Are we all in this together?

Protecting the enviroment requires corporate (that means collective) effort.   The effects of Sandy extend beyond the damage to communities - the storm also significantly damaged wildlife refuges, one of our nation's collective national heritages.  But the problem is, fixing them up will require that often discussed factor - money.

Sandy's damage to wildlife refuges adds to questions about federal spending

Here's a partial tally:

Dozens of refuges between Maine and Virginia were pummeled. Four were damaged severely, including Forsythe, where about 130 boats in the Atlantic City area were blown into marshes, Kahan said.  At Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia, part of the public beach and two parking lots were washed away on Assateague Island. At Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware, a 1,500-foot breach in a dune sent salt water from the Delaware Bay into a freshwater pond where waterfowl eat, nest and give birth, and flooded homes on an island near the refuge. And at the Long Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex in New York, fallen trees blocked the entrance.

 And here's the problem:

Sandy struck as the Obama administration and Congress prepared to lock horns over the year-end “fiscal cliff,” which includes plans to cut the Interior Department’s budget for refuges by 10 percent, according to a report being released Monday by the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE), a coalition of groups from the National Rifle Association to Defenders of Wildlife.

In the report, CARE argues that the 150 million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System cannot absorb another cut. Its more than 550 refuges, with 700 species of birds, 200 species of fish and 200 species of mammals, get by on about $3.24 per acre.

 So what we need to do is realize that we are all in this together, and that the protections afforded to wildlife in the refuges also protect coastal assets (as Chincoteague knows), are tourist attractions, storm buffers, and scenic spots, as well as providing safe harbor for shorebirds and migrating flocks.

Let's keep them healthy, shall we?