U.S. Fish and Wildlife releases proposal to guide refuge management

[Laura Bies]

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently released a proposal to both revise its existing Biological Integrity, Diversity, and Environmental Health (BIDEH) policy and implement a new rule that will guide management of national wildlife refuges. According to the USFWS, the proposals “will help provide a consistent, transparent, and science-based approach for evaluating both existing and new management practices at national wildlife refuges, in support of the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System. These proposals will support conservation throughout the Refuge System and equip wildlife refuge managers with a framework to better tackle the dual threats of climate change and biodiversity loss.”

Given the challenges that climate change is bringing to the National Wildlife Refuge System, as it transforms historical the species composition and ecological function of habitats across the refuge system, the USFWS recognized the need to codify both existing and new practices for maintaining BIDEH to assist refuges in responding to contemporary conservation challenges.

The USFWS will accept comments on the proposal through March 4.

Read more in the USFWS press release here.

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