To save the wildlife, save refuges

By Matt Blake

New Jersey is home to five national wildlife refuges. These protect some of the state's most important habitats for millions of migratory birds, and include ecosystems as diverse as upland forests, tidal marshes, forested wetlands and ocean beaches.

Each year, nearly 500,000 visitors enjoy hiking, birding, wildlife photography, environmental education, hunting and fishing in New Jersey's refuges. These visitors have a profound economic impact on local communities.

While New Jersey's system of refuges is an undeniable economic engine with incredible opportunity for growth, its budgets, staffing and programs have been cut dramatically in recent years, and land acquisition, education and wildlife conservation have been gutted to levels below life support. This funding crisis is not limited to New Jersey; it is felt throughout the nation's 543 refuges.

According to the 21 conservation, recreation, sporting and scientific organizations represented by the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement, based in Washington, the National Wildlife Refuge System faces a crippling budget backlog of more than $2.5 billion and needs an annual increase of $15 million just to keep pace with inflation and rising fixed costs.

Unfortunately, like last year, President Bush's proposed 2008 operating budget for all national wildlife refuges is $395 million. That's $65 million less than was spent in 2004! Indeed, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the refuge system, has indicated that New Jersey's refuges face $17 million in unmet high-priority needs.

To fund our National Wildlife Refuge System's most basic needs, the House of Representatives and the Department of the Interior have asked for $451 million, which would restore the budget to a level even with 2004 purchasing power.

If the president's refuge budget prevails, however, New Jersey's refuge system will undoubtedly continue its downward spiral toward bankruptcy and "paper park" status.

For example, Congress has not appropriated land-acquisition dollars for Supawna Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Pennsville in more than 15 years, leaving a property long sought as a refuge gateway vulnerable to WalMart Corp.'s inappropriate plans for a supercenter on designated bald-eagle foraging habitat.

Last year, the combined staffed positions for the refuges at Cape May, Supawna Meadows, and the Edwin B. Forsythe refuge in Oceanville were cut to eight of the 25 positions once deemed essential by regional managers. As a result, offices at Supawna Meadows and Forsythe have been shut down. These dramatic staffing cuts have led to the demise of critical programs, such as one that controls the rampant spread of phragmites and other invasive plants, and the gutting of others, such as enforcement of regulations prohibiting highly damaging all-terrain vehicles.

In essence, New Jersey's refuges can no longer support their most basic ecological and managerial functions, becoming national sacrifice zones where world-class natural resources representing a significant public investment are left to fall into ruin.

The public must not allow Congress and the president to ignore their obligations toward the stewardship of our proud refuge system. We risk allowing America's grandeur to become hemmed in by shopping malls and overrun by invasive species.

With the loss of up to 14,000 acres to development per year in New Jersey, we must rally behind efforts to protect the last of our great places. New Jersey's refuge system protects some of the nation's most ecologically significant places, where the future of many imperiled species hangs in the balance.

I urge every citizen to call his or her senators and representative and ask them to provide adequate funding for our National Wildlife Refuge System.