Jobs to be cut at wildlife refuges

Arthur H. Rotstein, Associated Press

Friday, March 9, 2007

TUCSON - Thirty-eight jobs will be cut from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges in the Southwest Region over the next three years, the agency announced Thursday.

The Wilderness Society immediately criticized the cuts, saying refuge staffing has been dropping for the past two years and that the newest cuts will mean a decrease of 20 percent more.

The Southwest Region comprises 45 refuges in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas with 2.86 million acres of habitat. The refuges attract nearly 5 million visitors a year.

Arizona's nine refuges include the 860,000-acre Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, third- largest in the lower 48 states.

Some refuges are to be combined and others essentially will become unmanned, the agency said. In all, the national refuge system encompasses 547 refuges and more than 96 million acres.

The restructuring comes "in the face of increasing operating costs and increasing conservation needs," the announcement said. "Permanent staff reductions are planned as personnel costs consume a hefty portion of the budget."

The move aims to reach a budget ratio of 80 percent salary to 20 percent operating expenditures, down from the current 86-14 ratio, agency spokeswoman Elizabeth Slown said. The region's budget is $27.3 million.

Anticipated savings of more than $2.7 million for the four states would be plowed back into operational expenses, ranging from grading roads to fence- building and fuel, Slown said.

Fish and Wildlife's staffing plan said funding for the refuge system nationwide rose from $300 million in 2001 to $383 million in 2006, but that the increases were directed at specific programs, such as controlling invasive species, maintenance or border security.

Maribeth Oakes, director of the National Wildlife Refuge Program for the Wilderness Society, said: "This magnificent system of lands is buckling under the weight of persistent underfunding and a crippling $3 billion budget backlog.

"The only way to reverse this trend is for the administration and Congress to increase funding for the system's operations and maintenance budgets."