Advocacy

resources for promoting the interest of Friends and refuges with the community and with decision-makers

Martha Williams Nominated to be Director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

  • Post category:AdvocacyNews
  • Reading time:3 mins read

CORFA thanks NWRA and specifically Caroliine Brouwer, Vice President of Government Affairs, for letting us share their blog. 

President Joe Biden has nominated Martha Williams to be the 23rd Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge Association is proud to support Martha Williams, who has been acting as Director since January 20th, and looks forward to supporting her confirmation in the Senate. 

“Acting Director Williams has been a huge champion for the National Wildlife Refuge System since she joined the Biden Administration,” said Geoffrey L. Haskett, President of the National Wildlife Refuge Association. “From her work to increase the President’s funding request for the Refuge System to her support of wildlife conservation and land protection at refuges from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to expanding refuges under the President’s leadership in the America the Beautiful Initiative, we believe that she will continue to support refuge staff and land protection during her tenure as Director.” 

“Acting Director Williams has been a huge champion for the National Wildlife Refuge System since she joined the Biden Administration,” said Geoffrey L. Haskett, President of the National Wildlife Refuge Association. “From her work to increase the President’s funding request for the Refuge System to her support of wildlife conservation and land protection at refuges from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to expanding refuges under the President’s leadership in the America the Beautiful Initiative, we believe that she will continue to support refuge staff and land protection during her tenure as Director.” 

When President Biden took office the National Wildlife Refuge Association prepared a Transition Report with various recommendations for the new administration to address. Finding someone ideal for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director position was one of our top priorities for the administration. 

We strongly recommend that the Senate swiftly confirm Martha Williams as the next DIrector of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Continue ReadingMartha Williams Nominated to be Director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

National Wildlife Refuge Association’s Legislative Chat

  • Post category:Advocacy
  • Reading time:1 mins read
orange wild flowers

On September 22nd, Caroline Brouwer, VP of Government Affairs, discussed the major legislation on Capitol Hill, from reconciliation to infrastructure to appropriations, with an explanation of how these bills will impact Refuge Friends and national wildlife refuges. below are links to the recording and slides from the webinar.

Caroline thanks for the updates.

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Action Alert from the National Wildlife Refuge Association

  • Post category:Advocacy
  • Reading time:2 mins read
yellow flowers on Kenai National Wildlife Refuge by Lisa Hupp

The House Interior Appropriations Committee has passed their bill out of committee, and the numbers are great for national wildlife refuges, but we are still waiting on the Senate to follow through with their bill. What advocates for wildlife and the Refuge System want is for Congress to pass a full package that includes $600 million in funding for Operations and Maintenance for the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Take action today and ask your Senators and Representative to support a full-year funding package that includes $600 million for the Operations and Maintenance Fund of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Visit the NWRA Action Center

Continue ReadingAction Alert from the National Wildlife Refuge Association

DID YOU TAKE PART IN THE CORFA/NWRA FRIENDS SURVEY?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like it when I take part in a survey and then never hear anything about the survey results. So, for the 88 of you who generously gave your time to provide us with answers to our questions and for those of you who didn’t but would like to know what the respondents told us, here you go with the results of our recent Friends Webinar Survey.

I’m going for the focus of the survey first, specifically, what webinar topics seemed to be of most interest to the respondents of our survey. Look for information from other parts of the survey in coming blog posts.

We provided 11 general subjects that we thought might be of interest to Friends and asked them to rate their interest in each topic as High, Medium, Low, or No interest. Here’s what you told us:

The winning topic in both “High” plus “Medium” interest and with the most “High” interest votes was OUTREACH & COMMUNICATIONS. We need to dig deeper now and find out exactly what kinds of things you are interested in but be sure to check out our Webinar on June 9 at 2:00 Eastern, with Angie Horn the NWRA Southern California Regional Refuge Partnership Specialist and Angelina Yost, The FWS Urban Programs Coordinator. They will be telling us about successful ways of building community partnerships, no matter where your refuge is located. To register click here.

No surprise that the second most “High” plus “Medium” interest votes was FUNDRAISING, followed closely by GRANTS. We have one fundraising webinar planned for the near future and will continue to seek presenters and subjects related to these two high-demand topics for additional presentations in the future.

The last topic we will highlight was GOVERNANCE & LEADERSHIP. Again, this is such a broad topic that we will be looking for some guidance from you as to what aspects of governance and leadership you would like more information about.

  • graph showing interest in advocacy webinars
  • bar graph showing interest in financial management webinars

A couple of the remaining topics are areas that we have already provided webinars on, specifically, ADVOCACY & LOBBYING and FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT.

The remaining topics were Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI), Organizational Planning, Technology, Volunteer Management, and Sales/Retail. While these topics did not receive as many “High” or “Medium” interest votes as the ones mentioned above, none of the suggested topics received fewer than 54% “High”/”Medium” votes. It looks like we have our work cut out for us. If you have ideas for a webinar in one of the categories listed or know of a Friends member/supporter who might be a good presenter on one of these topics, please reach out to Cheryl Hart or Joan Patterson. Thanks for your hel

Continue ReadingDID YOU TAKE PART IN THE CORFA/NWRA FRIENDS SURVEY?

Building Relationships That Support Your Mission

  • Post category:Advocacy
  • Reading time:2 mins read

Join CORFA and NWRA for a discussion on Wednesday, March 23rd at 2pm ET

Hoar frost along the Green River at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, Wyoming

The webinar will focus on how to build relationships on Capitol Hill and in your community that support your mission and your refuge/hatchery. We will explore who to build those relationships with, what to discuss, when is the best time, why it’s important, and the importance of maintaining these relationships into the future.

This discussion will be an open conversation guided by our panelists (and very few slides!). Bring your questions and ideas on good places to start relationship building in your community!

Register now!

Photo: Hoar frost along the Green River at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, Wyoming | Tom Koerner / USFWS

Continue ReadingBuilding Relationships That Support Your Mission