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Financial Woes Threaten to Cull NJ Wildlife Refuges

Significant cutbacks in recent years have severely strained New Jersey's five wildlife refuges, and thousands of publicly owned acres of wildlife are now being managed with 14 percent fewer staff members than two years ago.

The lack of staff and resources has resulted in an increase in vandalism, torn-up trails from illegal ATV riders and dumping on woodlands and natural habitats.

In Cape May County, for example, the staff at the Supawna Meadows refuge has been completely eliminated, and its hunting programs have been scaled back. The staff at the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, 59 miles away, now covers both facilities. In addition, the personnel at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Morris County is required to also cover Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge 52 miles north, and Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge in Ulster County, N.Y.

Also at Wallkill, the staff have been reduced to two positions — a biologist and a manager — and the manager's position will be eliminated at the end of the month.

Tony Leger, regional chief of the National Wildlife Refuge system, explains his division is currently reviewing the financial situation and he is waiting to see whether the wildlife refuges will see any additional appropriations for the next fiscal year.

"There are a lot of conflicting priorities in this country, and whether or not refuges are going to get any new or more money is anybody's guess," says Leger.

For fiscal year 2008, the National Wildlife Refuge system was allocated $434 million, an increase of $36 million over the previous year. Before that, however, there were no increases for three consecutive years, while costs went up three to five percent annually.

According to Leger, the Northeast region's part of the 2008 increase came to $3 million. Before that, his office predicted it would be operating at a deficit within four years, which is why they have begun downsizing the staff by offering buyouts and not filling vacancies.

New Jersey mirrors what has been happening across the country's 548 refuges, which total nearly 100 million acres. In May, the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement released a report that found one in three refuges in the United States is operating without a single staff member, and has only one full-time law enforcement officer for every 555,000 acres.

"Refuges nationwide are under-funded by 43 percent right now," said Desiree Sorenson-Groves, vice president of government affairs for the National Wildlife Refuge Association. She noted that the entire refuge system is funded at $434 million, and Hurricane Ike alone did $216 million worth of damage to the wildlife refuges in that area. "So they're barely able to do what they're supposed to do anyway, and then you have things like this on top of it? They are struggling all across the country."