Friends Advocacy for Refuge Internet

In August, speaking for the board and Friends, our president Debbie Meeks wrote to Congressman Neal Dunn, and our Senators to advocate for improving the internet at the Refuge.

In this day and age, no organization can work efficiently and effectively with weak internet connections. We had already bumped into connectivity issues with internet when Friends had volunteered to staff the Welcome Desk at Refuge headquarters before the pandemic closures. We'd known that staff were required to use cloud-based software programs for map-making and other functions. However, the internet connections were often not reliable enough to do the work.

Connection Dropped

Last summer it became clear that the internet at the Refuge was not strong enough and reliable enough for Friends to hold monthly, hybrid Zoom meetings of the board on site. The feed for those who were participating remotely was delayed. The screen share didn't share. More than a few times, the connection was dropped and everyone had to sign in again. It was too frustrating.

In October, Congressman Dunn replied that he had made inquiries of the Fish and Wildlife Service in response to Debbie's letter. It looks like there is now some hope for improvement. Friends is delighted and hopes it is not long in coming to fruition.