Protected areas in their ecological context: Case study of the National Wildlife Refuge System

Using the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wildlife Refuge System as a case study, we examine the policy implications of examining landscape context. Spatial analysis of the refuge system shows the system to be susceptible in a number of ways. The vast majority are small, much smaller than the ecological processes that maintain them. Refuges lands are primarily shrublands, grasslands and wetlands, but the lands surrounding refuges are largely agricultural. Revisions to the refuge system management through the Refuge Improvement Act of 1997 provides guidance for management within and outside refuges, but specific case studies show federal managers are taking a careful, if not timid, approach when it comes to entering into the fray of management issues outside refuge boundaries. We use this case study to show how land managers might use spatial analysis to rank priorities, and how their policy and regulatory policies may shift if large-area context is considered.