1/3 of U.S. Bird Species Threatened or Declining
One-third of the 800 bird species in the United States are either endangered, threatened, or in significant decline, according to a report from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The report, compiled by scientists within the government and from universities, found that bird populations in forests, grasslands, and arid areas have declined by as much as 40 percent in the past 40 years. At the same time, wetland bird populations have increased, as have populations of bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and other raptors whose eggs are no longer being damaged by the use of the insecticide, DDT. The report said the state with the most threatened bird populations is Hawaii, where 71 bird species have gone extinct and 31 are listed as threatened or endangered.
[Yale.edu]
Major Losses For Caribbean Reef Fish In Last 15 Years
By combining data from 48 studies of coral reefs from around the Caribbean, researchers have found that fish densities that have been stable for decades have given way to significant declines since 1995.
“We were most surprised to discover that this decrease is evident for both large-bodied species targeted by fisheries as well as small-bodied species that are not fished,” said Michelle Paddack of Simon Fraser University in Canada. “This suggests that overfishing is probably not the only cause.”
Keeping Gorillas Away From Crops
Since a 2007 massacre of gorillas in Virunga National Park, one Congolese family has adopted a nomadic lifestyle. Recently, they moved close to the edge of the park, sometimes moving into people’s fields and eating their crops.
This is a real problem because it creates a lot of tension with local farmers–who lose their valued crops–and it puts the critically endangered gorillas at risk. Another family also has a bad habit of leaving the park, and still others were found in a field in mid-February.
We are fighting to find a solution. In the past, a local association guarded the crops by pushing the gorillas back into the forest using drums. It seems the technique doesn’t work anymore; the gorillas are no longer scared of the drums. In fact, I’m told they enjoy the sound and allegedly start dancing when the drums appear.
Scientists Build an Ark To Save Jungle Amphibians
The chytrid fungus is destroying the world’s amphibians. The only way to save some frogs, whose worldwide populations are considered an indicator of overall environmental health, is to start captive breeding programs.
In the 1980s a deadly fungus called chytrid appeared in Central America and began moving through mountain streams, killing as many as 8 out of 10 frogs and extinguishing some species entirely. (The fungus has little effect on any other vertebrates.) Now a returned Peace Corps volunteer and her husband have opened the El Valle Amphibian Conservation Center in western Panama to house more than 600 frogs as chytrid cuts a lethal path through the region. Experts agree that the only hope of saving some of the more endangered, restricted-range species is to collect animals from remaining wild populations, establish captive breeding programs, and be prepared to conduct reintroduction projects in the future. But before reintroduction can even begin, scientists must find some way to overcome the chytrid in native habitats using vaccines, breeding for resistance, or genetic engineering of the fungus. Conservationists are budgeting for 25 years of captive breeding, long enough, they believe, to allow some response to chytrid to be found. ‘There are more species in need of rescue than there are resources to rescue them,’ says Amphibian Ark’s program director. ‘When you’re talking about insidious threats like disease or climate change, threats that can’t be mitigated in the wild, there’s simply no alternative.’”
[Slashdot]
AZ Wildife Officials Collar United States’ First Wild Jaguar
Since the U.S. federal government has bisected the jaguar’s natural habitat with an impenetrable border wall, it’s now a North American species. Looks like it’s time to revisit the (rejected by Bush) Endangered Species Act paperwork for this majestic cat.
Jaguar conservation has just experienced an exciting development with the capture and collaring of the first wild jaguar in Arizona by the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
The male cat was incidentally captured yesterday in an area southwest of Tucson during a research study aimed at monitoring habitat connectivity for mountain lions and black bears. While individual jaguars have been photographed sporadically in the borderland area of the state over the past years, the area where this animal was captured was outside of the area where the last known jaguar photograph was taken in January.
Reticulated Salamander Moves to Endangered Status
Another victory for one of our favorite advocacy groups:
Responding to legal action by the Center for Biological Diversity, Wild South, and the Florida Biodiversity Project, last week the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially protected more than 27,000 acres of habitat for the frosted and reticulated flatwoods salamanders. On the same day, acknowledging a recent study on the salamanders — formerly lumped together as the flatwoods salamander — the Service for the first time recognized the amphibians as two separate species, going further to upgrade the reticulated flatwoods salamander’s status from threatened to endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
The salamanders’ habitat protections have already benefited the species; after the protections were first proposed, the U.S. Navy backed off plans to sell land providing important habitat for the reticulated flatwoods salamander.
Endangered Catalina Island Fox Population Rebounding
A decade after they were nearly wiped out by disease, the distinct wild foxes on Santa Catalina Island have made a huge recovery.
The Catalina Island fox, a subspecies of 5-pound foxes unique to the island 22 miles off the Southern California coast, topped out at 784 in a recent count, biologists said Tuesday. That’s up from just 100 or so in 1999, when the population dwindled after an outbreak of canine distemper virus. The island once had about 1,300 of the foxes.
[AP]
Border Fence Progress Snagged
Opponents of the fence have petitioned the Obama administration to halt construction. Environmentalists are demanding a top-level review of the route, which they say would block such rare species as the ocelot from critical habitat. Property owners are contesting federal seizure of their land. Engineers are struggling to address flooding concerns.
And all the while, drug smugglers and illegal immigrants continue to breach the fencing that is up, forcing Border Patrol agents and contractors to return again and again for repairs. The smugglers build ramps to drive over fencing, dig tunnels under it, or use blow torches to slice through. They cut down metal posts used as vehicle barriers and replace them with dummy posts, made from cardboard.
[WSJ]
Toxic Chinook Salmon is Killing Killer Whales (Links)
Scientists say human-caused climate change is…real? Clear days have exacerbated climate change in Europe. The termite insecticide used when pest control guys tented your house has been found to be a potent greenhouse gas. Department of It Takes a Catastrophe: After December’s toxic spill in Tennessee, a West Virginia lawmaker has introduced legislation to set federal standards for storing the waste. Department of Sounds Familiar: 3,600 years ago, a natural disaster destroyed a civilization, after 2,000 years of ‘no incentive to change.’ Grist looks at the green aspects of the $825 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Ecologists have identified invasive plants that pose the biggest threats to southern forest ecosystems in 2009. Bush must’ve dropped the ball on preventing this one: the U.S. government may kind of try to offset environmental damage from the construction of hundreds of miles of walls along the Mexican border. Once as ‘divided as oil and water,’ labor unions and environmental groups are uniting over health care worries shared in workplaces and communities. Toxic Chinook salmon is killing killer whales. Frogs (and their legs) are being eaten to extinction. The LA Times profiles the civil disobedience of Tim DeChristopher, who found a loophole in Bush rules and threw a monkeywrench into Utah public land sales. The Economist looks at the staggering rate of species extinction in the world’s tropical forests. Indonesian orangutans are on the verge of extinction because forests are being clear-cut and burned meet world demand for palm oil. Human hunting and fishing is accelerating the speed of evolution in some species as it removes whole generations of large adults that would otherwise reproduce. Side effects include ‘changes in eyelid pigmentation,’ but the enhanced eyelash growth is probably worth it. You’ve had three cups of coffee. Are you hallucinating?
Hidden Hills, Hiden Irony
This article from the LA Times cracks me up. Titled Yorba Linda Reservoir Languished For Years, the article details the terrible plight of residents in the “upper reaches of Hidden Hills Estates” in Yorba Linda, a northeast Orange County [suburb] that residents pay handsomely to live in, with a median household income nearly twice the state figure.” Evidently, in Hidden Hills Estates, water is as elusive as the neighborhood itself.
Greenwashing the Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger has been hailed as leader in the fight against climate change, but he expects something in return for his efforts. In what he evidently sees as a fair trade for pledging to cut emissions, the California governor is asking that environmental protections be stripped from 10 big highway projects, citing the economy as a good reason for the sacrifice.
ESA, UCS, SEX (Links)
Hot on the heels of the Bush Administration’s order to remove science from the Endangered Species Act, a new government report has found more interference with ESA decisions. The EPA has released a ‘most wanted’ list. Maryland State Police used their anti-terror powers to spy on peaceful environmentalists. The UCS has released a guide to low-carbon vacations. Diesel trucks in California must meet new pollution guidelines. Chemicals are killing your sex drive. A group of students ages 9-18 have found a way to stop curb 90% of roadkills. Researchers are trying to find a way to meet golfers and enviros halfway. CSM explores America’s Great Lakes. Ocean fish farming spreads infection to wild fish. A deep sea expedition in the Gulf of California found unprecedented biodiversity and a troubling breadth of human impact. Recyclables are currently worth the same as trash—and aren’t being recycled. After almost 20 years, Exxon Valdez victims have received their first settlement payments. Enviros ‘counter’ clean coal oxymorons. Soldiers returning to the Middle East can look forward to breathing smoke from open air incinerators burning human remains and toxic waste. CNN has laid off its entire environmental, science, and technology news staff.
