Refuges in the News
Firing blanks with phony gun machismo
The Arizona Republic
September 19, 2004 - Senator John Kerry and President George W. Bush are both trying to win the votes of hunters. However, winning true "sportsmen" will mean lessening the influence of groups like the NRA and Safari Club International on wildlife policy. Article by Matthew Scully who has served in the White House as special assistant to the president and deputy director of speechwriting.
Idaho State News
USA Today
August 28, 2003 - The Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge banned hunting around the Lake Lowell dam. The ban follows complaints that motorists and pedestrians on Riverside Drive in Canyon County were getting hit by shotgun pellets.
Stop hunting in wildlife refuges
Billings Gazette
June 28, 2003 - In the June 12 article on hunting in the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, The Gazette glorified a fact that would startle most Americans outside of Billings: that hunting and trapping are allowed -- even encouraged -- on nearly 60 percent of the system's 540 refuges. Readers are encouraged to grab their dictionaries and look up the word "refuge."
$1 million `birthday party' wastes tax money
The Sun-Sentinel
June 16, 2003 - The federal government has wasted our money on many things, but the most absurd this year may have been a $1 million birthday party. In March, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service threw a lavish three-day centennial bash at Pelican Island, the first refuge, established in 1903. Taxpayers footed the bill for, among other things, a fireworks show and celebrity appearances.
Refuge celebration cost criticized
The Press Journal
May 23, 2003 - A New York City-based animal protection group is criticizing federal officials for spending too much money on the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge Centennial Celebration that was held in March.
Watchdogs criticize cost of Pelican Island refuge party
The Stuart News
May 17, 2003 - Intended as a presidential event, the 100th anniversary celebration of the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge had it all: a fireworks show, an Arlo Guthrie concert and a visit from TV host and animal expert Jack Hanna. The March 13-16 event also had a price tag that some critics think excessive: nearly $1 million.
Birds of a Feather Make Fla. Refuge Home
The Washington Post
March 28, 2003 - Fund for Animals, an activist group, filed a federal lawsuit March 13, the day before the refuge system's 100-year anniversary, challenging the opening of 39 refuges to hunters since 1997.
Sportsmen's Group Challenges Lawsuit Over Refuges
Omaha World-Herald
March 21, 2003 - The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance has intervened to fight a lawsuit filed by the Fund for Animals and 20 individuals that challenges the opening or expansion of hunting on 39 national wildlife refuges since 1997 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
No Refuge - Conservation Group Cries Foul Over Growing Hunting in Wildlife Refuges
ABCNews.com
March 18, 2003 - Is a wildlife refuge not a refuge if people are allowed to hunt there? That's what an animal rights organization maintains. And to drive home its point, the Fund for Animals has filed suit against the federal government to bar hunters from areas in 39 refuges that have been opened to them in the last five years.
Lip Service for Wildlife Refuges
The Lakeland Ledger
March 17, 2003 - U.S. Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton was in Florida last week to celebrate the National Wildlife Refuge System's 100th anniversary. She was at Pelican Island, in the Indian River near Sebastian, with its pelicans, egrets, herons and other showy birds -the nation's first wildlife preserve. It was set aside on March 14, 1903, by President Theodore Roosevelt to offer protection from hunters who sought the colorful plumage. Roosevelt would set aside 55 other refuges -- a number that has increased since tenfold and covers more than 95 million acres.
2 N.C. Refuges Listed in Suit Against Sport Hunting
The Charlotte Observer
March 16, 2003 - The Fund for Animals last week legally challenged sport hunting on 39 national wildlife refuges, including two in North Carolina. The advocacy group sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in U.S. District Court, saying the agency had failed to adequately analyze the environmental impacts of hunting."A wildlife refuge, by definition, should be a place where animals are protected, not persecuted," said Michael Markarian, president of the New York City-based group. He said the agency has begun or expanded hunting at eight refuges in 2000, 11 in 2001 and 15 in 2002.
Refuge Celebrates Its Century of Wildlife - In Laurel, 1,000 Visitors -- and a Few Protesters -- Mark Anniversary advertisement
The Washington Post
March 16, 2003 - More than 1,000 people turned out yesterday at the Patuxent Research Refuge National Wildlife Visitor Center to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the national wildlife refuge system - which they did by snapping pictures, pointing at turkey vultures and making noises at owls.
Not everyone came for the party, however. About a dozen protesters from the nonprofit Fund for Animals demonstrated outside against the policy of allowing sport hunting at 39 refuges across the country since 1997.
Politics Part of Centennial Celebration
Vero Beach Press Journal
March 15, 2003 - Washington politics cropped up in Sebastian Friday as thousands turned out for the centennial celebration of the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Protesting hunting policies in protected national lands and oil drilling in Alaska, several demonstrators showed up in Riverside Park for the midday ceremony, which featured the dedication of a commemorative postage stamp and remarks by Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton.
U.S. National Refuge System Turns 100
Environment News Service
March 14, 2003 - One hundred years ago today, President Teddy Roosevelt ordered federal protection for a three acre island off the coast of Florida, creating the nation's first National Wildlife Refuge. This legacy that began with Pelican Island has since grown into the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System, covering 95.3 million acres within 540 refuges across all of the nation's fifty states and several U.S. territories.
Bird refuges are drying up - Managers across Colorado seeing lower numbers as drought slams wetlands
Rocky Mountain News
March 14, 2003 - Colorado's historic drought is draining wetlands for nesting ducks, decimating the numbers of newly hatched ducklings and drying up the backbone of many of the state's wildlife refuges. In a normal year, about 7,500 ducklings hatch at Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge. This year, only 750 were counted. Low water also has wiped out trout there and driven away moose.
Seeking Refuge For Sanctuaries
Tampa Tribune
Marhc 14, 2003 - There was a time when clouds of herons, egrets, ibises, spoonbills and pelicans filled Florida's skies as they winged their way to rookeries in the state's coastal marshes. But by the turn of the 20th century, the exotic birds - prized for the fashionable feathers that decorated ladies' hats - rapidly were plummeting toward extinction.
Where the Wild Things Are - Amid ever-present economic and environmental threats, the country’s wildlife refuge system - created by Teddy Roosevelt - celebrates 100 years
Newsday
March 13, 2003 - A red-tailed hawk prowls the stem tops of the meadow, then, in a blink, changes direction and rockets to the top of the highest tree. Six deer emerge from a stand of red cedar, their shaggy coats almost indistinguishable from the tall, brown grass.
Refuges Host More Hunters, Trappers Than Wildlife Viewers
Environment News Service
March 11, 2003 - A review of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service information by an animal advocacy organization to mark the 100th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System shows that a majority of national wildlife refuges allow hunting and trapping and that more refuges offer programs for killing animals than for watching them.
Seeking Sanctuary: As it Begins its Second Hundred Years, Our National Wildlife Refuge System is in Trouble
E Magazine
When German immigrant Paul Kroegel began advocating for the protection of Florida’s Pelican Island as critical habitat for a quickly dwindling population of brown pelicans more than a century ago, he had no idea that his efforts would lead to the creation of the world’s leading wildlife preservation system. With the involvement of noted ornithologist Frank Chapman and, eventually, President Teddy Roosevelt, tiny three-acre Pelican Island became the country’s first national wildlife refuge on March 14, 1903. And the brown pelicans have been making a comeback ever since.
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