Natural Resource Program Center

Botanist George Argus measures willow on Attu Island at Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, AK

Credit: USFWS

The National Wildlife Refuge Improvement Act of 1997 directs the Secretary of the Interior to “monitor the status and trends of fish, wildlife, and plants in each refuge.” The Natural Resource Program Center (Center) supports this science-driven management of the Refuge System’s approximately 150 million acres of public lands and waters.

Within the Service’s Strategic Habitat Conservation Framework the Natural Resource Program Center (Center) brings the best available science to inform the planning process in the most holistic manner possible. 

The Center is located in Fort Collins, CO, and has four branches that inform our biological planning:

• Inventory and Monitoring: biological information about the status, trends and responses to management of species and habitats
• Water Resources: status and trends in water quality and quantity
• Air Quality: status and trends in protecting air quality to support ecosystem management in the Refuge System
• Human Dimensions: incorporates the social sciences into the planning process