Staff: Wildlife refuge cuts crippling conservation

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in Brown Canyon AZ. Buenos Aires and other border region refuges are suffering from cuts and stress related to failed US border policy.

TUCSON -- Important news is released today by PEER in DC: Wildlife Refuge Cuts Crippling Conservation, Managers Say.

US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges, including Buenos Aires, Cabeza Prieta in Arizona, Bosque del Apache in New Mexico and others are already in trouble, and more cuts from the White House will make it much worse.

"I have never seen the refuge system budget situation this bad... in my 32 years of government service," said Roger DiRosa, Manager of the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona, one of the largest in the nation. "This could leave the refuge system in a state of peril." (Ajo Copper News, 12/20/06).

Far too much money is being blown in Bush & Cheney's failed Iraq war, stressing the entire federal budget and shortchanging funding for public-interest programs.