Parks and Recreation: Access Permits to Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge Improperly Granted

摘要

The report reviews the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) access permit program at the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, located in southeastern Virginia along the Atlantic Coast. The access permit program was established to control environmental degradation and protect the refuge's wildlife population by limiting vehicular access through the refuge to individuals who can prove that they meet residential or commercial criteria prescribed by law and regulations. As agreed with your office, the authors looked at whether those who have been issued access permits met these criteria. In summary, 22 of the 54 access permits in effect as of August 1986 were issued without adequate documentation in FWS' files to establish that the applicants met all the requirements for access permits. FWS also granted eight other access permits, mostly for medical reasons, even though FWS' regulations do not specifically provide for such permits. In addition, 10 other permits were improperly renewed. Although FWS staff were aware of some of these problems, they took no action because of the sensitivity involved in trying to deny or revoke access permits.