2.28 How does the Service conduct inventory and monitoring activities in wilderness? Long-term wilderness stewardship requires that we inventory and monitor wilderness character. Conditions prevailing within a wilderness area at the time of designation serve as a benchmark for the area’s wilderness character. A. We will not allow degradation of these conditions. B. We should conduct baseline inventories for key wilderness resources and identify the nature, magnitude, and source of any threats that originate both within and outside the wilderness area. Baseline data also provide a frame of reference for the limits, thresholds, and indicators identified in the WSP that may trigger refuge management activities, including limiting public use. C. Inventories also give us the information necessary to evaluate the effects of refuge management activities, refuge uses, and external threats on wilderness character. We will evaluate proposed inventory and monitoring Refuge Wilderness Stewardship Plan Wilderness Management Goals: All resources and uses within the wilderness will be managed and coordinated in a manner that recognizes the interrelationships of these components and their effect on wilderness. Wilderness work will be accomplished with the minimum tool required to achieve a desired result. The chosen tool, equipment, or structure will be the one that least degrades wilderness values temporarily or permanently. IV. Stewardship: Wildlife and Fish: Wildlife and fisheries are recognized as an integral part of wilderness and contribute significantly to overall biodiversity. Human activities that threaten populations of species native to the wilderness may be restricted as needed to protect their viability. Conduct species re-introductions, wildlife habitat surveys, and population assessments in a manner compatible with the wilderness environment.
2.28 How does the Service conduct inventory and monitoring activities in wilderness? Long-term wilderness stewardship requires that we inventory and monitor wilderness character. Conditions prevailing within a wilderness area at the time of designation serve as a benchmark for the area’s wilderness character. A. We will not allow degradation of these conditions. B. We should conduct baseline inventories for key wilderness resources and identify the nature, magnitude, and source of any threats that originate both within and outside the wilderness area. Baseline data also provide a frame of reference for the limits, thresholds, and indicators identified in the WSP that may trigger refuge management activities, including limiting public use. C. Inventories also give us the information necessary to evaluate the effects of refuge management activities, refuge uses, and external threats on wilderness character. We will evaluate proposed inventory and monitoring Refuge Wilderness Stewardship Plan Wilderness Management Goals: All resources and uses within the wilderness will be managed and coordinated in a manner that recognizes the interrelationships of these components and their effect on wilderness. Wilderness work will be accomplished with the minimum tool required to achieve a desired result. The chosen tool, equipment, or structure will be the one that least degrades wilderness values temporarily or permanently. IV. Stewardship: Wildlife and Fish: Wildlife and fisheries are recognized as an integral part of wilderness and contribute significantly to overall biodiversity. Human activities that threaten populations of species native to the wilderness may be restricted as needed to protect their viability. Conduct species re-introductions, wildlife habitat surveys, and population assessments in a manner compatible with the wilderness environment.
MRDG%20Wildlife%20Survey%20-%20additional%20information.docx