On March 14, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt signed an Executive Order designating the five acres of Pelican Island, Florida as our nation's 1st national wildlife refuge. Today, there are 563 refuges in all fifty states and the U.S. territories. This unique system of federal lands not only protects fish and wildlife species but also provides wildlife dependent recreational opportunities such as hunting, fishing, and wildlife observation to more than forty million visitors each year. During my thirty-seven years working in the House of Representatives, I visited dozens of wildlife refuges, participated in the drafting of the historic National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, and the National Wildlife Refuge System Centennial Act. I also coordinated the legislative action on numerous bills to establish or improve units within the refuge system. This book describes how the refuge system has matured over the past 100 years; the three federal laws providing the guidance, mission, and uses of the system; and how decisions by the Fish and Wildlife Service adversely affected the descendants of former Civil War slaves, model airplane enthusiasts, and a World War II historic site. This book is perfect for anyone interested in the national wildlife refuge system and it provides a rare unique behind-the-scenes look on how one of our nation's most important conservation law was written and what motivated the decisions of the Fish and Wildlife Service at Shawangunk, Harris Neck, Chincoteague, Western Tennessee, and the Midway Atoll refuges.

The National Wildlife Refuges provides a comprehensive examination of the laws and policies governing management of the national wildlife refuges, offering for the first time a practical description and analysis of the management regime outlined in the 1997 National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act. The 1997 act is the first new statute governing a system of federal public lands enacted since the 1970s. The evolution of law governing the refuge system parallels broader trends in public land management and environmental protection, making the refuge system a valuable case study for those interested in environmental management, policy, and law. The book: describes the National Wildlife Refuge System and its legal history offers a detailed breakdown of the 1997 act, including its purpose, designated uses, comprehensive planning provisions, substantive management criteria, and public participation aspects considers individual refuges and specific issues that apply to only certain refuges discusses oil and gas development in refuges offers observations about how well the refuge system law resolves historic tensions and achieves modern conservation goals A separate chapter examines the special rules governing refuges in Alaska and considers the contentious debate over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Appendixes offer a reference of acronyms and abbreviations, a chronology of the refuge system's development, key statutory provisions (including the full text of the 1997 act), and basic information about each national wildlife refuge. With an approach to conservation that is increasingly prevalent around the world, the National Wildlife Refuge System is an important model for sustainable resource management, and the book's analyses of the refuge system's ecological management criteria, conflicts between primary and subsidiary uses, and tension between site-specific standards and uniform national goals all offer important lessons for environmental governance generally.

Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.