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No Airstrip in Red Wolf Territory

Red Wolf In early 2008, the Navy finally abandoned a proposal to build a training airstrip adjacent to Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina -- critical wintering ground for hundreds of thousands of migratory swans, geese and ducks, and home to the world’s only wild population of endangered red wolves.

The 30,000 annual touch-and-go maneuvers by fighter jets would have severely disrupted the skittish waterfowl that utilize the refuge and adjacent lands and could have led many species of wildlife – including red wolves -- to abandon the area altogether.

The site the Navy identified for the actual landing field is where endangered red wolves have denned in recent years. The Navy even formally proposed to poison the birds to drive them from the area. All this, despite the Navy’s own consultant advising that flying fighter jets through flocks of 20-pound birds is nothing but a recipe for disaster – for wildlife and for our nation’s fighter pilots.

A broad coalition worked for years to prevent the airstrip, with Defenders staff providing important support and thousands of our supporters writing messages urging the Navy to reconsider this ill-conceived plan.

The Navy’s plan had faced growing opposition from the local community (who would have been displaced from their homes and forced to stop growing corn and soybeans -- staples of their economy), state and local elected officials, and conservation groups since it was first announced years ago. And just recently, North Carolina’s entire congressional delegation weighed in to help defeat the Navy’s ill-conceived plan.

This is an enormous victory for wildlife, our National Wildlife Refuge System, our nation’s military pilots, and for local residents and the elected officials who represent them.

Thankfully, Pocosin Lakes will remain exactly what it should be, a refuge for wildlife and people who love the outdoors who hope to hear the magical sound of a wild, howling red wolf.