Defenders' Experts
Refuges at Risk: America's 10 Most Endangered National Wildlife Refuges
Every year, Defenders of Wildlife profiles 10 endangered national wildlife refuges across the country to raise awareness and garner support for the refuge system.
The 2007 Refuges at
Risk report focuses on the 10-year anniversary of the passage of the
National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act. This landmark legislation was created to
help solve critical issues affecting national wildlife refuges, and to help
refuges meet their core missions of protecting native wildlife and offering
environmental education to the public. Yet a decade later, refuges continue to
struggle with problems that threaten their ability to meet their wildlife-first
mission.
Released on October 4, 2007, the Refuges at Risk report discusses how
problems including lack of funds, oil and gas development, road construction,
border walls, invasive species and water contamination are affecting refuges in
Alaska, Montana, New Jersey, Texas and more.
Refuges at Risk (PDF, Full Report)
Press Release 10/4/2007
Slideshow highlighting these refuges
Top 10 Refuges at Risk
Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey
Each year, thousands of migratory songbirds, including the ruby-crowned kinglet and the Nashville warbler, arrive at this crucial stopping ground for birds traveling on the Atlantic Flyway. But year after year, they arrive to find that their precious habitat is not as they left it. Illegal all-terrain vehicle use, barely hindered by the refuge’s lone refuge enforcement officer, is tearing up the habitat, disturbing nesting birds and jeopardizing their food sources. Continue reading...
Read your local press release.
Hailstone National Wildlife Refuge, Montana
This refuge is a vital hub for hundreds of migratory bird species that use the 300-acre lake and the surrounding area as a stopover and breeding ground. However, the conversion of native prairie to agricultural crops has caused excess salt and selenium to reach toxic levels in the lake and wetlands and harm or kill scores of native wildlife, including migratory waterfowl and American white pelicans.Continue reading…
Read your local press release.
Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Texas
The territories of jaguarundi and ocelot extend into Texas from Mexico, where these rare cats roam among 300 species of butterfly and more than 500 species of birds. But the cats’ territories are not bound by international borders, and their habitat is threatened by a border wall that could destroy the biological integrity of the entire region. Continue reading…
Click here to read your
local press release.
Defenders' staff member Noah Kahn is interviewed as part of a radio story about the impact of the border wall on the Rio Grande Valley. The story was produced by KSTX (89.1, San Antonio).
Listen now
Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, Washington
For years, local children living in an increasingly developed region have enjoyed and learned from this rich landscape, where pacific tree frogs chorus in the night and river otters dart after fish. Fewer children will be given this opportunity, however, as refuge staff are forced to cut back or eliminate educational programs that teach America’s future leaders how to appreciate and protect our environment. Continue reading…
Read your local press release.
Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina
This refuge boasts an enormous array of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, including breeding American oystercatchers and loggerhead sea turtles. A planned replacement bridge and highway would carve through the heart of refuge wetlands, requiring constant maintenance as even mild storms regularly inundate the road with sand and ocean water. Continue reading…
Read your local press release.
Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia
With one of the largest concentrations of bald eagles on the East Coast, this refuge provides wildlife with an island of wilderness in a region where urban development is steadily encroaching. Without the funds to acquire available neighboring land, the refuge is at risk of bring surrounded by development, making the refuge into a decorative center piece instead of a crucial wildlife oasis. Continue reading…
Read your local press release.
Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Rhode Island
Local children have long been taught the importance of the wildlife, habitat and ecology of Rhode Island’s five refuges that provide a haven for thousands of birds traveling the Atlantic Flyway, including hawks, falcons and songbirds. But lack of funds has forced refuge staff to cease their educational programs, despite an increasingly desperate need for environmental education in a quickly developing area. Continue reading…
Read your local press release.
San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, California
With 95 percent of California’s wetlands drained, filled or destroyed, this critical stopover and wintering grounds for migratory ducks, geese and cranes along the Pacific Flyway is a haven for the weary travelers. But the water they find there is decreasing in quality and quantity, year upon year, due to commercial competition for California’s limited water supply. Continue reading…
Read your local press release.
Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge, Wisconsin
Thousands of wood ducks and
black terns share these Wisconsin skies, located at the confluence of the
Trempealeau and Mississippi rivers, with monarch butterflies, blue-winged
teal, hooded mergansers and tundra swans. But these native beauties are under
attack from a marching army of invasive plants and animals that severely
undermine the environmental health of the refuge. Continue reading…
Read your
local press release.
Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
The retreat of a bitter winter and the arrival of spring brings millions of waterfowl and other birds to the refuge, where they transform the landscape from a quiet wilderness to a chaotic courtship and breeding ground. Efforts to drill for oil and natural gas in the refuge are threatening this ancient ritual as an ill-conceived land swap aims to trade away large portions of the refuge to an Alaska native corporation. Continue reading…
Read your local press release.
Archive
Refuges at Risk 2006This report identified global warming as the single greatest threat imperiling the National Wildlife Refuge system as a whole. Ten refuges facing dire consequences from global warming are featured.
Refuges at Risk 2005Our second annual list of the 10 most endangered National Wildlife Refuges, highlighting the challenges the refuges face while also offering viable solutions to ensure that they will survive in the centuries to come.
Refuges at Risk 2004The first report in our annual series, in which we examine refuges across the country and chose the 10 most endangered based on criteria such as the magnitude and timeliness of the threat; the significance of the refuge to our natural wildlife heritage; the opportunity for action to address the problem; and the refuge's representation of overall threats to the system.
