National Wildlife Refuge Association

@altfws.altgov.info @altdoi.altgov.info

You’re invited to the 2025 National Wildlife Refuge Awards — a virtual celebration of the Refuge System.

📅 Tuesday, March 24, 2026
🕖 7:00 pm ET (6 CT / 5 MT / 4 PT)
Awardee stories, heartfelt award presentations, and special guests celebrating wildlife refuges!

refugeassociation.org/livestream

Birdwatching could help slow ageing, breakthrough study finds | BBC Science Focus Magazine Birdwatching gives you the perfect triad of skills to slow your cognitive decline and experience healthier ageing, study finds

Birdwatching: training your eyes, your patience, and maybe your brain too. 🧠🐦
Refuges are the perfect place to bird. Take a slow stroll at a national wildlife refuge and see who shows up.
www.sciencefocus.com/news/birdwat...

USFWS Announces Review of Refuges and Hatcheries: How to Share Feedback — The National Wildlife Refuge Association USFWS has launched a review of the National Wildlife Refuge and Fish Hatchery Systems. Here’s what’s being reviewed and how to submit input.

🚨 USFWS is reviewing refuges + fish hatcheries system-wide. Here’s what’s in scope and how partners/individuals can submit input: www.refugeassociation.org/blog/2025/12...

#RefugeStrong

🌲❄️ Wishing you peace and wild places. ♥️🕊️

Thank you for being part of a community that shows up for wildlife and national wildlife refuges.

May you find a moment of refuge, wherever you are.

—From all of us at the National Wildlife Refuge Association

#RefugeStrong

Happy National Wildlife Refuge System Employee Appreciation Day 💚

We LOVE all the ways you’re celebrating refuge staff today—thank-you notes, sweet treats, shoutouts, and photos. Keep the posts coming!

Tag @refugeassociation (and your local refuge) so we can share the appreciation.

@altfws.altgov.info @altdoi.altgov.info

Tomorrow (Wed, Dec 17th) is Refuge Staff Appreciation Day.

Refuge staff keep refuges running. This year’s been tough. And still, they show up!

Join us tomorrow: post a thank-you + tag @refugeassociation, or drop off a handwritten note + small sweet treat.
www.refugeassociation.org/s/Toolkit-Re...

Lynn Scarlett - A Special Message — The National Wildlife Refuge Association

In a time of rapid change, national wildlife refuges are a stronghold for nature 🌿

Our board chair Lynn Scarlett shares why the Refuge System works and how the Refuge Association protects it.

Watch her short message:
www.refugeassociation.org/lynn-video-eoy

#WildlifeRefuge #RefugeStrong

An American Avocet stands on one leg in the waters of the tualatin national wildlife refuge in pdx

The American Avocet is a rarity in our area ... many birders are enjoying their visit to Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge !

#birds #birding #avocet #art #birdwatching #vögel #pájaro #oiseaux #shorebird #wildlife #photography #birdphotography
@refugeassociation.org #wildlifephotography #pdx

A Biologist Spotlights The Oldest Bird In The World (Hint: It Was First Tagged In 1956 On This Isolated Island) Most small birds are lucky to make it to ten years of age. Bigger birds, however, can live much longer. Here’s the story of the oldest known bird on planet Earth.

Wisdom was first banded in 1956. She’s now at least 74 & still going strong

@forbes.com just spotlighted her incredible journey, and we couldn’t be prouder. From surviving tsunamis to raising 30+ chicks at Midway Atoll National #WildlifeRefuge, she’s done it all.

www.forbes.com/sites/scottt...

Announcing the 2025 National Wildlife Refuge Awards — The National Wildlife Refuge Association The National Wildlife Refuge Association is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 National Wildlife Refuge Awards , a beloved tradition recognizing exceptional contributions to the Nationa...

The 2025 National Wildlife Refuge Awards are here 🦅

We’re celebrating the people protecting #wildlife, connecting communities, and keeping our #publiclands wild.

🏆 Meet the awardees:
www.refugeassociation.org/press-releas...

#WildlifeRefugeAwards #WildlifeRefuge #Conservation

@altfws.altgov.info @altdoi.altgov.info

House Funding Bill Chips Away at National Wildlife Refuges with Deep Cuts & Damaging Riders — The National Wildlife Refuge Association Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee advanced its Fiscal Year 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies spending bill— and while it wasn’t the slash-and-burn bill the President ha...

BREAKING: The House just moved to slash $22M from the Refuge System in its FY26 budget bill—along with dangerous riders that that weaken protections for wildlife, public lands, and the endangered species they support.

📰 Read our response ⬇️
#RefugeStrong #ProtectOurRefuges #WildlifeRefuge

Donate — The National Wildlife Refuge Association When You Give

Today, on the 4th of July, Give $17.76 to defend wildlife and the freedom to roam.

🔗 refugeassociation.org/donate

Freedom To Roam—A 4th of July Message from Gray Payne at Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge YouTube video by National Wildlife Refuge Association

🇺🇸 This Independence Day, celebrate the wild side of freedom. Happy 4th of July!

🎥 Major General Gray Payne, USMC (Ret.), speaks from Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge about the power—and vulnerability—of America’s public lands.

“We need everyone’s help to protect these public spaces.”

Conservation Leader Lynn Scarlett Appointed Board Chair of National Wildlife Refuge Association — The National Wildlife Refuge Association The National Wildlife Refuge Association is honored to announce the appointment of Lynn Scarlett as Chair of its Board of Directors . The decision was made during the Refuge Association’s June 2025...

Lynn Scarlett, conservation leader and former Deputy Secretary of U.S. Department of the Interior, has been elected Chair of the @refugeassociation.org Board of Directors!

A lifelong #birder + staunch #publiclands advocate, Lynn brings decades of experience to the role.

🔗 Read more ⬇️

@altfws.altgov.info @altnps.bsky.social @altusfs.altgov.info @altblmatinterior.bsky.social

Tell the Senate: Don’t Sell Off America’s Public Lands The Senate wants to force the sale of up to 3 million acres of public land. Tell your Senators: protect our conservation legacy—keep public lands in public hands.

🚨 Advocacy Alert: The Senate ENR Committee has tucked a land sell-off into the FY26 budget bill—up to 3 million acres of public lands gone.

These wild places are managed by BLM & USFS—but if we let this happen, what’s next? Refuges?
🔗 act.refugeassociation.org/a/stop-senat...

#PublicLands

Help Stop Budget Cuts to National Wildlife Refuges Tell Congress to reject the President’s proposed 22% cut to the National Wildlife Refuge System. Add your voice now to protect wildlife and national wildlife refuges

🛑 The Refuge System is facing a 22% budget cut in the President’s FY2026 proposal. Wildlife, habitat, and public access are all on the line.

Speak up to protect America’s refuges:
🔗 act.refugeassociation.org/a/fy-26

#WildlifeRefuge #PublicLands #Conservation #Wildlife #RefugeStrong

Protect Wildlife Habitat: Defend the Endangered Species Act Submit your public comment today to stop a rule that would weaken protections for endangered species and their habitat. Deadline May 19th, 2025.

🛑 Advocacy Alert: The Endangered Species Act is under threat. 🛑
🕒 The deadline is tonight.

👉 Submit your public comment before midnight:
Take Action>>
#RefugeStrong #EndangeredSpecies #WildlifeRefuge #Advocacy

Add Your Voice: Protect The People Behind Our Wildlife Refuges Schedule F threatens to fire career refuge managers and conservation staff without cause. Submit your comment today and help stop this attack on science and public service.

📢 Advocacy Alert
The administration is planning to reinstate Schedule F—a move that could threaten the nonpartisan experts who protect our national wildlife refuges.

🗓 Deadline to take action: May 23
✍️ Add your voice now
#SaveOurRefuges #RefugeStrong #ScheduleF #Advocacy #WildlifeRefuge

National Wildlife Refuges On The Precipice — The National Wildlife Refuge Association As Public Service Recognition Week shines a light on the value of federal service, the National Wildlife Refuge Association is warning that the very people who protect our nation’s wildlife and public...

🚨 National wildlife refuges are on the precipice
A 20% staff loss since January, looming layoffs, harmful budget cuts, & the politicization of civil service are converging into a crisis unlike any in the Refuge System’s 122-year history

📄 Full press release www.refugeassociation.org/press-releas...

Donate — The National Wildlife Refuge Association When You Give

These threats may be thousands of miles apart—but they’re part of the same system.

🛑 The National Wildlife Refuge System is being dismantled piece by piece.

Help us fight back.
💚 Donate now: refugeassociation.org/donate

#RefugeStrong #WildlifeFirst #PublicLands

📍 Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Pacific Ocean
SpaceX and U.S. Air Force are planning on testing rocket cargo over a critical seabird nesting sanctuary.

These islands are one of the last safe places for millions of seabirds.

📍 Camas National Wildlife Refuge, Idaho
Idaho lawmakers are trying to seize this federally protected wildlife refuge and transfer it to state control.

It’s not just a bad idea—it’s a dangerous precedent.
If they succeed, what refuge is next?

🚨 One refuge under threat. Another under fire.

📍 Camas NWR: targeted for state takeover
📍 Johnston Atoll NWR: seabirds at risk from rocket testing

This is what unraveling the Refuge System looks like.

🛑 Help us fight back: www.refugeassociation.org/news/2025/4/...

#WildlifeRefuge #RefugeStrong

Refuge System Crisis — Support Wildlife & Public Lands — The National Wildlife Refuge Association The National Wildlife Refuge System is facing historic staff cuts, closures, and threats to public lands. Help us protect wildlife and refuges now.

We’re the National Wildlife Refuge Association—and we just launched our Spring Campaign to defend these lands and the wildlife who depend on them.

📖 Learn more:
refugeassociation.org/news/2025/4/...

#RefugeStrong #WildlifeFirst #50YearsWild #Conservation #PublicLands #HandsOff #WildlifeRefuge

Hi Bluesky 👋
This is our first post—and it comes at a critical moment.

The National Wildlife Refuge System is in crisis. Staff are being lost. Refuges are closing. Wildlife-first public lands are at risk.