Conserving the Future

The National Wildlife Refuge Association proposes to do the following: 1. Building Grassroots Partnerships: Enhancing training and support for Refuge Friends groups that are well positioned to assist the System. This includes focused work with a subset of Friends Groups that are poised to grow and can mentor others, and developing Friends capacity to help urban and highly-visited refuges thrive. 2. Collaborative Landscape Conservation: Implementing Strategic Habitat Conservation through the Beyond the Boundaries landscape conservation programs, as envisioned by Conserving the Future. 3. Supporting the Urban Wildlife Refuge Program: Assisting with communications strategies, program development, sharing lessons learned and building community engagement around a subset of urban refuges. 4. Raising the Profile of the Refuge System: Developing a branding and communications strategy that better connects the American public with the Refuge System. 5. Youth engagement and career development: Building the National Tigers for Tigers Coalition as a voice for the international conservation efforts by working on behalf of the goals and objectives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service�s Multi-national Species Conservation Fund and developing internships and workforce training opportunities for college students at T4T Universities and support the adaptation of Beyond the Boundaries strategies to conserve important tiger landscapes in Asia.