National Conservation Training Center,
Shepherdstown, WV
November 27 – December 1, 2023
We had a terrific reunion at NCTC celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. Below is a picture of our group on the front steps. Look for descriptions of reunion events and photos on the reunion tab of this website soon. The list of those in the photographs is here.
Plan ahead - our next two reunions will be in spring 2025 in Madison, Wisconsin and fall 2026 in Alaska.
Okefenkoee Refuge Threatened by Proposed Mining
From our friends at Wilderness Watch
In January 2023 the State of Georgia released a draft plan for a mine proposed at the doorstep of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southern Georgia. On February 9, 2024, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) released three Twin Pines Minerals LLC draft permits, opening a 60-day public comment period. The Alabama-based mining company is attempting to open a mine that would ultimately reach 8,000 acres on Okefenokee’s Trail Ridge, the prehistoric barrier island that helped create the swamp by holding back its waters. Public comments are due by April 9, 2024..
Verify Your Email Address to Continue to Receive the Fish & Wildlife Service News
In the last issue readers were notified that the contract with our current email distribution system is ending. This means that future issues of Fish & Wildlife News will be sent from a different address. It also means that to ensure you continue to receive Fish & Wildlife News, you need to confirm your email address with FWS. To do so, just email matthew_trott@fws.gov with the word "subscribe" in the subject line. FWS will also post new sign-up information on our website at https://fws.gov/library/collections/fish-wildlife-news once it becomes available.
Experienced Services Program
The Fish and Wildlife Service established the Experienced Services Program (ESP) in 2021. This partnership between NEW Solutions and Fish and Wildlife Service places experienced workers (age 55+ into temporary, project-based positions supporting the work of the Service throughout the country. The Service’s ESP was authorized by Congress under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019: Public Law 116-6, Division E, Section 113), the Department of the Interior (DOI). The ESP addresses the issue of attrition and loss of institutional knowledge as federal workers retire and provides opportunities for newer, less experienced civil servants to learn from more experienced workers. ESP positions are generally part-time and supply professional, technical, operational, and administrative assistance to the Service.
Questions can be directed to Bridget Farley, Director, FWS Program at bfarley@newsolutions.org or Paul Schmidt FWS Program Development Manager at paulschmidtC4C@gmail.com
Are You up to Date on Your Dues?
The Fish and Wildlife Service Retirees Association depends primarily on dues and income generated at our reunions to maintain its operations. We receive no funding from the federal government or outside sources of funding for the day-to-day activities of keeping the organization functioning. Please help keep YOUR Retirees Association going and active by paying your dues each year. If you’re not sure whether you’ve paid your dues yet for this year or not, click on Membership List and Dues Status to find out.
Please Remember to Update Your Contact Information
The FWS Retirees Association continues to receive “Non-Deliverable” messages from many e-mail addresses. We believe that most of these are just a matter of old email addresses that have not been updated. We ask members to please visit our website and update your contact information. Step-by-step How-To is below. Unfortunately, if we continue to receive “Non-Deliverable” returned emails, we will have to remove you from the current members list.
How to update your contact information:
Click on “Join 1st Year Free” in the “Apply for Membership” box below.
2. On the form that comes up, click on “Information Update” under “Type of Submittal”.
3. Complete filling in your contact information, etc, then scroll down and hit the red "Submit" button at the bottom.
That’s all it takes and we will do the rest.
Has it been a long time since you’ve had an email from us?
If it’s been more than a year, then there’s definitely a problem. Do you know if we have the correct e-mail address for you? If the answer is “yes” to both questions, you may want to check your junk, spam, trash or other similar folders in your e-mail system (for instance, the “Promotions” or “Social” folders if you use Gmail). Some e-mail systems send good stuff to these folders sometimes. If you find any e-mails from us there you should be able to move them to your in-box. You should also try adding chair@fwsretirees.org, secretary@fwsretirees.org and treasurer@fwsretirees.org to your e-mail system’s contact list to try to avoid this situation in the future. If you don’t find any of our e-mails in your junk mail folders, go back to the top of this article and go through the process to update your e-mail address . . . maybe we lost it, or it was keyed incorrectly into our member database. You can also contact Denise Baker at secretary@fwsretirees.org and provide her with your correct e-mail address.
Fish and Wildlife News
The summer issue of Fish and Wildlife News is out. It can be found here. This issue is focused on pollinators.
FWS issues Final EIS on reintroduction of grey wolves in Colorado
Following the November 2020 passage of a statewide ballot initiative to reintroduce wolves in Colorado, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the availability of the final environmental impact statement and draft record of decision to establish an experimental population of gray wolves in Colorado under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act. Once finalized, this action will provide management flexibility in support of Colorado’s voter-mandated gray wolf reintroduction program.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission intends to reintroduce the gray wolf in a portion of the species’ historical range in Colorado by Dec. 31, 2023. CPW requested the designation of an experimental population to provide the state with increased flexibility to manage wolves when they are reintroduced in Colorado. For more information go to https://fws.gov/press-release/2023-09/usfws-releases-final-eis-draft-decision-designate-gray-wolf-experimental.
Oil Leases in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Cancelled
The Interior Department recently canceled seven oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that were part of a sale held in the waning days of the Trump administration, arguing the sale was legally flawed. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said with her decision to cancel the remaining leases “no one will have rights to drill for oil in one of the most sensitive landscapes on earth.” However, a 2017 law mandates another lease sale by late 2024. Administration officials said they intend to comply with the law. Two other leases that were issued as part of the first-of-its-kind sale for the refuge in January 2021 were previously given up by the small companies that held them amid legal wrangling and uncertainty over the drilling program.
For more information click here
Association Bylaws Updated
5/22/2023 - After notification was sent to all association members, the revised bylaws of the association were signed by Chair Cindy Uptegraft Barry on May 15 and are now posted here.
Latest Izembek Refuge Road/Land Exchange Update
5/22/2023 – On March 14, 2023 Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland withdrew a land exchange between the Interior Department and King Cove Corporation authorized by Secretary Bernhardt in July 2019. The Department determined the 2019 land exchange contained procedural flaws and was not consistent with departmental policy. It was entered into without public participation and did not analyze potential effects on subsistence uses and habitat. The Department intends to initiate an environmental analysis that will include robust nation-to-nation consultation and consider, among other things, the 2013 land exchange considered by secretary Sally Jewell and a subsistence evaluation under Section 810 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
A notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental statement was published in the Federal Register on May 18, 2023 with scoping comments due June 20, 2023. See https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-05-18/pdf/2023-10621.pdf.
In 2009 Congress directed the Secretary of the Interior to analyze a land exchange through the Izembek Refuge and the Izembek Wilderness. The proposal would have transferred approximately 200 acres within the refuge to the State of Alaska for a single-land gravel road between the communities of King Cove and Cold Bay, Alaska that “shall be used primarily for health and safety purposes and only for noncommercial purposes. In exchange, the Service would receive approximately 43,000 acres of land owned by the State of Alaska (to be designated Wilderness) and approximately 13,300 acres of land owned by King Cover Corporation. King Cove Corporation would also relinquish 5,430 acres of selected lands with Izembek Refuge. In December 2013, Secretary Jewell issued a Record of Decision declining the land exchange. On July 3, 2019, Secretary Bernhardt signed a memorandum approving a different land exchange between the Interior Department and King Cove Corporation. The 2019 exchange did not prohibit commercial use of the road, authorized gravel mining within the Refuge, and had far less land coming to the Refuge in the exchange. A federal district court in Alaska vacated the 2019 exchange due to several legal flaws, including that Secretary Bernhardt failed to properly justify his change in policy and rejection of Secretary Jewell’s prior conclusions. For more information see an article in the Anchorage Daily News. https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2023/05/21/feds-launch-review-of-land-exchange-proposal-needed-to-build-road-in-alaskas-izembek-refuge/
Refuge System History and Future
5/22/2023 - Interested in the history of the Refuge System? You may enjoy the recently completed document “History and Future of our National Wildlife Refuge System” now available here. Completed by FWS retiree Ken Grannemann, it gives an overview of the Refuge System throughout its history with references to numerous publications, actions, or events important to development of the System. An updated version of this document will be assembled in the future so if you have any additions or corrections, please send them to NWRS.history.future@gmail.com for inclusion in the next edition.
The Endangered Species Act at 50: More Important Than Ever
5/22/2023 Fifty years ago, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was signed. The Service is celebrating throughout 2023. The celebration campaign kicked off with the delisting of five species on San Clemente Island in January. The campaign is focused on highlighting the importance of the Act to at-risk and imperiled species, the remarkable successes over the past half century, the value of partnerships to those success stories, the long road to recovery that many species still face, and the vision for the next 50 years of the Act. The celebration features social media posts, storytelling, webinars, posters, events, and many other activities.
Here are some ways that you can participate in the celebration!
The Service is also excited to collaborate with retirees on an oral history project to collect stories and experiences from former ESA practitioners. Please contact Gina Coral (gina_coral@fws.gov) for questions related to the ESA 50th anniversary campaign or with any events or stories and Kristi Young (Kristi_young@fws.gov) for participation in the oral history project.
Colorado River Water Agreement Reached
5/22/2023 Arizona, California and Nevada have agreed to take less water from the drought-strained Colorado River, a breakthrough agreement that, for now, keeps the river from falling so low that it would jeopardize water supply for major Western cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles as well as for some of America’s most productive farmland.
The agreement, announced on May 22, 2023 calls for the federal government to pay about $1.2 billion to irrigation districts, cities and Native American tribes in the three states if they temporarily use less water. The states have also agreed to make additional cuts beyond that amount to generate the total reductions needed to protect the collapse of the river.
Taken together, those reductions would amount to about 13 percent of the total water use in the lower Colorado Basin — among the most aggressive ever experienced in the region, and likely to require significant water restrictions for residential and agriculture uses. From The Washington Post and the New York Times.
Horseshoe Crab harvest prohibited on many South Carolina beaches to protect shorebirds
04/08/2023 – Dozens of critical habitat areas for threatened shorebirds will be protected after a U.S. District Court in Charleston, South Carolina handed down an order prohibiting three groups from harvesting horseshoe crabs on several of South Carolina’s beaches this season. Red knots — a threatened migratory shorebird — depend on horseshoe crab eggs for survival, each one fueling up on hundreds of thousands of the arthropod eggs in South Carolina on the way to the Canadian Arctic, according to previous reporting by The State Media Co. But when horseshoe crabs are taken from the beaches red knots flock to, harvested for the benefit of pharmaceutical companies that use the crabs’ blue blood to detect bacterial toxins, it removes the red knots’ food source. Companies in Europe and Asia have switched to using a synthetic copy of the ingredient, which does not require horseshoe crabs to be captured or bled, On Thursday, April 6, 2023, an order signed by U.S. District Judge Richard Mark Gergel puts a pause on horseshoe crab harvesting for three opposing groups that applies to nearly 30 beaches in South Carolina. The order lasts through the spawning season, which begins March 15 and ends June 15. The beaches listed have been identified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Natural Resources as critical habitat areas for red knots.
Full article here.
New Secretarial Order on bison restoration
04/08/2023 – Secretary’s Order 3410 formally establishes a Bison Working Group (BWG), which will be composed of representation from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), and U.S. Geological Survey. The BWG will develop a Bison Shared Stewardship Plan. Central to the plan will be robust engagement with Tribes, including prioritizing Tribally led opportunities to establish new large herds owned or managed by Tribes and Tribally led organizations. The Order also direct the BIA to establish a Bison Management Apprenticeship program, in collaboration with the BWG, FWS and NPS. This new program will work to ensure that Tribes that manage bison herds on their own lands or through co-stewardship agreements will benefit from training and knowledge sharing to support talent and capacity in their communities, including opportunities for hands-on experience supported by national parks and national wildlife refuges.
Treaty to protect ocean life
04/08/2023 – More than 190 countries have reached a landmark deal for protecting the biodiversity of the world’s oceans, agreeing for the first time on a common framework for establishing new protected areas in international waters. The treaty will not automatically establish any new marine protection areas, but it creates a mechanism for nations to begin designating them in international waters. Already being referred to as the ‘High Seas Treaty’, the legal framework would place 30 per cent of the world’s oceans into protected areas, put more money into marine conservation, and covers access to and use of marine genetic resources. Despite U.N. members agreeing to a final version of the text, it is still expected to take years for the treaty to be formally adopted by member states and come into force. Once it takes legal effect, nations can then begin proposing the establishment of new marine protection areas. From the Washington Post and United Nations website.
Spanish Lagoon First in Europe to be Given Legal Rights as a “Person” to Protect its Resources
02/20/2023 – One of Europe’s largest and most endangered saltwater lagoons, the Mar Menor is facing a less fetid future after Spain’s Senate voted to grant the threatened ecosystem legal status as a person. The legislation codifies the lagoon’s right to “exist as an ecosystem and to evolve naturally” and recognizes its right to protection, conservation and restoration.
FWS Proposes to Delist the Wood Stork
02/20/2023 – Achieving a major conservation milestone following decades of conservation and large-scale restoration work, the Service is proposing to remove the wood stork from the federal list of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The population has more than doubled and the number of nesting colonies has more than tripled and expanded the range. Wood storks (Mycteria americana) are the only species of stork breeding in the United States.
Addition to Silvio O. Conte Refuge in Vermont
02/20/2023 – The Nature Conservancy announced that its 3,500-acre Glebe Mountain Natural Area in Vermont will be added to the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, creating the new West River Management Unit. The forested expanse is a high priority habitat for wildlife, especially black bear and is also important for species including wood thrush, Blackburian warblers and Louisiana waterthrush.
U.N. Conference on Biodiversity
02/20/2023 – Negotiators reached a historic deal at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP15, that represents the most significant effort to protect the world's lands and oceans and provide critical financing to save biodiversity in the developing world. The most significant part of the agreement is a commitment to protect 30% of land and water considered important for biodiversity by 2030. Currently, 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas are protected. The draft also calls for raising $200 billion by 2030 for biodiversity from a range of sources and working to phase out or reform subsidies that could provide another $500 billion for nature. As part of the financing package, the framework calls for increasing to at least $20 billion annually by 2025 the money that goes to poor countries — or about double what is currently provided. That number would increase to $30 billion each year by 2030.
Refuge Association Campaign to Increase Refuge Funding
02/20/2023 – Over 800 permanent NWR positions have been lost since FY 2011, resulting in a 24% loss in capacity, The National Wildlife Refuge Association has launched a campaign to address this dire situation with a goal to raise awareness of the staffing crisis and secure necessary funding to adequately staff it. They are looking for support. For more information visit https://www.refugeassociation.org/news/2023/1/18/letter-demonstrates-the-devastating-staffing-shortages-facing-the-national-wildlife-refuge-system.
Release of Spinymussel into the James River in VA
02/20/2023 – The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and the FWS recently released an endangered species of mussel, the James spinymussel, into the main stem of the James River in central Virginia. James spinymussel hasn’t been found in the river for more than 50 years. DWR and FWS biologists, working toward this release for more than 20 years, hope this event is a step toward re-establishing a native population in the James. They have been working on propagating and raising James spinymussel at the Virginia Fisheries and Aquatic Wildlife Center, a cooperative freshwater mussel hatchery at Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery operated by DWR and FWS in Charles City, Virginia, since 2007. They’ve released James spinymussel into existing populations in James River tributaries, but a major goal has always been to re-introduce them into the main stem of the James.
Florida Bonneted Bat Critical Habitat Revision Proposed
02/20/2023 – The revised proposal includes changes to the physical or biological features and the criteria and methodology used to identify those specific areas that constitute critical habitat. It would designate approximately 1.2 million acres of critical habitat across nine units located in 13 central and south Florida counties and marks a 21% reduction in critical habitat from the 2020 proposal while still meeting the Florida bonneted bat’s conservation needs. Florida bonneted bats are large insectivorous, nonmigratory tropical bats endemic to Central and South Florida. They are found in forests, wetlands and other natural habitats, and have also been recorded in residential and urban areas. The species was listed as endangered in 2013 and has one of the most restricted distributions of any bat species in the Western Hemisphere. Their exact population size is unknown but estimated to be in the low hundreds to low thousands.
H. Dale Hall’s Book Compelled is Available
02/20/2023 – The book follows the journey of a young Service biologist thrust into the controversial world of national conservation issues and the methods used to resolve them. It contains a a first-hand account of the court challenge to the U.S. Clean Water Act, about the harm of environmental pollutants in federal water development projects, the history of conservation in the U.S. led by hunters and anglers, the history of the northern spotted owl and the Endangered Species Act, about western water wars, and how polar bears became America's first threatened species under the ESA as a result of global warming. Hall also discusses the best way to overcome these complex issues – through cooperative efforts and building trust between seemingly opposing interests. The book is available from Ducks unlimited at https://www.ducks.org/compelled or Bass Pro at https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/compelled-book-by-h-dale-hall
My Lifetime Among Waterfowl. Hunter, Decoy Maker, Wildlife Biologist
02/20/2023 – A new book has been published recently about Harold Duebbert’s FWS career, his duck, goose, and crane-hunting, and his decoy, carving. He passed away before it was published but his daughter, friends, and colleagues finished it. It is heavy on hunting and very well done. He held summer jobs at ND refuges while in school. Duebbert was the refuge biologist at Malheur in the mid 1960s and then was an excellent researcher at Norther Prairie. Hardcover book with over 150 photos. Available from https://www.haroldfduebbert.com/.
National Wildlife Refuge Association Releases Annual Report
02/20/2023 – The National Wildlife Refuge Association released its 2022 annual report highlighting their work on topics from the Florida Panther to the saga of the road/land exchange proposed for Izembek Refuge in Alaska. It also highlights the annual refuge awards. The 12-page report can be found at https://refugeassociation.org/s/Annual-Report-2022-National-Wildlife-Refuge-Association.pdf.
Revisions to Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan
02/20/2023 – FWS announced the revised final revised recovery plan for the Mexican wolf providing new site-specific recovery actions to improve protections for Mexican wolves in the wild. On October 14, 2021, the District Court of Arizona remanded the 2017 recovery plan to the Service to address the threat of human-caused mortality, including illegal killing. The revised plan includes new site-specific management actions to address the threat of human-caused mortality, including illegal killing. The revisions address the part of the plan remanded by the court, and do not include any changes to the recovery strategy or criteria. FWS received more than 48,000 public comments on the draft revised recovery plan, which was released in April 2022. The final revision includes refinements based on these comments and peer review but does not deviate significantly from the proposed revision.
Monarch Butterfly Declared Endangered by IUCN
08/10/2022 – Although the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count for 2021 was the highest since 2016, Western Monarchs have declined by more than 95% since the 1980s. Range-wide, the speciesarch Than has declined by 85% over the last two decades, prompting the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to announce on July 21 that they were placing it on the organization’s “Red List of Threatened Species” joining more than 40,000 other species worldwide that are threatened with extinction. Major threats to Monarchs include habitat destruction, pesticide use and the effects of climate change. Additional information can be found here. In December 2020 the FWS determined that listing the Monarch under the Endangered Species Act is warranted but precluded due to higher priority listing actions (https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2020-12/endangered-species-act-listing-monarch-butterfly-warranted-precluded).
Winter-run Chinook Salmon Return to the McCloud River in California
08/10/2022 – In a joint project of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries and the FWS, winter-run Chinook salmon eggs were introduced this year into the McCloud River, upstream of Shasta Reservoir. Approximately 20,000 fertilized eggs from the FWS’s Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery (NFH) near Redding were released into the river at the Ah-Di-Na Campground in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in July, and another 20,000 eggs will be stocked in early August. The introduction of the eggs upstream of Shasta Reservoir is part of an effort to reduce extinction risk for the species during a third year of severe drought. Results of the effort will inform future long-term recovery and reintroduction efforts as biologists learn how the species uses its historic habitat. After the eggs hatch later in the summer the fry will swim into the McCloud River for the first time since construction of Shasta Dam in the 1940s blocked migration of adult salmon into the river. The Baird Fish Hatchery, established in 1872 on the McCloud River and generally recognized as being the first NFH, would have been 150 years old this year. The site of the Baird Fish Hatchery was submerged by Shasta Reservoir.<
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