Refuge Association Praises Salazar for Everglades Initiative

Panther Advocates, FYI.

Good news and we will look to you in the future to support specific actions as this unfolds.

For Immediate Release
January 7, 2011
Contacts:
Evan Hirsche, President, NWRA, (301) 675-0949, ehirsche@refugeassociation.org
David Houghton, VP of Conservation, NWRA, (603) 831-0920, dhoughton@refugeassociation.org
Kathy Westra, Communications, NWRA, (301) 754-0711, westrake@rcn.com

Refuge Association Praises Salazar for Everglades Initiative

Interior Secretary Announces Plan for New Refuge, Conservation Area in Central Florida

Washington, D.C.—The National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) today praised Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement of an ambitious new public-private partnership to conserve critical wildlife habitat in the northern Everglades, while also sustaining the traditional agricultural and ranching economies of central Florida. Secretary Salazar announced the plan at the annual conference of the Everglades Coalition in Weston, Florida. The Greater Everglades Partnership Initiative includes creating a new refuge, the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge, and further study of a collaborative landscape conservation effort encompassing an area stretching from the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes to Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.

“The Everglades plan announced today is an important initiative that will protect Florida's ranching way of life, help provide safe drinking water to millions of Floridians and conserve our nation's remarkable wildlife heritage,” said Evan Hirsche, President of the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA). “This initiative serves as a vibrant model for how we can achieve conservation results that benefit wildlife and people across the nation.”

The Greater Everglades Partnership Initiative will:

• Conserve biodiversity in areas that provide habitat to threatened and endangered species like Florida panthers, crested caracara and the Everglades snail kite;
• Protect a land base of sufficient mass and continuity to enable wildlife to migrate and adapt in response to climate change and other natural and man-made threats;
• Restore and protect water quality and quantity; and
• Prevent further landscape fragmentation by integrating the economic interests of private landowners with the best conservation practices to support traditional large-ownership land uses such as ranching and environmental tourism.

“We are a proud partner in the development and implementation of this bold conservation plan, and we applaud Interior Secretary Salazar and the Fish and Wildlife Service for making it a priority,” said David Houghton, NWRA’s Vice President of Conservation. “We’re eager to work with the Secretary, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a variety of partners to conserve this critical ecosystem for the people who depend on it and the wildlife that call the Everglades home."

To learn more about the Greater Everglades, visit our webpage.