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In this Update:

• Teleconference Agenda: Tuesday, November 15, 2011

• Calling all Friends - we need your voice and time

• Board Update

• Mark Your Calendar

• News from the National Wildlife Refuge System

• Membership Update

Teleconference Agenda

Tuesday, November 15, 2011
5:00-6:00 PM Alaska Standard Time

Call in 866-556-2149 CODE: 8169747#

Introductions & Discussion

• Roll Call

• Announcements

Guest Refuge Manager, Gary P. Wheeler

Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge

Buckle your seat belts for this trip to the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. Refuge Manager Gary Wheeler’s slides and voice will entice any and all to visit Kodiak to experience this public treasure. Come join him on an intimate tour of refuge natural resources, biological studies and environmental education efforts.
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Bite-Sized Science, Brad Griffiths and May-Le Ng

Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks

What will be the nature of future lakescapes? How will change in lakescapes affect biodiversity? Brad Griffiths, Associate Professor at the Institute of Arctic Biology, UAF and May-Le Ng, field technician, will describe current research in the Yukon River Biodiversity project on the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Enjoy this bite before dinner!
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Calling all Friends!

It's not too late for this very important date!

Deadline for comments is Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge needs your voice now

Fifty years ago, President Eisenhower set aside what is now the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – arguably the most expansive intact ecosystem in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The refuge is currently updating their management plan – the Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) – and you can help.

The FWS has released their draft CCP including action alternatives that support recommending Wilderness areas for Congressional consideration. If we act together, for the first time, FWS could recommend Wilderness protection for the almost the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – including the Coastal Plain, the biological heart of the Refuge that for decades has been targeted for drilling by the oil industry.  To ensure that the final version of the CCP includes maximal Wilderness recommendations, Alternative E, we must demonstrate overwhelming support for protecting this refuge at the highest level possible – Wilderness.

Please send a strong message today that will convince the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to recommend Wilderness protection for almost the entire Refuge, especially the Arctic Coastal Plain. For a model letter and contact information, click on the following alert.

Alert: Arctic NWR CCP

Volunteer needed

Volunteer needed to help Alaska Maritime NWR on St. George Island next summer. Must be a licensed electrician. Contact Sharon Baur at sharon.baur@yahoo.com for more details.

Committee members needed

Done with serving on dull committees? Try us - our committees are gearing up now to strengthen our good work with Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuges through communication, outreach, membership, development, volunteer, advocacy, education and refuge projects. As the English playwright and poet John Heyward (1497-1580) noted years ago, “Many hands make light work.” Join one of our groups…you just might have a little bit of fun!

Click here for more information.

Volunteer tidbits

Special thanks to new member Betsy Rogers who jumped right in by joining the Education Committee. Thanks, too, to Michelle Michaud, board treasurer, who created the November, 2011 Alaska Refuge Friends Newsletter. Peruse it at http://www.alaskarefugefriends.org/newsletters.php

And here are two recent examples where Friends supported our refuges:

Kenai NWR celebrated their 70^th Anniversary on Oct. 1. Friends hosted an outreach table, greeted visitors, led bird walks and sent them on a scavenger hunt. The Alaska Maritime NWR had an Invasive Weed Pull October 6 to yank alder seedlings and bird vetch from the Islands and Oceans Visitor Center grounds in Homer. Thanks to all who helped.

Board Update

November meeting topics:

Refining and improving the process for Friends to communicate effectively with all of Alaska's Refuges and their staff to match volunteer skills with refuge on-site and advocacy needs;

Initial discussion of 2012 Friends education and outreach priorities;

Arctic Refuge Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) -David Raskin, Advocacy Chair, took the lead and worked diligently to draft detailed technical comments with a coalition of conservation organizations, including The Wilderness Society, Wilderness Watch, National Resources Defense Council, Center for Biological
Diversity, American Rivers, Republicans for Environmental Protection, and the Murie Center. All of these organizations support maximum Wilderness designation embodied in Alternative E.

Mark your Calendar

ANCHORAGE December 1 & 2 - ENERGY IN ALASKA: 7TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE will be held in the Egan Civic Center. Alaska Energy Network faculty will address the outlook for the state's long-standing energy export mainstay, the emerging future of oil and gas exploration from Federal lands (NPR-A), the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and the current status of various projects designed to market gas from the Alaska North Slope, both outside and inside the state.. For more information, go to http://www.lawseminars.com/detail.php?SeminarCode=11ENAK

ANCHORAGE- DECEMBER 14 –Wildlife Wednesdays, 7pm - The Endangered Belugas in Cook Inlet: New Information from Recent Studies

Cook Inlet belugas were listed as an endangered species in 2008.

For the entire winter schedule of Wildlife Wednesdays go to http://www.alaskazoo.org/lectures-and-talks-0

FRIENDS OF ALASKA WILDLIFE REFUGES SCHOLARSHIP - March 1. Eligibility: Undergraduate or graduate student that has done or will be doing graduate research, an internship or a volunteer project at an Alaska Wildlife Refuge. Application will be available January 1, 2012. For guidelines and an application, visit: www.alaskarefugefriends.org

News from the National Wildlife Refuge System

Conserving the Future Moves Into Implementation
Implementation of the Conserving the Future vision is moving forward smartly with the strategic growth team meeting face-to-face for the first time November 8-9 and many of the other teams getting ready for their first meetings. The Refuge System Leadership Team – including refuge chiefs from each region – spent the better part of two days discussing implementation during its October meeting in San Diego. Particularly exciting was Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement on October 20 about the online publication of the vision document. He noted: “This blueprint will ensure that a new era of conservation – one rooted in strong partnerships with the community – remains vibrant for the next 100 years.” More than 10,000 copies of the document, which will guide the Refuge System for the next decade, is scheduled to be distributed in mid- to late December, with copies going to field stations as well as Friends members and non-governmental organizations, among others.

NFWF Report Underscores Economic Benefits of Conservation, Refuges
You’ll be fascinated by a new report commissioned for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), which reveals that investments in natural resource conservation have a real impact on local jobs and economies. The first phase of the report, completed in September, found that the economic value of all U.S. natural resource conservation, outdoor recreation and historic preservation came to $1.06 trillion. Specifically, the report said, “the total value of ecosystem services provided by the acreage of natural habitats in national wildlife refuges totaled $32.3 billion per year,” and “the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contributed about $4.2 billion in economic activity and supported more than 32,000 jobs through its management of refuges and thousands of smaller natural areas.” That caught the eye of National Wildlife Refuge Association president Evan Hirsche, who noted that the study “demonstrates what we in the conservation arena have been saying for years. Conservation, recreation and preservation of America’s tremendous natural resources provide economic benefits to communities far greater than most Americans can imagine.”

.Did You Know ...
… that each day the sun first rises on the National Wildlife Refuge System in the Pacific and last sets on the System in the Pacific, too? On any given day, the first refuges to see dawn are Wake Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The last to see dusk are Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Alaska Maritime.

The Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges promote the conservation of all Alaska National Wildlife Refuges through understanding and appreciation, assisting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and through outreach to decision makers. To join or renew your membership please visit our website http://www.alaskarefugefriends.org/