Tag Archives | ESA

New Endangered Species Act Rules Will Weaken Protections for Birds and Other Imperiled Wildlife

By Larry Jordan on August 12, 2019 in Conservation

Bald Eagle

Final regulations diminish science-based decision-making and will reduce protections for birds

WASHINGTON – The final Endangered Species Act (ESA) regulatory reform package, released today by the Departments of the Interior and Commerce, fails the most important measure of any changes to a bedrock environmental law by marginalizing science-based protections for wildlife.

“As a whole, the rule changes are political, unwise, and will only increase litigation. They tip the balance in decision-making against vulnerable wildlife and undermine incentives for effective conservation,” said Sarah Greenberger, senior vice president for conservation policy at the National Audubon Society.

While some of the new rules are reasonable – including making it easier to direct resources to conservation projects by speeding up consultation requirements for federal projects that are beneficial to species – other changes would severely weaken protections for imperiled species.

The most egregious of the new changes would allow the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to consider the economic costs of listing a species – something expressly prohibited under existing law. Other changes will make it much more difficult to provide any protections to newly listed “threatened species” or to designate the “critical habitat” species need to recover. The new rules also allow the FWS to ignore the dire effects of climate change on imperiled species – effects we are seeing with greater regularity, such as hurricanes that jeopardize the Piping Plover.

“While Audubon could have supported some changes that may improve implementation while speeding up support for at-risk wildlife, these damaging new rules will weaken protections for imperiled species and include language that is wholly contrary to the law,” said Greenberger.

The ESA is our nation’s most powerful tool for protecting wildlife. Protections provided by the Act have succeeded in preventing the extinction of 99 percent of the species listed and benefitted many others that depend on the landscapes it’s helped to protect. The ESA has helped numerous species recover, including the Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle, and Brown Pelican, and set many other species on the path to recovery.

“Extinction Plan”: Iconic Western Bird Among Ten Species Facing A Bleak Future

By Larry Jordan on December 21, 2018 in Conservation

Yellow-billed-Cuckoo photo by Paul Sparks

Weakened Wildlife Protections May Lead to Loss of Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo

(Washington, D.C., December 18, 2018) The current Administration is on the cusp of finalizing a set of rules to weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and a new report out today lists ten animals threatened by the Administration’s existing and proposed policies. The Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo, as well as the California Condor, the West Indian Manatee and other mammals, two sea turtles, an amphibian, and a rare bumble bee, are listed in the report, “Extinction Plan,” released by the Endangered Species Coalition, American Bird Conservancy, and partners.

The Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo is found in increasingly isolated patches of habitat in 12 western states, from the West Coast east to Texas. Unlike Old World cuckoos, which are nest parasites that lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo raises its own young, and both parents participate equally in chick-rearing.

Estimated to have a population of fewer than 2,000 individuals, the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo was listed as a Threatened species under the ESA in 2014. But loss of nesting habitat along rivers and streams continues, even as the Administration proposes to remove the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo from the endangered species list.

“In spite of the 2014 addition of the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo to the ESA, no critical habitat has ever been designated to support the bird’s recovery, and the population has not had a chance to recover to a safe level,” said Steve Holmer, Vice President of Policy for American Bird Conservancy. “Meanwhile, water diversions, housing developments, and pesticide spraying on fields near breeding habitat continue to endanger the remaining birds. It is crucial that ESA protection remain in place and that critical habitat is protected or restored.”

The Administration’s proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act would affect the cuckoo and all listed species, as well as those that might require ESA listing in the future. For example, the changes would:

Make it much more difficult to protect species impacted by climate change.
Make it harder to list a new species and easier to remove those now on the list.
Make it harder to designate critical habitat for threatened and endangered wildlife.
Reduce protections for threatened species.

Although the Administration and some members of Congress have sought to weaken the Act, public opinion research indicates that the law continues to maintain broad, bipartisan public support. A 2015 poll conducted by Tulchin Research found that 90 percent of American voters across all political, regional, and demographic lines support the Endangered Species Act.

The ESA was a landmark conservation law that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support: 92-0 in the Senate, and 394-4 in the House, and signed by President Richard Nixon 45 years ago on December 28.

In 2017, American Bird Conservancy and more than 400 other organizations signed a letter to members of Congress opposing efforts to weaken the ESA, noting that the law has a 99 percent success rate and has brought back species from the Bald Eagle to the Humpback Whale. ABC’s report on the success of the ESA is available here.

Endangered Species Coalition’s member groups nominated species for the “Extinction Plan” report. A committee of distinguished scientists reviewed the nominations, and decided which species should be included. Please see the full report, along with photos and additional species information.

The Endangered Species Coalition produces a “Top 10” report annually, focusing on a different theme each year. Previous years’ reports are also available on the Coalition’s website.

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American Bird Conservancy is a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on achieving results and working in partnership, we take on the greatest problems facing birds today, innovating and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation. Find us on abcbirds.org, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@ABCbirds).

A Message From David Yarnold, President and CEO of the National Audubon Society

By Larry Jordan on March 11, 2017 in Conservation, In the News

Photo Credit Stephen Melkisethian

If your in-box looks like mine, you’ve received a lot of email about the administration’s first draft of a budget outline. There’s a lot of bold-faced or bright red type on those emails and they make it sound like the proposed budget cuts are a done deal. Audubon thinks you deserve a more thoughtful response. Those emails would also lead you to believe that an executive order to begin the long process of undoing the Clean Power Plan is the end of the line. In fact, the administration’s budget proposal was designed to generate headlines about living up to campaign promises, but it also divided Americans on core values like clean air and clean water. The executive orders are just the beginning of a years-long process that will test the Audubon network’s commitment to science, community and fairness.

Keep in mind a president’s budget proposal is just that: an opening bid. More details will emerge in the coming weeks. Those details will be debated for months in Congress. As we’ve seen in recent weeks on issues ranging from privatizing public lands to health care, you have a chance as constituents to influence how that budget gets shaped. As the voice of birds, Audubon will be by your side. We’ve worked to protect funding for the places birds need for 111 years—with Democrat and Republican presidents and across party lines in Congress. And in the coming weeks and months, we will work harder than ever with our elected representatives on both sides of the political aisle to make sure we continue to protect the clean air, clean water, and stable climate birds and people need to thrive.

It’s clear that this administration, left unchecked, will fundamentally step back from all of those protections in the name of reducing the role of government. While it’s the nature of bureaucracies to need an occasional pruning, other agendas are at work, serving special interests like big oil and coal as well as the super-wealthy.

Audubon’s leadership chooses to engage with this administration as we have with 28 that preceded it. We simply won’t stand aside while the future of the Arctic Wilderness or Endangered Species Act gets decided. But we’re under no illusions about how hard the fight will be in the face of many in the administration who equate caring conservation with economic hardship. That cynical and, some would say, blasphemous world view is a complete distortion of the values that drove Republicans from Teddy Roosevelt to Richard Nixon to create national parks and bedrock environmental protections.

At every step of the budget process, Audubon—with your continued help and support—will fight to protect funding that’s critical to advancing our conservation work.

How can we do it? We’re a credible voice for commonsense conservation, and that transcends party or politics. The Atlantic magazine recently described Audubon as “one of the oldest and most centrist of conservation-minded groups” in the country. In a polarized political climate, Audubon’s membership is unique, with members and donors from across the political spectrum,including Democrats, Republicans and independents. We are community builders, not community dividers because birds create common ground. When I meet with chapters, I see committed conservationists and I can’t readily tell R’s from I’s or D’s.

You, our diverse members, make us an effective organization—in the communities we call home and in Washington D.C. Your representatives need to hear why funding conservation work is so important to you and to Audubon’s efforts across the country. You can be confident that in the coming weeks and months we will offer you opportunities to raise your powerful voice at the crucial points when it matters most.

Remember, now more than ever, you’re what hope looks like to a bird. Get involved and take action today.