Nisqually Refuge
Photo from Nisqually Refuge website

“South Sound schoolchildren are among the likely losers as the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge grapples with budget cuts imposed on the national wildlife refuge system by the Bush administration.

By the next federal fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, there will be 67 permanent employees at the 22 wildlife refuges in Washington, down from 93 in 2004.

The number of full-time U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees at the Nisqually refuge, 8 miles northeast of Olympia, has dropped from nine to seven; the positions lost were an assistant refuge manager and a maintenance worker…

“By the next federal fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, there will be 67 permanent employees at the 22 wildlife refuges in Washington, down from 93 in 2004.

The number of full-time U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees at the Nisqually refuge, 8 miles northeast of Olympia, has dropped from nine to seven; the positions lost were an assistant refuge manager and a maintenance worker…More than ever, the refuge will rely on the Friends of the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge for volunteers to operate the visitors center and help with visitor programs…’Our national wildlife refuges are literally crumbling before our eyes,’ said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. ‘Across the country, were seeing how the culmination of years of negligent funding devastates these special places.,’
quoting The Olympian.