The membership of The Blue Goose Alliance, has a dream!  We are seeing a new, independent agency within the Department of the Interior which is named The National Wildlife Refuge Service.  It has taken its rightful place alongside the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, the two other land management agencies within the Department of the Interior. So, climb this hill with us and let us show you how the Refuge System could look.

We see an independent agency which plans its own budget requests, receives its own budget appropriations, and administers its own operating budgets.  It recommends its own budget outlays for each fiscal year, decides its own budget priorities for available funding, and chooses its own preferences for budget cuts when they become necessary.  It receives equal consideration by Congress as the other Federal land management agencies by submitting its own budget justifications for allocation of available funding and manpower.

We see an agency led by a Refuge Chief, a career professional who has risen through the ranks of National Wildlife Refuge service and served in responsible positions that have given him needed experience and insight for directing a vibrant, modern, efficient, and streamlined organization that effectively performs its mission.  We see an agency with a strong, demonstrated, and continuing commitment to train and equip its leadership for operational excellence, both for the present and future.

 We see an agency which attracts the best qualified young professionals because it is led by effective managers who maintain high employee morale through sound leadership, participative management, fair personnel practices, and demonstrated concern for the welfare of all its employees.

 We see an agency which operates its many units as a system, a system in which all components contribute in a uniform way to the established agency goals and objectives,  It is an agency which places clear responsibility on line managers at the national, regional, and refuge levels to comply uniformly with agency policies, procedures, and directives. It is an organization that exhibits strong loyalty and commitment both up and down a chain of command.  It displays nationwide uniformity in the administration of public use, law enforcement, environmental education, habitat management, and other operations.

 We see a stable organization with a legislatively specified structure which is not subject to the whims of changing leadership or partisan politics.  It operates as a simplified, direct line management organization, with only three supervisory decision points: Director, Regional Manager, and Refuge Manager.  Refuge Managers typically supervise several different refuges that are within a loosely defined project area.

We see an agency with clear operating guidelines that are conveyed to all supervisory levels and monitored through a clearly established chain of command. It can clearly delegate responsibility to the lowest level of management without losing accountability for uniformity, quality performance, and maximum efficiency.  All operations are guided by nationwide standards clearly stated in a Refuge Manual that is carefully and regularly updated to reflect changing policies.

We see a stand-alone agency that is adequately staffed and funded to handle all aspects of its own administration, management and maintenance, one that is not compelled to compete with non-refuge priorities for needed support services.  It is equipped to deal with all its own needs, including:  personnel management, property management, Government procurement, engineering, realty services, public affairs, forest management, agricultural management, environmental education, public use management, and legal services.

 We see an agency of high integrity, strong esprit de corps, and good morale.  It is manned by experienced and proficient managers who have had quality training in all the important disciplines of land management which must work together to deliver effective, legally mandated land management.  Upper level managers are well grounded with field-based experience and a working knowledge of the agency’s troubled past.

 We see an agency that is both nationally and internationally recognized for its careful stewardship of the most extensive network of outstanding fish and wildlife habitats in the world.  We see an agency which provides effective and efficient administration for all 540 National Wildlife refuges and 3,000-plus Waterfowl Production Areas, and all other lands and waters entrusted to its care, including all designated wilderness, wild or scenic rivers, research natural areas, natural landmarks, historical sites, cultural resources, and other land and water habitats and natural resources thereon.

The National Wildlife Refuge System of today cannot, and will not ever realize this dream as a component of the Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency which is encumbered by numerous other responsibilities and priorities.  It will become reality only when an act of Congress is passed to create a bright, new, and stand-alone agency, The National Wildlife Refuge Service.