Comprehensive conservation planning and ecological sustainability within the United States National Wildlife Refuge System

Abstract

For the past ten years, I have had the privilege of working with the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as it develops Comprehensive Conservation Plans (CCP) for each refuge unit. I have read and studied published CCPs, and paid particular attention to the scientific and biological aspects of these plans. Of particular interest to me has been the mandate to sustain healthy populations of fish, wildlife, and plants and the biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health of the refuge system, or, essentially, the “ecological sustainability” of the system. One of the great difficulties in trying to implement a concept as profound and complex as ecological sustainability is to determine how one might measure progress toward its achievement. In this essay, I have tried to select a few simple but relevant factors to serve as indicators of such progress. A wise older friend of mine, in explaining her personal view of changing the world, said that some of the problems we face are like a huge ball blocking our path. She knew that she alone could not move the ball, but her goal was to at least nudge it in the right direction. It is my hope that this essay serves as a nudge to NWRS as it moves toward the goal of ecological sustainability.