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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- In partnership with state, tribal, and federal agency partners, the Obama Administration today released the first draft national strategy to help decision makers and resource managers prepare for and help reduce the impacts of climate change on species, ecosystems, and the people and economies that depend on them.

The draft National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, available for public review and comment through March 5, 2012, can be found on the web at www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov

The strategy represents a draft framework for unified action to safeguard fish, wildlife and plants, as well as the important benefits and services the natural world provides the nation every day, including jobs, food, clean water, clean air, building materials, storm protection, and recreation.

“The impacts of climate change are already here and those who manage our landscapes are already dealing with them,” said Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes. “The reality is that rising sea levels, warmer temperatures, loss of sea ice and changing precipitation patterns – trends scientists have definitively connected to climate change – are already affecting the species we care about, the services we value, and the places we call home. A national strategy will help us prepare and adapt.”

Congress called for a national, government-wide strategy in 2010, directing the President’s Council on Environmental Quality and the Department of the Interior to develop it. CEQ and Interior responded by assembling an unprecedented partnership of federal, state and tribal fish and wildlife conservation agencies to draft the strategy. More than 100 diverse researchers and managers from across the country participated in the drafting for the partnership.

The partnership is co-led by Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, representing state fish and wildlife agencies.

The strategy will guide the nation’s efforts during the next five years to respond to current and future climate change impacts such as changing species distributions and migration patterns, the spread of wildlife diseases and invasive species, the inundation of coastal habitats with rising sea levels, and changes in freshwater availability with shifting precipitation and habitat types. The strategy does not prescribe mandatory activities that agencies must take nor suggest regulatory actions; rather, it provides a roadmap for decision makers and resource managers to use in considering climate change implications to their ongoing wildlife and habitat management activities.

Elements of the draft strategy include: Descriptions of current and projected impacts of climate change on the eight major ecosystems of the United States, the fish, wildlife and plant species those ecosystems support and the vital ecosystem services they provide; Goals, strategies, and actions to reduce the vulnerability and increase the resilience of fish, wildlife, plants and the communities that depend on them in the face of climate change; Collaborative strategies and actions that agriculture, energy, transportation and other sectors can take to promote adaptation of fish, wildlife and plants, and utilize the adaptive benefits of natural resources in their climate adaptation efforts; and A framework for coordinated implementation of the strategy among government and non-governmental entities from national to local scales.

“For more than a century, state fish and wildlife agencies have been entrusted by the public to be good stewards of their natural resources. To do that, we constantly are called upon to address threats to our natural resources,” said Patricia Riexinger, Director of the Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. “Today’s pressures on fish and wildlife and their habitats are exacerbated by climate change and together they emphasize the need for increased conservation and science-based management. The strategy is our nation’s insurance for managing healthy and robust ecosystems in uncertain future conditions.”

“This strategy provides a framework for safeguarding America’s fish, wildlife and plant resources and the valuable services they provide over the long-term,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “NOAA is committed to working with federal, state, tribal and local government agencies, non-government organizations and the public in this process because we all have important roles to play in preparing all regions of our nation in a changing climate.”

Leading the development of the strategy is a Steering Committee that includes government representatives from 16 federal agencies, five state fish and wildlife agencies and two inter-tribal commissions. The Steering Committee includes representatives from the California, Washington, Wisconsin, New York and North Carolina fish and wildlife agencies to ensure that all 50 states’ fish and wildlife concerns are considered. The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies is providing staff support for developing the strategy.

Public comments can be submitted online through the strategy website via a special link. Written comments may be submitted via the U.S. mail to the Office of the Science Advisor, Attn: National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive Suite 222, Arlington, VA 22203. In addition, there will be five public information sessions in various locations around the country and two webinars to provide details and encourage dialogue on the strategy and its development. To register for these meetings and for more information on the public comment process, visit http://www.wildlifeadaptationstrategy.gov/public-comments.php

About:
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.

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National Wildlife Refuges Play Well on the Silver Screen Could this be an Oscar Year?

Meeks Cutoff

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- This year’s Academy Awards ceremony holds special interest for the Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System.

Some critics are listing “Meeks Cutoff,” with scenes from Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, as a possible Oscar contender.

“Meeks Cutoff,” starring Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood and Paul Dano, is about pioneers stranded on the Oregon Trail and was filmed from federal lands adjacent to the wildlife refuge.

Malheur Refuge manager Tim Bodeen knows why director Kelly Reichardt wanted to capture scenes of the refuge:

“We’re one of the nation’s great wild places where you can get wide open views of the natural environment,” he says. “And we have bountiful wildlife [including coyotes and mule deer] that people associate with historic America.”

Today’s visitors can hike, bike, fish and hunt on the refuge as well as see wildlife and tour the 19 th-century Sod House Ranch.

What are some of the better known refuge-linked movies? Besides “Meeks Cutoff,” there’s everything from a 1923 silent classic filmed at Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes National Wildlife Refuge in California to a 1971 B movie filmed at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia.

Okefenokee Refuge boasts about the refuge scenes in the 1971 film “Swamp Girl” and shows the movie to visitors. It does so even though the movie’s depiction of the swamp doesn’t match the refuge’s perspective, laughs refuge office assistant Judy Drury, who recalls the filming. It depicts, she says, “what everybody thought the swamp was – scary, bad, dreary, full of alligators and snakes – and not what it actually is. It’s so beautiful out there.”

Okefenokee Refuge is popular with paddlers, nature photographers, hunters and fishermen. Canoeists can follow water trails deep into the 354,000 acre wilderness, and visitors can tour a restored homestead to discover how “swampers” once made their home here.

In the case of the 1923 silent classic, director Cecil B. DeMille set up shop at or near what would later become Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Refuge to film his epic “The Ten Commandments.”

It’s “the only refuge that has an Egyptian city underneath,” jokes Fish and Wildlife Service senior writer/editor David Klinger. He’s not kidding entirely.

DeMille’s colossus of a movie built a lavish set to replicate the ancient City of Seti that boasted of “21 sphinxes, four 35-foot-tall statues of Ramses, and a commanding, awe-inspiring 110-foot-high set of massive city gates,” says Klinger. (The film won an Oscar for best visual effects.) When filming ended, the company simply dynamited the set, costumes and all, and buried them in the dunes. There they lay for decades until bits began resurfacing, exposed by wind and weather. Now, movie artifacts are on display where visitors can see them at the Dunes Center in nearby Guadalupe.

Refuge visitors can walk four miles across the beach to the refuge to see migrating waterfowl and shorebirds and coastal dune plants in bloom. The site is also a popular spot for surf fishing enthusiasts and wildlife photographers.

These days, commercial filmmakers work with refuge managers and need to obtain a special use permit to film on refuge lands. Rules posted by Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida show the kinds of concerns typically addressed – primarily those of compatibility with wildlife conservation and safeguarding refuge resources.

Klinger says that carefully chosen film projects can enhance the public’s view of refuges “as long as they do not harm the resource,” he says. “Our job is to protect refuges for the present and future.”

About:
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.

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