Endangered Species

Endangered Species Act Joint Task

Mike Hughes is the facilitator of the Federal-State Joint Task Force for Endangered Species Act Policy. The task force includes Washington-level leadership from NOAA Fisheries and from the Fish and Wildlife Service and State Natural Resources Directors. Because the task force is working well and deepening its partnership, Mike was offered a sole-source facilitation contract to work with the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and five other federal agency leaders in a three-day retreat with the natural resource directors from six states. The task force- suspended during the transition to a new administration- will resume when the administration names the new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director.

Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge

Mike led the stakeholder involvement effort for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the agency generated a Comprehensive Conservation Plan and an Environmental Impact Statement (CCP/EIS) for the refuge.  Mike facilitated the Service’s internal visioning work and alternative generation, meetings with key community organizations, a series of public scoping meetings and a series of alternative evaluation public meetings.  He convened and facilitated technical review groups focusing on the issues revealed by the scoping process.  Included in the CCP/EIS is an analysis of, and options to address, the historic Lindsay Ranch, the history of the Cold War and the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Site and the possibility that the site could include road right-of-way for the Northwest Parkway.