Much goes into sustaining Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Obviously, the refuge’s effectiveness requires adequate water. Equally important as is a system of adjoining refuges that allows migratory birds to move north and south along the Pacific Flyway. And there is another critical resource that cannot be ignored – Federal money.

To emphasize what nearly all of you already know, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a federal agency housed within the United States Department of the Interior. To put it simply, the hard-working people who protect and manage the refuge are paid with funds appropriated by our Congress.

I bring this up because the news right now is telling us that we are about to engage in yet another contentious national discussion of whether our government is too large .

I won’t try to answer that big question, but I will point out an obvious corollary . Historically, when Congress decides to reduce the size of the civilian government, the resulting reductions affect nearly all agencies and programs – including National Wildlife Refuges.

It is the mission of this friends organization to keep Malheur Refuge healthy by providing funds that supplement the refuge’s core appropriation. If those monies shrink, our job becomes just that much more difficult. We can help, but we simply don’t have resources to fill in for significant reductions in federal funding at Malheur. When that happens, it is the birds and their habitats that ultimately lose out.

If you have an opinion about this, I urge you to share your thoughts with the people who will decide this issue in coming months – our congressmen and women. As a taxpayer, you’re entitled to tell them how you would like to see your money spent.

That’s how it’s supposed to work.

– Wm. Tweed