Brian Nesvik speaks on efforts to improve National Wildlife Refuges and public hunting opportunities
Brian Nesvik, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, spoke during the Delta Waterfowl "Voice of the Duck Hunter" podcast about efforts to improve National Wildlife Refuges and public hunting opportunities. "We have a lot of work to do there," said Nesvik about the country's National Wildlife Refuge System.
Nesvik, who took the helm as director in August, was speaking during the Delta Waterfowl "Voice of the Duck Hunter" podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Luk6XioKrSE.
The director sat down with Delta's Joel Brice and John Devney to lay out his vision to improve our refuges for all users, particularly hunters. U.S. federal refuges host hunters for an estimated 2.6 million hunting days annually and provide important nesting, foraging, and wintering habitat for tens of millions of ducks and geese.
Recognizing the critical importance of refuges to both wildlife and visitors, Nesvik initiated a system-wide review of the 573 National Wildlife Refuges in the United States. While overall, the NWR System remains a "crown jewel" resource, many refuges aren't meeting the needs of ducks and duck hunters as a result of funding and staffing shortfalls.
"I think aging infrastructure is something we need to address. We have places where we need more boots on the ground. Through (a NWR system-wide) review, there's an opportunity to align the resources we have to the needs that we have. We need more folks on the ground doing maintenance. We need the worker bee folks that are out working on roads, working on fences, and doing on-the-ground habitat work at these refuges."
Delta Waterfowl is working to assist the USFWS and other agencies to improve wildlife refuges for ducks and duck hunters. In 2025, Delta launched the Restoring Our Refuges (web page link) initiative, an advocacy campaign to seek more public funding to revitalize federal and state refuges.
Like Delta, Nesvik is committed to maximizing the benefits of our national public lands.
"We have places where we've been able to invest in deferred maintenance and to keep up on old infrastructure, and then we have some places that we have room for improvement," Nesvik said. "I hear about it almost every day from people who use our refuge system that they really want to see the facilities improve, they want to see the roads maintained, they want to make sure access for all types of uses is maintained. We have a lot of work to do there. We need to do better and figure out how to provide a better experience for the American people."
Delta's "Voice of the Duck Hunter" podcast dives into the science, policy, and passion behind waterfowl conservation throughout North America. Subscribe on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or your favorite streaming service.
Delta Waterfowl is The Duck Hunters Organizationā¢, a leading conservation group founded in 1911 that uses science-based solutions to produce ducks, conserve prairie wetlands, and ensure the future of waterfowl hunting in North America. Visit deltawaterfowl.org.