The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has announced two new wildlife refuges. The Wyoming Toad Conservation Area and the Paint Rock River National Wildlife Refuge in Tennessee become the 569th and 570th refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System, and the announcement comes amid National Wildlife Refuge Week, which started Oct. 7 and runs until Oct. 14.

“Nature is essential to the health, well-being, and prosperity of every family and every community in America. National wildlife refuges help connect Americans to a diverse array of public lands, while also serving as a crucial means of protecting wildlife and conserving habitat,” Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “Through locally led collaborative conservation, these two special landscapes are now protected as part of our shared natural heritage and accessible to everyone.”

The waters in the new Paint Rock River National Wildlife Refuge in Tennessee provide habitat to about 100 fish species and 50 different types of freshwater mussels, some that are found only in these waters. The protected area will preserve threatened and endangered species on land and in aquatic habitats, including gray bats, Indiana bats Tennessee cave salamanders and Alabama cave shrimp.

The Wyoming Toad Conservation Area will help protect white-tailed prairie dogs, pronghorns, migratory birds and Wyoming toads, which is the most endangered amphibian species on the continent, officials shared. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Wyoming toad is considered extinct in the wild. 

The conservation area was established in the Laramie Plains of southern Wyoming, and officials noted the wildlife refuge will provide public access to the Laramie River in the future.

Both of the new wildlife refuges will also double as recreational areas.

These new national wildlife refuges are the second and third units to be established under Haaland, the DOI reported. The first, Montana’s Lost Trail Conservation Area, was designated in August 2022.

According to a report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the national wildlife refuge system boosts local economies by about $3.2 billion per year. As of 2022, visits to wildlife refuges in the U.S. reached about 67 million in one year.

“The Service is grateful for incredible partnerships like these that lead to demonstrated successes across the country on behalf of wildlife and people,” Service Director Martha Williams said in a statement. “Locally led conservation efforts provide a lasting impact on our efforts to protect crucial wildlife habitat for threatened, endangered and priority species while prioritizing recreational access.”

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