On America’s 250th, CA wildlife refuges honor natural wonders

As the U.S. prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary next week, conservation groups said national wildlife refuges remain essential to preserving the country’s natural beauty.

California’s 43 refuges span 1.6 million acres. Congress established the National Wildlife Refuge System 60 years ago, and it has grown to more than 570 sites nationwide.

Jeff Aardahl, a wildlife biologist and California senior representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said cuts from the Trump administration’s Department of Governmental Efficiency are hampering the system’s mission.

“Operational budgets have been reduced,” Aardahl pointed out. “The number of wildlife biologists, interpreters and refuge managers have also been reduced. So the National Wildlife Refuge System now is under great stress.”

California’s refuges span every corner of the state from south to north, with protected lands from San Diego Bay to Humboldt Bay, from the Salton Sea to Clear Lake. Several refuges, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley, are struggling because they depend on water allocations from the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which has prioritized water deliveries to farmers and urban areas in Southern California.

Aardahl noted the wildlife refuges, along with 262 protected areas designated by the state, shelter thousands of fragile species.

“These refuges support many imperiled native species like the southern sea otter, checkerspot and monarch butterflies, red-legged frog, San Joaquin kit fox, gray wolf, and California condor, which is endangered,” Aardahl outlined.

Much of the funding for the refuges comes directly through congressional appropriations to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Additional funding comes from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the future of which is tied to the America the Beautiful Act, a bipartisan bill currently before the U.S. Senate.