Bill aimed at helping at-risk wildlife needs Conn. support

The $11 million annually for Connecticut would unleash a new era of conservation for struggling species including wood turtles, horseshoe crabs and American shad.

Connecticut is known for its forests and fields — and the red foxes, bluebirds and bald eagles its lands and waters support. But right now, 565 species across the state are at heightened risk of extinction due to threats such as habitat loss, invasive species and extreme weather. It’s part of a larger national trend where more than one-third of America’s wildlife are edging toward extinction.

Fortunately, Congress is the brink of acting on a bipartisan bill called the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. It is a solution that matches the magnitude of the problem. Connecticut will receive more than $11 million annually to implement its existing plan aimed at helping at-risk wildlife.

The Recovering American’s Wildlife Act has incredible bipartisan support. The bill has 35 cosponsors in the Senate, including 16 Republicans. More than a third of the House of Representatives has signed on.

The bill makes sense for Connecticut because it will build on the locally driven and collaborative successes that have been the hallmark of the Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and our state’s visionary wildlife action plan that needs to be funded to restore diminished wildlife populations and the habitats they depend upon.

The story of the New England cottontail shows how this can be done, when the funding is in place. Connecticut’s only truly native rabbit has specific requirements — it needs some 25 acres of connected scrub thickets and young forests where it can shelter from predators while raising its young. But since the 1960s, suburban development and evolving land uses have decreased the New England cottontail’s range by 86 percent.

The New England cottontail was able to get a boost from Connecticut’s farmers, thanks to funding from the Farm Bill. Interested landowners were able to get assistance to reestablish native shrubs and trees and to connect cottontail habitats. As a result of these voluntary efforts, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that the New England cottontail had recovered to the point where it no longer required protections under the Endangered Species Act.

With 12 species in Connecticut already federally listed as threatened and endangered and dozens more headed that way, we need these collaborative successes more than ever before.

That’s where the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act comes in. It allows the state to create locally led collaborations early on, rather than waiting until a species is on the brink of qualifying for federal protections. It’s the ultimate ounce of prevention.

The $11 million annually for Connecticut would unleash a new era of conservation for struggling species including wood turtles, horseshoe crabs and American shad.

After all, what would Connecticut be without its wildlife? Outdoor recreation that’s largely dependent upon healthy wildlife populations contributes more than $3.2 billion annually to our economy.

Inaction is the ally of extinction. We encourage the entire Connecticut congressional delegation to be active champions for the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, a commonsense, cost-effective approach to saving wildlife through collaboration.

Contributed photo One of the region’s more elusive mammals, the New England cottontail, at the Connecticut Audubon Society’s Roy and Margot Larsen Wildlife Sanctuary in Fairfield. Connecticut’s only truly native rabbit has specific requirements — it needs some 25 acres of connected scrub thickets and young forests where it can shelter from predators while raising its young.