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Defenders in Action: Defenders President Helps Kick Off Campaign for Refuge System Funding
Defenders President Rodger Schlickeisen joined seven members of Congress to help kick off a campaign to increase funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System at a press event in November. Two reports on refuge funding needs were released at the event.
Defenders is a leader in the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE), a diverse coalition of 20 environmental, outdoor recreation and scientific groups mounting an aggressive campaign to more than double funding for the National Wildlife Refuge System. The refuge system, which will celebrate its centennial in March 2003, currently has a $2 billion funding shortfall.
The refuge system traces its origin to President Theodore Roosevelt’s decision in 1903 to set aside Florida’s tiny Pelican Island as a reserve to protect brown pelicans from market hunters. From that humble beginning, the refuge system has become a national treasure of 94 million acres encompassing almost every ecosystem in the United States.
