[CINC] NY Times editorial: State of the Birds

[Clare Fritzsche]

  //New York Times
editorial
April 1, 2009

State of the Birds


Ken Salazar, the secretary of the interior, released a new, nationwide
survey last month that assesses the state of bird populations in America.
The news is grievous. Over all, a third of the bird species in this country
are endangered, threatened or in serious decline.


There is special concern for grassland birds --- whose habitat has been
vanishing steadily for decades --- for birds in Hawaii, where a variety of
species face a variety of threats, and for coastal species. The good news
is that wherever nature is allowed to recover, especially in the case of
wetland birds, it shows its usual resilience.


But there is no glossing over these staggering losses, and there is no
dismissing what they mean. There is nothing accidental or inevitable about
the vanishing of these birds. However unintentional, it is the direct
result of human activity --- of development, of global warming, of air and
water pollution and of our failure to set aside the habitat these birds
need to flourish. Every threatened species reveals some aspect of our lives
that could be adjusted.


The survey also shows that where humans have made an effort --- as with
migratory waterfowl and with endangered species like the peregrine 
falcon ---
good things have happened, with some species recovering even as others
declined. This in turn argues that the programs now in place to protect
habitat should not only be spared the budgetary wrecking ball but also
expanded --- most conspicuously those managed by the Agriculture Department
that seek to preserve wetlands and prairie grasslands as well as the
Interior Department's Land and Water Conservation Fund.


The remarkable recovery of ducks and geese and other wetland species ---
thanks to strong conservation efforts --- should remind us of what is
possible. The only other outcome is too grim to consider --- a landscape
steadily emptying of birds.


David_Barna at nps.gov
infozone
1.94.5

-- 
Clare Fritzsche
Volunteer Administration
Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
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