Advancing the Conserving the Future Vision in 2016-2017

The National Wildlife Refuge Association (Refuge Association) partnered with the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service (Service) in 2010 to develop ⿿Conserving the Future: Wildlife Refuges and the Next Generation,⿝ a vision for the National Wildlife Refuge System in the 21st century. Since then, the Refuge Association and the Service have cooperated together to implement the Conserving the Future vision across the nation and across many different constituencies of the Refuge System.The National Wildlife Refuge Association is the only nonpartisan, nongovernment, independent organization exclusively focused on advancing the mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Building on a 41-year history of partnership, the Refuge Association works to amplify, assist and elevate the Refuge System⿿s wildlife conservation and public engagement activities by providing expertise and assistance in partnership development, communications, outreach, education, land conservation and planning, as appropriate.In 2016 and 2017, we look forward to further collaborative work in our core areas of expertise and common interest: constituency-building, strategic habitat conservation and landscape conservation design, and communications and outreach. Building on work begun under similar cooperative agreements in 2014 and 2015, our activities in the coming year will include:Building Vibrant Partnerships: Strengthening grassroots partnerships across the nation by working with Refuge Friends Groups, Partners for Conservation, sportsmen's groups, NGO colleagues, and youth and university groupsCollaborative Landscape Conservation: Implementing strategic habitat conservation initiatives through our Beyond the Boundaries program work in selected landscapes across the nationGo Wild ⿿ Raising the Profile of Refuges and Connecting with Refuge Visitors: Assisting the Refuge System in putting its communications strategy into action and developing a complementary branding and outreach campaign by the Refuge Association known as Go Wild, designed to connect with refuge visitors and engage them as refuge champions for the next generation.Authorizing statues for this program include the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, for the development and implementation of programs for the benefit of fish and wildlife species and their habitat (16 U.S.C. 661 and 742 et seq.); Fish and Wildlife Improvement Act of 1978, as amended (16 U.S.C. 753); Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544, 87 Stat. 884).