What is the significance of adding the Refuge System mission to the definition of compatibility?
In the past a refuge manager would only have to ensure that a particular use would not materially interfere with or detract from the refuge purposes. In many cases individual refuge purposes are narrow in scope (i.e., Endangered Species Act of 1973, Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986). Under the new process, a refuge manager will have to ensure that a particular use would not materially interfere with or detract from the oftentimes narrow purposes of the refuge as well as the much broader Refuge System mission. Question: How will using sound professional judgment in making a compatibility determination change the compatibility process? Answer: By exercising sound professional judgment in determining the compatibility of a use, the refuge manager will incorporate all of the common sense considerations that have traditionally been used in deciding whether or not to allow a use. In the past these determinations were made using separate processes. Biological decisions were made under
