September XX, 2022 

President Joseph R. Biden 

The White House 

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 

Washington, DC 20500 

Dear Mr. President, 

We are writing to request that you prioritize the National Wildlife Refuge System in your Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget proposal by including a robust increase for the Operations and Maintenance accounts of the National Wildlife Refuge System, accounting for inflationary costs, salary increases, and the significant increase in visitation and land base of the Refuge System since 2010. The current enacted funding level of $519 million is drastically insufficient, and has led to a Refuge System strained under the weight of critically low staffing levels and lost capacity. It is crucial that Congress and the Administration address this unsustainably low level of funding in FY 2024.

As the only system of federal public lands focused primarily on wildlife conservation and habitat, the National Wildlife Refuge System must play a key role in achieving the biodiversity and climate targets set forth under the America the Beautiful Initiative. Further, the Refuge System’s Urban Wildlife Conservation Program, which seeks to bolster recreational access, is well-positioned to support the outreach and recreation efforts outlined in America the Beautiful. With at least one refuge in every state, the Refuge System provides rural and urban communities recreational opportunities, like angling, hunting, bird watching, and environmental education. The Refuge System requires a substantial increase in funding to effectively fulfill its conservation mission, provide opportunities for wildlife-dependent recreation, and connect communities to nature.  

The National Wildlife Refuge System is an important asset for our country. Refuges are home to over 700 species of birds, 220 species of mammals, 250 reptile and amphibian species, over 1,000 species of fish, and 513 threatened and endangered species. Over 65 million people annually visit the nation’s 568 refuges, which are found in every state and territory and within an hour’s drive of every major city. The Refuge System provides families and everyday Americans access to some of the nation’s best hunting, fishing, wildlife watching, photography, and more. 

As more Americans explore our wild places, management of these places must keep up to ensure the safety of their visitors. Although annual visitors to the Refuge System increased by 38 percent since 2010, the Refuge System’s budget has only increased by 3 percent since FY 2010. This, along with the addition of 13 refuges, 2 million land acres, and 597 million acres of marine national monuments, significant staff cuts (1,000 FTE since 2010), and increased pressures from natural events like wildfires and flooding, has put the Refuge System under increasing fiscal strain. In order to properly steward its lands and waters, the Refuge System requires additional conservation planning dollars: while Comprehensive Conservation Plans are required to be updated every 15 years, 40 percent of them are out of date.  

Increased investment in the Refuge System is not only warranted, but also a wise investment in local economies. In FY 2020, Refuges generated about $3 billion in economic benefits for local economies and supported over 41,000 jobs. In fact, studies have shown that every dollar invested in our Refuge System by the federal government returns about five dollars in local economic activity. 

Thank you for your attention to and consideration of this important request. We recognize the ongoing challenges facing the discretionary budget and look forward to working with you to support these vital programs.