Birds, other wildlife in peril

Bald eagle. Peregrine falcon. California condor. These are some of the many American birds brought back from the brink by the Endangered Species Act since it was adopted in 1973. We have decades’ worth of data that the ESA does what it’s supposed to do: Prevent extinctions.

In spite of all the evidence that it works, the ESA faces its own extinction if some members of Congress have their way. This year, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works called a hearing about the need to “modernize” the act — while actually seeking to weaken it. And this fall, the House Natural Resources Committee is expected to vote on five bills that weaken ESA protections for endangered wildlife. .

Those in Congress who don’t like the ESA claim that it fails to help at-risk species. They argue that its protections are no longer necessary anyway, since we’ve already saved the species that really needed help. Both claims are dead wrong.

Population data reveal how effective the ESA has been. Last year, American Bird Conservancy analyzed the trends for all U.S. birds listed under the Act and found that populations of 78 percent of mainland bird populations have stabilized or increased. Currently, 41 listed bird populations show increasing numbers.

If this trend continues, these species can recover and be removed from the list of endangered species.

The history of the ESA is a story of remarkable comebacks. The last 22 California condors were brought in from the wild in the 1980s to prevent their imminent extinction. Now, thanks to ESA recovery funding and a successful captive breeding effort, there are more than 230 flying in the wild. Similarly, Whooping cranes had dwindled almost to the vanishing point. Now, with help from the ESA, there are more than 450 cranes in the wild.

ABC’S report identified a number of species in desperate need of the conservation tools and resources provided for by the ESA. Hawaiian birds in particular are facing multiple threats from invasive species and climate change. The situation is urgent. Without swift action, at least two native Hawaiian honeycreepers, ‘Akikiki and ‘Akeke’e, could be gone for good in the next few years.

The list of birds in need of ESA protection goes on. Oregon Vesper Sparrow now numbers fewer than a thousand individuals. Black Rail once had an abundant population in marshlands across the eastern U.S. Now it’s only very rarely found.

If we weaken or eliminate essential protections for endangered species and funds to help those species recover, we could lose these and other species forever, and the progress made thus far to recover dozens of bird species could be wasted. The ESA works, and we need it now more than ever.

Steve Holmer is vice president of policy at American Bird Conservancy.