CNHA Funds Record "Wish List"

At its meeting in early October, the CNHA board of directors committed to fund a record amount of $27,300 of educational and interpretive activities to be undertaken by the Chincoteague and Eastern Shore refuges. This record amount is $8,800 more or nearly 50% greater than the $18,500 allocated last year.

At the beginning of each fiscal year in early October, both the Chincoteague and Eastern Shore refuges submit to the CNHA board what has become known as a "wish list." This is a list of projects or activities that the refuges feel are important to fulfilling their educational and interpretive mission with the public, but for which appropriated federal funds are insufficient or unavailable. In many cases, the refuges can leverage funding provided by the CNHA with matching funds from other sources. This is particularly true in the case of CNHA funding for interns -- an important source of staffing for public use programs and activities.

The level of funding that the CNHA can provide is dependent upon the income it receives from memberships and the sale of items from its retail outlets in the visitor centers at each of the refuges. Thanks to Charlotte Thomas and the members of her sales outlet committee, the books and other items they have selected for the sales outlets have proven to be very popular, generating record sales that just inched over the $100,000 mark for the first time.

Since the CNHA has only one part-time employee, Wendy Crawford our Business Manager, our expenses consist primarily of the cost of the items we purchase for resale. The many hours contributed by volunteers who help staff the sales outlets, and the CNHA members who work unseen to manage the operations and finances of the CNHA and perform membership development activities, represent a significant labor cost contribution that greatly increases the net income which the CNHA then has available to allocate to funding "wish list" items.

Funding allocations for each refuge are based on their respective contributions to total sales. CNHA funding allocations for fiscal year 2000 are summarized below:

CNWR
Interns	$4800
Jr. Birder/Refuge Mgr.	$4200
Special Events	$3000
Environmental Ed.	$1500
Wetland Kits	$1500
Volunteer Support	$1500
Fox Squirrel Flyer	$1100
Imprest Fund	$ 400
TOTAL	$18,000

ESVNWR
Interns	$3000
Butterfly Exhibit	$3300
Int. Mig. Bird Day	$1500
Volunteer Support	$ 700
Jr. Refuge Mgr.	$ 500
Imprest Fund	$ 300
TOTAL	$9,300

CNHA "special event" funding allows the refuges to participate in national and international events by hosting activities for schools, youth groups and the public on International Migratory Bird Day, National Wildlife Refuge Week, Earth Day, etc. This can include printed educational and interpretive material as well as free kits for visitors to build bird houses.

Environmental education support provides teacher aides and manuals, workbooks, and workshops. Funding for volunteer programs is used to recruit volunteers; provide uniforms, awards, field trips, and training workshops.

The Jr. Birder and Jr. Refuge Manager programs are geared to the refuges' younger visitors, who can earn certificates and patches by completing activity booklets during their visit to the refuge. CNHA provides the funding for the design and printing of the booklets, patches, and certificates.

In addition to funding these recurring activities, CNHA also provides funding for non-recurring and less predictable needs. For example, this year we provided funds to update ESVNWR's Butterfly Exhibit, and to produce "wetland discovery kits" for hands-on teaching of children in grades 4-7 about how wetlands function and why they are important. We also establish special accounts to accumulate funds for projects that are too large to fund in one year. The new video and CREAC exhibits (see NFWF Loan, this issue) are two such examples.