F. Significant Biodiversity. The objective is to protect representative examples of nationally significant native ecological communities. Sites contain or provide potential for restoring nationally significant elements of our Nation's heritage. Biodiversity refers to the variety and variability among native organisms, communities, and the ecological complexes in which they occur. The term biodiversity, therefore, encompasses the numbers and relative abundance of different ecosystems, species, and genes native to any particular area of interest.
Emphasis is placed upon the native aspects of the biota.
The native species are those that occur as a result of natural succession and are not the result of humans or their commensals. The objective of protecting biodiversity is to capture, protect, and, where possible, restore the native characteristics of the landscape, not to strive for areas of great numbers of species. G. Education, Interpretation, and Wildlife-Oriented Recreation. This objective is in support of the goals of the Service's Urban Refuge Policy. The category is designed to protect fish and wildlife resources and habitats in or adjacent to metropolitan statistical areas that will provide the public with wildlife-oriented recreation, education, and interpretation opportunities that are compatible with the purposes for which specific refuges are established.