The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced plans in April to expand the 6,440 acre Muleshoe Wildlife National Refuge in Texas to a total of 700,000 acres.
According to My High Plains, the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge Acquisition Expansion is a plan finalized for expanding the boundary of Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge by 700,000 acres to support migratory and native species (sandhill crane, pronghorn, lesser prairie chicken) within Lamb County, Texas. Muleshoe is also the oldest national wildlife refuge in Texas.
The U.S. Department of Interior shared the proposed expansion in a press release, along with expansions of three other wildlife refuges, for a total expansion of 1.13 million acres of conservation in New Mexico, North Carolina, and Texas. The expansion areas included are: Roanoke River National Wildlife Refuge (North Carolina), Aransas and Big Boggy National Wildlife Refuges (Texas), and Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge (New Mexico and Texas).
Ecologist and political activist George Wuerthner discussed the concerns regarding the land owning on conservation easements on wildlife in a post on The Wildlife News. He said that public agencies are quick to accept the many acres of land but are “less concerned with the quality of the lands they protect.” Wuerthner said there is often a lack of scrutiny on the management of these government-owned since it’s publicly donated land. He said that with the easements, there are significant conservation-funded subsidies, which end up in citizens’ taxes to maintain these conservation easements.
