Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik has ordered a top-to-bottom review of the nation’s wildlife refuges and related properties, including a request for what he termed “organizational change recommendations.”
In a directive dated Dec. 16, Nesvik set out his “requirements and expectations” for an agency self-assessment that is supposed to be both wide-ranging and fast-moving. The first internal reports are due Jan. 5.
“The National Wildlife Refuge and National Fish Hatchery Systems require a programmatic, comprehensive review,” Nesvik stated, adding that “these reviews will ensure that the Service is directing its resources (e.g., staff, funds, and assets) to best meet our highest mission priorities.”
Nesvik, who took the helm in August as the Trump administration’s FWS leader, ordered a look for “refuges or hatcheries established for a purpose that no longer aligns with the mission” of the Fish and Wildlife Service. He also invited potential “opportunities to achieve efficiencies in the areas of governance, oversight, and span of control.”
Nesvik’s directive was posted on a FWS documents website but was not announced by the agency.
FWS on Friday did not immediately provide any additional comment or explanation of its plans.
Desirée Sorenson-Groves, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, said the organization is “optimistic” about the audit.
“To help the refuge system, an audit is a good first step to understand the challenges and opportunities,” Sorenson-Groves said, adding that “we look forward to working with the FWS on suggestions for the refuge system.”
Sorenson-Groves said that “friends groups” associated with individual refuges will likewise “welcome the opportunity to provide input as well.”
Nesvik assigned senior adviser Joshua Coursey to lead the review. Coursey is a Wyoming native who before joining FWS in May as a political appointee was founder and president/CEO of the Muley Fanatic Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of mule deer and their habitat.
David Miko, the acting deputy director for operations, will lead the review of the fish hatcheries and related agency units. Miko joined FWS in 2014 following a 23-year career with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
Their respective reviews are supposed to include feedback from state and tribal wildlife management agencies as well as nongovernmental organizations. From within FWS, the review is supposed to include feedback through “established chains of command” as well as an “anonymous feedback form” that will be created.
“We appreciate that feedback and input from state fish and wildlife agencies will be sought out during this process,” said Paul Johansen, a section leader in the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and the president of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.
Johansen added that the national association and its state agency members “look forward to engaging” with Nesvik and his team.
But Ashley Nunes, public lands policy specialist with the Center for Biological Diversity, called the review “insidious.”
“The Fish and Wildlife Service has already fired scientific experts and undermined the agency’s ability to protect our country’s wildlife — and now Mr. Nesvik is looking for more pretext to shutter Refuge and Hatchery operations,” Nunes said.
The two lead FWS reviewers will provide Nesvik with weekly reports on their progress, with the initial summary of recommendations due Jan. 5 followed by a Feb. 15 deadline for what the directive calls a “detailed narrative of the results of their review.” The Feb. 15 report is also supposed to include a “list of actionable recommendations with associated necessary actions required for implementation.”
All told, FWS oversees 573 refuges. The review will also include five marine national monuments that the agency manages along with NOAA.
Nesvik’s order noted the importance of the refuges as protected public land, noting the system “protects some of the country’s most iconic landscapes, waterways, and oceans and the fish and wildlife that rely on them.”
The agency is also responsible for 71 national fish hatcheries, seven fish technology centers and six fish health centers.
“Given the vast expanse of the [refuge and hatchery systems] each review should address a wide range of internal and external factors,” Nesvik’s directive states.
These factors, according to the directive, include the agency’s “organizational structure” and “obstacles.” The review will also examine current funding and personnel resources and include a “focus on accurate deferred maintenance assessments and actual maintenance needs.”
Democratic lawmakers have criticized the Trump administration’s management of the Fish and Wildlife Service, with 20 senators writing Nesvik earlier this week to decry reduced staffing throughout the refuge system.
“A startling amount of staff and expertise needed to manage the refuge system and protect America’s wildlife have been lost due to the administration’s firings, early retirement programs, and other efforts to push staff out of the Service,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter led by Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California.
