Wyoming’s Josh Coursey at the Center of Hot-Button Wildlife Refuge Review

A Wyoming native is now leading a high-stakes federal check-up on the National Wildlife Refuge System – and it’s stirring up some serious sell-off fears among conservation folks, Jackson Hole News & Guide reports.

Josh Coursey, a mule deer advocate from Wyoming tapped by the Trump administration as a senior adviser at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, is heading a “programmatic comprehensive review” of all 573 wildlife refuges scattered across the country. The look-see also covers dozens of national fish hatcheries and a handful of marine monuments, according to an Interior Department order.

Coursey’s job: figure out which parts of the refuge system still fit the agency’s mission and which might not. That sounds sensible on paper, but the pace and scope of the effort have raised eyebrows. Former top refuge officials – seven retirees who once ran big chunks of the system – warned in a letter that the tight timeline and broad mandate could lead to hasty decisions about lands that belong to the public. They stressed the agency doesn’t have free rein to just sell or dispose of refuge land without Congress.

Senior refuges staff and some conservation groups say the review is overdue – refuges have lost more than 30% of their workforce and funding in recent years, leaving many units stretched thin. But others are worried the search for “efficiencies” might be a roundabout way to shrink or even shutter some refuges altogether.

Critics also point out the timeline is ambitious: an initial summary was due in early January, with detailed recommendations expected by mid-February, all while staff juggle holiday schedules.

For prairie dogs and pelicans lovers alike, what happens next could shape the future of millions of acres of public lands – and not everyone is confident the process is headed in the right direction.