Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus - History

History

The Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus was established in September 2006 by Congressmen Ron Kind (D-WI) and Jim Saxton (R-NJ) along with vice co-chairs Michael Castle (R-DE) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) with a call to manage the National Wildlife Refuge System in the tradition of President Theodore Roosevelt, who established the first National Wildlife Refuge in 1903 . The formation of the CWRC was largely a response to budget shortfalls that resulted in multi-billion dollar maintenance backlogs and staff shortages that, many agreed, was preventing the Refuge System from fulfilling its basic mission.