(Full color report available below)

On a typical day at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge in California's Imperial Valley, thousands of fish float dead on the water and dead birds are loaded into an on-site incinerator for disposal. On a bad day, 8 million fish are dead. On the worst of days, hundreds of endangered brown pelicans are incinerated. 

Along the path of the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, a blanket of invasive plants, called purple loosestrife, is wiping out wetlands needed by 40 percent of the continental waterfowl population.

At the White River Refuge in Arkansas, a massive dredging project will rip up 260 miles of the riverbed. A second planned project will use river water to irrigate 260,000 acres of rice fields, ruining habitats and harming resident birds and wildlife.

These kinds of crises are occurring not just in Arkansas and California but all across America. Thousands of uncontrolled threats, such as water pollution, invasive species, and limited water supplies, are destroying habitat and harming wildlife on hundreds of national wildlife refuges across the country. 

Unequipped to handle the crisis, the Refuge System faces a backlog of $1.6 billion in unmet operations and maintenance needs. Hundreds of refuges have no staff and no visitor center, no signs, brochures or restrooms, no way to serve the public and few avenues through which to aid resident wildlife populations. 

The result is a tragic loss of birds and wildlife in the very areas meant to protect them. At Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina, water pollution has nearly wiped out the American Oystercatcher, which is listed on Audubon's nationwide WatchList of species headed for extinction. Even in the birthplace of the Refuge System, Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, endangered Wood Storks are threatened by invasive species and habitat loss. 

This report describes ten wildlife refuges that illustrate the crisis facing the National Wildlife Refuge System. It builds upon Audubon's America's Hidden Lands report, released in October of 1999, which identifies major problems with administration and management of the Refuge System and calls for the establishment of an independent agency to take control of the refuges. 

The ten refuges in crisis are major national or international conservation priorities. These refuges are jeopardized by imminent threats and are failing to protect bird species that are federally-listed as threatened or endangered or are included in Audubon's WatchList of species that could be headed for extinction. 

Part I Part IIPart IIIPart IV

Text Without Graphics (MS Word format)

ALSO SEE: our America's Hidden Lands report (MS Word format)