING – PEAK SEASON
  • 329 refuges and 38 waterfowl production areas have hunt programs, 271 refuges have fishing areas.
  • 2.5 million hunting visits, 7 million fishing visits and 31 million wildlife viewing visits.
  • Refuges provide a variety of hunting opportunities: big game, small game, upland bird, waterfowl.
  • "Once in a Lifetime" hunts on hold and some hunters have waited 20 years for a hunting permit tag and spent thousands of dollars.
  • Public safety unnecessarily on the line because urban refuges are not able to do small hunts to cut the deer populations to reduce vehicle collisions.
  • Commercial guides make most of their money in the fall and this shutdown impacts their bottom line for the entire year.
SHUTDOWN CASUALTY #3: OIL AND GAS- NO OVERSIGHT
  • 2000 active wells on 260 national wildlife refuges.
  • Key areas: Gulf (Texas, Missouri and Louisiana), North Dakota and Arkansas.
  • Oversight of wells: all oil and gas specialists (two at the national level, one in Texas, one in Louisiana and two at specific field stations) are all furloughed and the only oversight is done by Federal Wildlife Officers and Refuge Managers.
SHUTDOWN CASUALTY #4: CRITICAL SCIENTIFIC MONITORING – NO WORK

Species recovery depends on accurate scientific data yet no monitoring is occurring on refuges nationwide. Scientists cannot reach monitoring stations and will have a sizable gap in their work for both species and climate change. Some species impacted: California condor, ocelot, prairie dog, Mexican wolf, red wolf, red cockaded woodpecker and red knot.