On February 24, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) was seeking comments on a new draft vision plan for the National Wildlife Refuge System. According to the Wildlife Management Institute, the plan, entitled "Conserving the Future: Wildlife Refuges and the Next Generation," offers nearly 100 draft recommendations to guide the growth and management of the Refuge System over the next 10 years. To facilitate the comment period, which is open until April 22, the USFWS has partnered with the National Wildlife Refuge Association to create an interactive website for collecting comments and providing community interaction about refuges. The final vision document is scheduled for release in July 2011, at a conference in Madison, Wisconsin.

"The National Wildlife Refuge System is one of the crown jewels of our conservation efforts and we must ensure that the System has the tools and vision to meet the challenges of tomorrow," Salazar said. "I encourage all Americans to participate in the ?Conserving the Future' process, and to voice their bold ideas about the future priorities and management of our national wildlife refuges."

The recommendations within the report center around broad, main issue areas: strategic conservation to manage for biological integrity, diversity, environmental health and ecological resilience; incorporation of conservation science in refuge management; connecting people with nature both through broadened visitation as well as increased diversity of the next generation of conservationists; and organizational excellence and leadership within a landscape of change. Some specific recommendations highlighted by the agency include:

• Engage youth in an array of work and volunteer programs?
• Review the Appropriate Use Policy, so a wider variety of nature-based experiences may be possible
• Within the next 10 years, increase the number of minorities and people with disabilities who work for the Refuge System, in part by reaching high school and college youth from diverse communities and exposing them to Service conservation careers
• Develop a five-year plan to "green" the Refuge System
• Encourage a "Friends" group for every staffed refuge (there are now about 230 such groups)
• Develop standards for credibility, efficiency and consistent application of science in planning and management
• Work with state fish and wildlife agencies, to prepare a strategy to double youth participation in hunting and fishing by 2020, paying special attention to individuals of all ages with disabilities

The Conserving the Future website offers interested individuals with a new set of tools to get engaged within the vision planning effort as well as to become more actively engaged within a broader refuge community. The site offers online commenting tools for a more efficient document-review process. In addition, there is a social-networking platform that allows members of the community to join groups in areas of interest within the vision document. The groups will allow dialogue about key concepts and recommendations. (jas)