The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service quietly rescinded its Refuge System Strategic Growth Policy in December, bypassing the legally required public comment period for such a change, despite having issued the policy with an accompanying public comment period in 2014. The policy provides a framework to guide where the FWS creates and expands refuges, an essential tool for preserving beloved American landscapes and protecting imperiled wildlife and habitats. The FWS explained the recission as “necessary to ensure the Service is aligned with administration priorities.”
“Quietly killing this critical policy speaks volumes about how the Trump administration is dismissing the Refuge System and ignoring the law, which mandates the Service facilitate its continued growth,” said Christian Hunt, director of national wildlife refuges and parks program at Defenders of Wildlife. “The Service’s rationale for its actions exemplifies a disturbing disregard for Congressional intent and could be catastrophic to imperiled species and migratory birds that are already suffering from diminishing habitat.”
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