Revised Comprehensive 

Conservation Plan

Innoko National Wildlife Refuge

Summary

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
2

Wild Berries. 

USFWS

Introduction

The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), under 

which Innoko National Wildlife Refuge (Innoko Refuge or Refuge) was 

established, requires a Comprehensive Conservation Plan (Conservation 

Plan or Plan) for all refuges in Alaska. The original Conservation Plan for 

Innoko Refuge was completed in 1987. 

Revision of the Plan began in November 2006. Public meetings were held in 

communities near the refuge in late 2006 and early 2007. The Draft Revised 

Plan was released in April 2008 for public review. Comments from the public 

on the Draft Revised Plan were accepted until late July 2008. In September 

2008, the Regional Director signed the Finding of No Significant Impact for 

the Innoko and adopted the preferred alternative as described in the Draft 

Revised Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment. 

This Revised Conservation Plan will guide management of Innoko Refuge 

for the next 15 years, helping the refuge achieve the mission of the National 

Wildlife Refuge System and the purposes for which the refuge was 

established. 

Contents

• Introduction

• Innoko Refuge Establishment

• Purpose and Need for Revision 

of the 1987 Innoko Plan

• Refuge Purposes

• Innoko Refuge Vision

• Goals and Objectives

• The Revised Plan

• Implementation

• Partnerships

• Monitoring and Evaluation

• Plan Amendment and 

Revision

What is a 

Comprehensive 

Conservation 

Plan?

A plan guides overall refuge 

management. It ensures that 

management actions comply 

with the purposes for which the 

refuge was established and with 

other legal mandates. It will 

provide management guidelines 

and direction for the next 15 

years and offers opportunities 

for public involvement. 

Diverse habitats at Innoko National Wildlife Refuge. 

Robin Corcoran/USFWS
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Innoko Refuge Establishment

Innoko National Wildlife Refuge was established by ANILCA in 1980, which also established new national parks, 

other national wildlife refuges, national wild and scenic rivers, and designated wilderness areas in Alaska. One of 

the primary reasons the Innoko Refuge was created was its importance as a waterfowl area in interior Alaska. The 

refuge provides a vast area of wetlands that are crucial for waterfowl nesting, resting, staging and molting. Other 

special values of the refuge include habitat for raptor populations and the natural water and fire regime that creates 

excellent habitat for moose.

ANILCA established the refuge in two units encompassing 4.6 million acres. The northern unit (751,000 acres) 

of the refuge, also called Kaiyuh Flats, is located adjacent to the Yukon River southwest of Galena. The southern 

unit (3.85 million acres) surrounding the Innoko River, is administered by the Innoko National Wildlife Refuge 

Headquarters in McGrath and is the subject of this plan

The northern unit’s primary users are the residents of Galena, Koyukuk, Nulato and Kaltag. The Service manages 

the area from the headquarters of the Koyukuk Refuge in Galena rather than the Innoko Refuge in McGrath, some 

140 air miles to the southeast. The northern unit of the Innoko Refuge is addressed in the Koyukuk/Nowitna Refuge 

Comprehensive Conservation Plan.
Purpose and Need for Revision of 

the 1987 Innoko Plan 

The Revised 2008 Innoko Comprehensive Conservation Plan updates 

the management direction for the refuge adopted in the 1987 Innoko 

Comprehensive Conservation Plan.

The purpose of the revision is to ensure that activities, actions, and 

management fulfill the purposes for which Innoko Refuge was established 

and provide clear direction to the public and managers on how the Service 

intends to meet those purposes. While the 1987 Plan has provided good 

general direction, changes in the Service’s understanding of the resources 

and uses on the refuge, and changes in both management and planning 

policies, identified a need to update and revise the 1987 plan. 

Revising the 1987 Innoko Plan allowed the Service to update management 

direction related to national and regional policies and guidelines 

implementing federal laws governing refuge planning and management. 

The revised plan incorporates new scientific information on refuge 

resources. The revised plan provides current refuge management 

direction based on public needs for use of the refuge and its resources; 

and strengthens efforts to monitor, understand, and address the effects of 

climate change. 

Donna Dewhurst/USFWS

Bull moose.

Refuge Purposes 

Section 302(3)(B) of ANILCA states 

that the purposes of Innoko Refuge 

include:

(i) to conserve fish and wildlife 

populations and habitats in their 

natural diversity including, but not 

limited to, waterfowl, peregrine 

falcons, other migratory birds, black 

bear, moose, furbearers, and other 

mammals and salmon;

(ii) to fulfill the international 

treaty obligations of the United 

States with respect to fish and 

wildlife and their habitats; 

(iii) to provide the opportunity 

for continued subsistence by local 

residents;

(iv) to ensure water quality and 

necessary water quantity within the 

refuge; 

The purpose of the Innoko 

Wilderness is to secure an enduring 

resource of wilderness, protect and 

preserve the wilderness character 

of the wilderness area as part of the 

National Wilderness Preservation 

System, and administer the area 

for the use and enjoyment of the 

American people in a way that will 

leave it unimpaired for future use 

and enjoyment as wilderness.

The mission of the United 

States Fish and Wildlife Service 

is working with others to 

conserve, protect, and enhance 

fish, wildlife, and plants and 

their habitats for the continuing 

benefit of the American people.

Innoko Refuge is part of the National Wildlife Refuge System. The 

mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System is to administer a 

national network of lands and waters for 

the conservation, management, and where 

appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife, 

and plant resources and their habitats within 

the United States for the benefit of present and 

future generations of Americans.

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Goal 1: Fish and Wildlife

Improve knowledge of fish and wildlife species on the refuge to maintain healthy populations in their natural 

diversity.

Trumpeter Swan. 

The Innoko National Wildlife Refuge encompasses a largely unaltered 

ecosystem dominated by numerous rivers flowing among diverse 

habitats, including muskeg, tundra, and dense boreal forest. Remote 

even by Alaskan standards, the natural forces of fire and water, now 

apparently affected by climate change, dominate the landscape. The 

refuge is not accessible by road, and only the occasional visitor discovers 

the many opportunities to hunt, fish, and view wildlife. The refuge 

hosts hundreds of thousands of breeding and molting waterfowl, 

and is important rearing habitat for salmon and other species of 

fish. In addition, moose, black and grizzly bears, and furbearers are 

abundant. Refuge lands have been important to subsistence hunters for 

generations, and the area has a rich gold-rush history. A main portion of 

the Historic Iditarod Trail, the overland winter route from Seward to the 

gold fields of Nome, crosses refuge land. The Innoko Refuge is a place 

to discover the vastness and diversity of interior Alaska, to reflect upon 

Native Alaskan and mining history, and to experience nature in solitude.

Innoko Refuge Vision 

USFWS

Refuge Goals and Objectives 

The Innoko Refuge vision statement and refuge purposes provided the framework for developing management 

goals and objectives. Goals are broad statements of desired future conditions. Objectives are concise statements 

of what the refuge wants to accomplish. The refuge staff developed eight management goals; a number of 

objectives were developed for each goal. Some objectives, though identified under a specific goal, may apply to 

more than one goal. When appropriate, objectives will be carried out in coordination with the Alaska Department 

of Fish and Game, other State and Federal agencies, or other cooperating partners. 

Robin Corcoran/USFWS

Objectives under Goal 1 include: 

hosting a biological program 

review; preparing an Inventory and 

Monitoring Plan; monitoring avian 

biodiversity by conducting annual 

National Breeding Bird Surveys; 

developing raptor surveys in 

cooperation with Boreal Partners in 

Flight; obtaining moose population 

estimates for at least one-half of 

the refuge at 1–3 year intervals 

in cooperation with neighboring 

State and Federal land managers; 

conducting initial surveys to 

estimate abundance and winter 

distribution of wolves, wolverine, 

lynx, and marten; monitoring the 

beaver population on the refuge 

by conducting fall aerial surveys 

of beaver food caches; quantifying 

snowshoe hare population cycles; 

initiating field studies of selected 

wildlife populations and plant 

communities related to a proposed Greater white-fronted goose with 

neck collar. 

wood bison herd; continuing cooperative efforts in annual monitoring 

of greater white-fronted geese; revising the Innoko Refuge Fisheries 

Management Plan; and monitoring for fish and wildlife diseases and parasites 

that may affect the Innoko ecosystem. Craig Ely/USGS

Banding northern pintail duck. 

5
USFWS

Natural fires reshape and rejuvenate 

Innoko’s landscape.

Southern Innoko. In winter, temperatures can drop as low as minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit on the refuge. 

Goal 2: Habitat

Perpetuate ecosystem processes that shape habitats within the natural 

range of variability.

Objectives under Goal 2 include: developing a Habitat Management Plan; 

inventorying wetland, lake, stream and river resources, including aquatic 

plants, fish, wetland-dependent wildlife, aquatic invertebrates, and physical 

and chemical properties of lakes and wetlands; evaluating installation and 

operation of water gauging stations; developing a hydrologic model for the 

refuge’s principal watersheds; continuing to implement the refuge’s Fire 

Management Plan; incorporating expanded aerial waterfowl breeding pair 

survey data to identify and classify important waterfowl habitat; developing 

inventory and monitoring strategies to assess the effects of fire on caribou 

and moose habitat quality using remotely sensed imagery to determine 

wetland area loss in response to climate change; and continuing cooperative 

efforts to document and monitor invasive non-native insect impacts to larch, 

aspen, and willow.

Hather Creek, a tributary to the Innoko River. 

Robin Corcoran/USFWS Robin Corcoran/USFWS

6
Salmon drying at Kaltag along the 

Yukon River.

Robin Corcoran/USFWS

USFWS

The refuge offers great opportunities for skilled outdoor enthusiasts such as river 

floating, camping, fishing, wildlife viewing and photography. 

Steve Kovach/USFWS

Northern pike can grow to a 

considerable size on the refuge.

Goal 3: Subsistence

Provide the opportunity for continued subsistence uses of the refuge, 

consistent with the subsistence priority and with other refuge purposes.

Polly Wheeler/USFWS

Objectives under Goal 3 include: continuing the Refuge Information 

Technician (RIT) program to enhance information exchange with local 

communities on refuge issues, particularly those dealing with subsistence; 

conducting annual informational meetings in each village associated with the 

refuge and regularly attending other subsistence-related meetings; continue 

to work closely with Tribal Councils, the GASH Advisory Committee, the 

Federal Subsistence Western Interior Regional Advisory Council, and 

other stakeholders; working with partners to develop and implement a 

subsistence harvest monitoring plan to conserve migratory bird populations; 

coordinating with and assisting the Division of Migratory Bird Management 

in completing the annual Migratory Bird Harvest Survey; coordinating with 

and assisting the Yukon Drainage Fisheries Association in completing the 

annual in-season fish harvest assessment; expanding subsistence harvest 

surveys to include large mammals (i.e., moose, black bear, and brown bear) 

and furbearers; and mapping the seasonal distribution and intensity of 

subsistence activities on the refuge.

Goal 4: Recreation/Public Use

Provide opportunities for quality wildlife-dependent recreation, 

emphasizing short-term, low density uses that require minimal facility 

development or habitat disturbance.

Objectives under Goal 4 include: providing opportunities for multi-day 

recreational trips within the refuge which allow the public to experience 

and explore its dynamic landscape and wildlife; expanding the publicuse monitoring program for all uses of the refuge; implementing and 

strengthening Innoko Refuge’s special use permit program, improving 

permittee documentation of use requirements, and increasing 

enforcement of and compliance with permit stipulations; working with 

the State of Alaska and Bureau of Land Management to increase law 

enforcement patrols on surrounding lands; conducting a visitor services 

review for the refuge and the administrative site at McGrath; and if 

necessitated by increased public use, developing a visitor services plan. 

Innoko Refuge black bear.

Canoeing on one of the many lakes on 

the refuge.

Robin Corcoran/USFWS

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This area is a true wilderness in every sense of the word. It is common to go for 

days without hearing or seeing signs of another human. 

Danielle Jerry/USFWS

Wolf pack following a winter trail on 

the refuge. 

USFWS

Dramatic lighting conditions can 

occur at any time of the year in 

interior Alaska. 

Steve Kovach/USFWS

Goal 5: Wilderness

Preserve and enhance in perpetuity wilderness values of designated 

wilderness.

Objectives under Goal 5 include: continuing to provide opportunities for 

solitude, self-reliance, and other characteristics that depend on a wilderness 

environment while not impairing other uses and values associated with 

wilderness; preparing a Wilderness Stewardship and Management Plan; 

allowing naturally occurring fires to burn within the Innoko Wilderness 

whenever possible; and ensuring appropriate uses, including administrative 

uses, of the Innoko Wilderness by conducting a minimum requirements 

analysis for new activities and reviewing existing minimum requirements 

for analyses for accuracy. 

The area between Six Mile Lake and Mud River is part of the Innoko Wilderness 

which encompasses 1.24 million acres located south and east of the Innoko River. 

This congressionally designated area includes much of the lower Iditarod River 

and many lakes and ponds. 

USFWS

Steve Kovach/USFWS

The prickly rose is widespread in 

Alaska including Innoko Refuge. 

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Past camp topics have included 

fire management, elder stories, fish 

dissection, water sampling, nature 

artwork, and berry picking and 

preserving. 

USFWS

Innoko Refuge and cooperators 

sponsor an environmental eduction 

camp at Round Mountain located 

southwest of McGrath. 

Typical black spruce forest

Goal 6: Outreach and Environmental Education

Provide outreach and environmental education programs to develop and/

or increase a sense of stewardship for wildlife, cultural resources, and the 

environment. 

Objectives under Goal 6 include: producing and distributing Leave No 

Trace and other information about the Innoko Wilderness, and working with 

guides, transporters, and the visiting public to assure adherence to these 

principles while in the designated Wilderness; providing the public with 

timely and accurate information about the refuge through a wide variety 

of communication tools, re-evaluating the tools used, and updating and 

correcting information at least twice annually; participating when possible 

in community events, festivals, and programs; and conducting workshops 

and providing classroom visits and educational materials as requested by 

educators in the Iditarod Area School District. 

Other objectives under the outreach and environmental education 

goal include developing reliable methods to assess the degree to which 

environmental education programs enhance understanding and appreciation 

of refuge purposes, goals, and special values; ensuring that at least 80 

percent of District K-12 students have an opportunity to participate in at 

least one environmental education program; and continuing to maintain 

and develop the partnership with the Alaska Geographic (formerly Alaska 

Natural History Association) and/or other cooperating associations to 

provide interpretive and environmental sales items on the natural and 

cultural history of the refuge and surrounding public lands.

USFWS Donna Dewhurst/USFWS

Goal 7: Cultural Resources

Conserve cultural and archeological resources of the refuge.

Objectives under Goal 7 include: revising the refuge’s Cultural Resources 

Guide to include new cultural resources objectives listed and provide 

additional details about cultural resources management; cooperating with 

the Iditarod National Historic Trail Inc. and the local Trailblazers group to 

commemorate the Centennial of the Iditarod National Historic Trail; seeking 

funding to manage the trail within the refuge, focusing on documentation, 

conservation, research, and interpretation; in cooperation with the GASH 

communities, collecting and incorporating existing place names information; 

organizing and completing records of the refuge’s human history, including 

oral history collections; consulting with Native groups and other local 

entities regarding research projects and proposals related to cultural 

resource management.

Bunchberry or dwarf dogwood occurs frequently in the boreal forest. 

Anna Ramsburg/USFWS

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Goal 8: Administrative

Provide and maintain the facilities and equipment necessary to ensure 

and administer a safe and secure environment for the visiting public and 

Service personnel.

Objectives under Goal 8 include: continuing implementation of the 

administrative facility plan; continuing an aggressive safety program; 

continuing to meet legal requirements for the administrative facilities 

of the refuge (e.g., equipment operation, hazardous materials handling); 

coordinating with State and local agencies to assist in providing support 

during emergencies; and establishing up to three new administrative sites 

on the refuge (one on the Yukon River, one on the upper Innoko River, and 

one on the lower Innoko River) as funding allows. We will also investigate 

the possibility of allowing public use of these new administrative sites.

Innoko Refuge headquarters in McGrath. 

The Innoko Refuge field camp. 

Many areas of the refuge are only 

accessible by float plane... 

...or, in winter, by ski plane. 

Donna Dewhurst/USFWS Robin Corcoran/USFWS

Fuel storage at the field camp. 

Leon Kolankiewicz/USFWS Leon Kolankiewicz/USFWS Robin Corcoran/USFWS

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The Revised Plan 

The map on the next page depicts 

the management categories at 

Innoko Refuge, as adopted in the 

Revised Cmprehensive Conservation 

Plan. Two management categories 

– Minimal Management (2,246,795 

acres or 61% of the refuge) and 

Designated Wilderness (1,240,000 

acres or 35% of the refuge) comprise 

all Federally owned land within the 

refuge boundary. The remaining 

lands – about 4% – are in private 

ownership.

Minimal Management

Minimal management is designed to maintain the natural environment with 

very little evidence of human-caused change. Habitats should be allowed to 

change and function through natural processes. Refuge management will 

ensure that the resource values and environmental characteristics identified 

in the Plan are conserved. Public uses, economic activities, and facilities 

should minimize disturbance to habitats and resources. Ground-disturbing 

activities are to be avoided whenever possible.

Management actions in this category focus on understanding natural 

systems and monitoring the health of refuge resources. Generally, no roads 

or permanent structures are allowed (except cabins). Temporary structures 

may be allowed in situations in which removal is planned after the period 

of authorized use and the site can be rehabilitated using plants native to 

the immediate area. Existing cabins may be allowed for administrative, 

public use, subsistence, or commercial or economic (e.g., guiding) purposes. 

New subsistence or commercial cabins may be authorized if no reasonable 

alternatives exist. Public use or administrative cabins may be constructed if 

necessary for health and safety.

Public use of the refuge for wildlife-dependent recreation and subsistence 

activities is encouraged. Public use facilities are not generally provided. 

Mechanized and motorized equipment may be allowed when the overall 

impacts are temporary or where its use furthers management goals. 

Wetlands interspersed with woodlands are typical for the Innoko Refuge 

landscape. 

USFWS Jo Godman/USFWS

Innoko River in winter. 

USFWS Eric Duerkop/USFWS

Least sandpiper.

Wolf tracks.

Beaver lodge and cache. 

Steve Kovach/USFWS

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12
Steve Kovach/USFWS

Fire, ice and flooding shape Innoko’s landscape.

The Revised Plan, continued 

Designated Wilderness

This category applies only to areas designated by Congress as units of 

the National Wilderness Preservation System, including the Innoko 

Wilderness. Wilderness designation applies only to Federal lands within 

the Wilderness boundary. The history and intent behind the Wilderness 

Act make Wilderness more than just another category of land management. 

Wilderness encourages a broadened perspective of the refuge landscape, 

one that extends beyond managing it solely as wildlife habitat. Wilderness 

is managed as an area “retaining its primeval character and influence.” In 

addition, Wilderness provides human visitors with opportunities for solitude 

or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation, which may be characterized 

in terms of experiential dimensions such as discovery, self-reliance, and 

challenge. 

Permanent structures are generally prohibited, except for historic and 

cultural resources and some administrative structures or cabins that predate 

ANILCA, cabins that are necessary for trapping, and public use cabins 

necessary for the protection of human health and safety. 

The only compatible commercial uses are those that facilitate wilderness 

recreation (e.g., guided fishing, hunting, and wilderness trips). All 

commercial activities and facilities require special authorizations. 

Actions such as prescribed fires or invasive species control may be 

conducted when it is necessary to protect life or property or when it is 

necessary to restore, maintain, or protect wilderness values. Management 

activities in wilderness must be found to be the minimum requirements for 

the administration of the area as wilderness.

Raindrops on aspen leaf. 

Steve Kovach/USFWS Robin Corcoran/USFWS

Rusty blackbird female on nest. 

Steve Kovach/USFWS

Wild Iris. 

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Partnerships with other organizations are among the ways in which the 

Service fulfills its mission: “Working with others to conserve, protect, and 

enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit 

of the American people.”

The refuge exists within a dynamic ecosystem. Many of the resources on the 

refuge are of national and international importance. The Service recognizes 

that the public organizations, and other governmental agenices have 

interests in the refuge. Implementation of many refuge programs requies 

community involvement, support, and assistance. 

• The Innoko Refuge staff collaborate with the following partners, among 

others: 

• State of Alaska 

• Other Federal agencies 

• Federal Subsistence Western Interior Regional Advisory Council 

• Migratory Bird Co-management Council

• Grayling, Anvik, Shageluk, and Holy Cross village councils 

• Grayling, Anvik, Shageluk, and Holy Cross village corporations

• Tanana Chiefs Conference, Inc. (Regional Native non-profit 

organization)

• City of McGrath

• Iditarod Area School District 

• Universities and museums

• Nongovernmental organizations (including Friends of Alaska National 

Wildlife Refuges, Alaska Geographic, and Ducks Unlimited)

 

Boats at Kaltag along the Yukon River. 

Polly Wheeler/USFWS

Implementation What are stepdown plans?

Step-down management plans 

are plans that deal with specific 

management subjects. They 

describe management strategies 

and implementation schedules 

and provide details necessary 

to fulfill management goals 

and objectives identified in the 

Comprehensive Conservation 

Plan.

Implementation of the Innoko Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan 

will be accomplished, in part, through devevlopment of various stepdown plans. Each step-down plan has its own focus (e.g., inventory and 

monitoring, fisheries management, fire management, land protection), 

identifying and directing the implementation of strategies (actions, 

techniques and tools) designed to achieve programmatic objectives outlined 

in the Plan (see Goals and Objectives above.)

Partnerships 

Wolf along Innoko River .

Robin Corcoran/USFWS

Ptarmigan tracks. 

Jo Goldman/USFWS

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Monitoring and Evaluation 

Monitoring helps refuge staff track the progress of Plan implementation. 

Results of monitoring activities show how objectives are being achieved 

and measure progress towards accomplishing goals. The refuge will be 

developing an inventory and monitoring step-down plan, and many of 

the refuge’s objectives involve collection of baseline data that may lead 

to additional monitoring efforts (see chapter 2, section 2.1 of the Plan). 

The step-down plan will provide detailed methods and frequencies for 

inventory and monitoring activities. Table 4.3 of the Plan displays possible 

monitoring indicators and actions to be measured and possible management 

actions in response to indicators for fish and wildlife, their habitats, plants, 

recreational uses, and contaminants. Activities will be refined as step-down 

plans are prepared or revised. 

Sunset over the Innoko River. 

The Innoko River with its ever changing appearance displays a variety of moods. 

Anna Ramsburg/USFWS Steve Kovach/USFWS

Caribou antlers half burried by the 

snow. 

Brian Anderson/USFWS Danielle Jerry/USFWS

Cow moose and calf. 

Canada geese with goslings. 

Steve Kovach/USFWS Craig Ely/USGS

Dowitchers. 

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Innoko Refuge wetlands . 

USFWS

For more information 

about the Innoko National 

Wildlife Refuge and the 

Comprehensive Conservation 

Plan, write to: 

Refuge Manager

Innoko National Wildlife 

Refuge

P.O. Box 69

McGrath, AK 99627

Phone: 907-524-3251

E-mail: innoko@fws.gov

Or visit: http://innoko.fws.gov 

on the internet

Or you may contact the Alaska 

Regional Office at:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

1011 E. Tudor Road, MS-231

Anchorage, AK 99503-6199

Phone: 907-786-3357

E-mail: 

fw7_innoko_planning@fws.gov

The full planning document my 

be accessed online at:

http://alaska.fws.gov/nwr/

planning

Plan Amendment and Revision 

Periodic review and change of this Revised Comprehensive Conservation 

Plan and its various step-down plans will be necessary. As knowledge of 

Refuge resources, users, and uses improves, changes in management may be 

identified. Fish and wildlife populations, user groups, adjacent land users, 

and other management considerations change with time, often in unforeseen 

ways. Challenges also may be encountered in trying to implement the Plan.

Revisions are a necessary part of the adaptive management approach used 

by the Service. This means that objectives and strategies to reach goals 

can be adjusted. Most of the resulting changes will fine-tune the plan. 

These changes will not require modification of this document because minor 

changes will be addressed in the more detailed Refuge step-down and annual 

work plans. Once the biological program review has been conducted and 

the Inventory and Monitoring Plan is approved, there may be a change in 

the direction of the biological program for Innoko Refuge. Only if a major 

change is required in management of the Refuge would it be necessary to 

create a new revised plan with a new environmental assessment.

To enable Refuge users; adjacent landowners; local, State, and Federal 

agencies; and other interested parties to express their views on how the 

refuge is being managed, the refuge will periodically hold meetings or use 

other techniques, such as comment cards and surveys, to solicit comments 

for evaluation purposes. By encouraging continuing public input, the refuge 

will be better able to serve the public, to determine potential problems 

before they occur, and to take immediate action to resolve existing problems.

Periodically, refuge staff will review public comments, local and State 

government recommendations, staff recommendations, research studies, 

and other information to determine if revisions to the plan are necessary. 

If major changes are proposed, public meetings will be held, and a new 

environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement may be 

necessary. Full review and updating of this Comprehensive Conservation 

Plan will occur approximately every 15 years.

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