Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a piece of US legislation that was enacted in 1973. "The act aims to provide a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats." [source]

The purpose of ESA, from it's very own text: "The purposes of this Act are to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species, and to take such steps as may be appropriate to achieve the purposes of the treaties and conventions set forth in subsection (a) of this section." [source]

There's 48 pages of text in ESA but the main point is clear - to protect and conserve endangered species and the habitats and ecosystems the populations rely upon. Wikipedia puts it pretty clearly: "The ESA's primary goal is to prevent the extinction of imperiled plant and animal life, and secondly, to recover and maintain those populations by removing or lessening threats to their survival." [source]

There's ~2000 species listed in the ESA,  ranging from large charismatic megafauna like the Whooping Crane, to amphibians like the Wyoming Toad,  to plants like the Texas poppy-mallow.

There's only one problem with the ESA, in my opinion, and that is only that it needs to exist in the first place. If humans hadn't messed everything up in the first place and destroyed habitat, polluted environments, and hunted animals to near extinction then we wouldn't even need ESA. Therefore it's our responsibility to make it right and protect and conserve these species that are on the cusp of extinction. We need to atone for our mistakes.

Even if I've never heard of or seen a particular plant or fish or frog or bird, I know there's an intrinsic value to having that species on this planet, regardless of my existence. In ecology, the intrinsic value of a species is the value of the species itself, not the worth of the species in relation to humans.

Who are we to decide which species get to survive because they're "useful" while also condemning others to extinction because they are not "useful" to us?

Follow me on this thought experiment for a moment. Does a Mallard have more right to survival than the Wyoming Toad? Mallards are not endangered, are hunted, provide food, and are managed to keep a sustainable population going for the sake of the species but secondarily for the sake of the sport. The Wyoming Toad is tiny, very rare, and of no economic use. Does one species deserve to exist more than the other?

No.

We should do everything possible to conserve these species on the brink of extinction because every species is valuable in its own right.

Sign the Change.org petition to oppose changes to ESA HERE.
Sign the MoveOn.org petition to oppose changes to ESA HERE. 

More Information:
OVERVIEW OF NEW ENDANGERED SPECIES DRAFT REGULATIONS

Environmental Policy Innovation Center, accessed 21 August 2018

Law That Saved the Bald Eagle Could Be Vastly Reworked

The New York Times, accessed 21 August 2018

TAKE-ACTION TOOLBOX #1: DEFEND THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

Center for Biological Diversity, accessed 21 August 2018

The White House is working to undermine the Endangered Species Act — here's how

The Hill, accessed 21 August 2018

Fight for the Endangered Species Act

Change.org Petition organized by Center for Biological Diversity, accessed 21 August 2018

Endangered Species Act of 1973

Wikipedia, accessed 21 August 2018

Take Action for Threatened and Endangered Birds

American Bird Conservancy Petition, accessed 21 August 2018

Full Text of the Endangered Species Act of 1973

US Fish and Wildlife Service website, accessed 21 August 2018

The Pearl River is a river, and let's keep it that way

The Pearl River is a beautiful winding river that forms the southern part of the border between eastern Louisiana and western Mississippi. That is my personal opinion, and although I am not as eloquent as many, I think if you saw the river in its glory you would agree.

The issue: There is currently a proposal for the "One Lake" project that would "dredge 10 miles of the Pearl River and build a dam to create a 1,900-acre lake near Jackson, MS" [source].

This isn't a water management project. It's a development project with many interconnected downstream consequences. It's also a 40 years later reaction to the 1979 flood.

From the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana: "We are very concerned about the downstream effects of this project on communities and ecosystems in Louisiana. Louisiana is currently in a battle against land loss that is affecting the people and industries that call the lower Pearl River Basin home. The fact that there is consideration for altering the Pearl River Watershed without considering the downstream affects is astounding." [source]

I couldn't have said it better myself, so I won't even bother, just know I agree 10000%.

The Pearl is home to many species of flora and fauna, and is a source of freshwater in a brackish area that is prone to salinity influx. If you need a champion species, look no further than the Gulf Sturgeon. They are endangered, and call the Pearl home. An upriver dam would have consequences for the species and everything else connected to its environment.

Sign the petition to oppose the One Lake Project HERE.

More information:
The Devastation of a Dam — Saving Mississippi’s Pearl RiverWaterkeeper Alliance, accessed 16 August 2018

CRCL Blasts “One Lake” Project as Destructive to Louisiana
Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, accessed 16 August 2018

One River, No Lake
Pearl Riverkeeper, accessed 16 August 2018

Protect the Pearl
Gulf Restoration Network, accessed 16 August 2018

New flood plan in Jackson could have dire effects on Coast’s oyster business, fishermen say

Mississippi Sun Herald, accessed 16 August 2018

Slidell City Council joins opponents of Mississippi's Pearl River flood plan

NOLA.com, accessed 16 August 2018

Coast seafood industry skeptical of Jackson lake project. ‘I have a lot of concerns.’

Mississippi Sun Herald, accessed 16 August 2018

Nutria in California

Nutria (Myocaster coypus) is native to South America, but like many introductions in the early 1900s it has backfired spectacularly. Nutria were introduced for the fur industry, back when fur was fashionable, and were an alternative to muskrat. Nutria are much larger than muskrat also, and therefore each animal provides more fur per body. Economically, I suppose you could justify it that way. HOWEVER, hindsight is 20/20 and it was clearly a disastrous idea 100+ years down the road.

Many news articles make it sound like every acre of Louisiana wetlands is destroyed by nutria. That's not exactly true in 2018. Nutria herbivory is prevalent and there are definitely areas with widespread damage. However and luckily, the population seems to be checked by trappers and the LDWF bounty program, in my anecdotal experience. Controlled, probably, but nowhere near eradication. Eradication is impossible, in my opinion. They're sneaky, surprisingly hard to kill with a .22, have many offspring, and are widespread in coastal areas. We probably can't eradicate them but we definitely can keep the population in control. 

California is currently dealing with this problem as well, and I hope they go straight to a bounty or open season type approach for control. Why Louisiana has a defined hunting season for nutria and it isn't just open season year round is beyond me. An invasive, nonnative species that's causing massive problems should be fair game as far as I'm concerned. Conservation of the native important habitat (wetlands) FAR outweighs the invasive animal (nutria), or the value of their pelts. 

California v nutria: state seeks to eradicate scourge of giant rodents

The Guardian, article dated 15 August 2018

Nutria information 

American's Wetlands Foundation, website accessed 15 August 2018

PS - Nutria does taste great in my experience so eat it! It's lean, and they're strictly vegetarians, so they eat far better than most of our food does. Just toss it in a gumbo and enjoy. Save the wetlands, eat a nutria!

Respect and Responsibility

“There is no single word to describe it. Wild, certainly. Graceful, that too. Breathtaking, yes. Cloud shadows slide silently across the expanse like so many migrating lakes, casting down on the flush Earth the sky's enormity in duplicate. There is room enough for sunlight to pour down in one corner and a dark thunderstorm to throb noiselessly in a farther corner. The marsh not only dominates your view; it catches you with its hushed sounds, and with its blended earthy and briny smells in the grass, mud, air, and water." 

- Jack E Davis in "The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea",

describing Louisiana's coastal wetlands

I just finished reading The Gulf by Jack E Davis, which I quoted above, and I learned many things. One of the most striking themes to me, intentionally or not I'll never know, from this great book is that people do what people want. And what people want is often so in conflict from what they actually need, and what will be beneficial in the long term, that in retrospect it seems insane that people did the things they did. But we humans don't think in long terms. We think in short term, personal gain, the financial incentive, and only up to about 5 feet in front of our noses. As a species we just do whatever we damn well please.

Let the environment be damned. 

That philosophy over the last few hundred years has really come back to bite us in the ass in 2018. The hole in the ozone layer is back because China kept using CFCs, in direct violation of the Montreal Protocol. Extinction, while a natural process that has always occurred, is occurring at 1000 times the average rate. The Northern White Rhino is left with 2 female members of the species, and are the only members of the species still alive. The oceans are steadily becoming more acidic, which surely won't result in any good outcomes. The Mississippi River is so partitioned off from it's current and historic deltas by man made barriers that the once nourished wetlands are starving. 

People still poach, still overhunt, still destroy habitats willy nilly, still clear cut rainforests, still pollute waterways, still cause air pollution, still waste clean water, and still don't care. 

The root of this problem is respect. Or actually, a lack of respect. One does not show respect by shooting endangered species, killing every single passenger pigeon, draining wetlands to build houses, cutting down all those rainforest trees that remove CO2 from the atmosphere, letting toxic waste run off into the nearby creek, letting your vehicle belch extra emissions into the air, or letting the water run in the sink when you're not using it. 

Those are just a few examples of disrespect for nature, the environment, and everyone else on this planet. 

Respect: "A feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements." [source]

Let's read that again, but emphasis mine: A feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.

I have deep respect for wildlife. I could use any number of subjects as an example, but wildlife are near and dear to my heart and soul, so let's follow this. It's hard to verbalize why I respect wildlife but I appreciate the beauty, the value of biodiversity, the niche that each species plays, and all the ways the web is intertwined. To that end, I try to not disturb wildlife and aim to maintain a distance great enough to remove the stress of my presence. I observe wildlife from afar, and often with the aid of the long lens on my camera. I respect the animal's boundaries, it's home and habitat that I'm visiting, and that it was here first. 

I know that I am the human, intruding on that animal's afternoon, and I am fully aware that I am the visitor. I want to enjoy my experience, and appreciate my surroundings, and leave the place in the same condition or better than I found it. That is true in the woods, wetlands, my own backyard, the creek down the road, the work truck, or almost any situation I'm ever in. But in reality, the only situation where my respect or lack thereof is mostly likely to pose a lethal problem is in nature. I could walk through the woods, trample on plants, get off trail, harass wildlife, make a mess, and act like I'm the master of the universe and all animals must bow to my mightiness. I could do that, but probably I'd just get mauled by a bear, fall off a cliff, or get bit by a snake because of my disrespect and arrogance. And probably I would deserve it, based on my proposed behavior in this unreal scenario. 

Arrogance has no place in the wilderness equation. 

Arrogant (the root of arrogance): "Having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities." [source]

Humans are not important. The world would be just fine without us. The same can be said and be true of probably any other species, if you boil it down as simply as that. The world will still turn without white rhinos or humans. But we're the only species that manipulates the entire world to our own benefit, and we are the ones that can create the biggest impact (beneficial or detrimental) because we are literally world wide. 

With this much brainpower, technology, and knowledge at our fingertips, don't we have a responsibility to be good neighbors and protect, conserve, restore, and love our environment? Yes, 100%.

I feel that responsibility every day. I don't own the planet - nobody does. We are all on this rock together, no matter our perceived differences. The responsibility to take care of our environment is squarely on all of our shoulders. We only have 1 planet and we can be so much better. 

According to National Geographic in 2016, approximately 20% of the Earth's land is wilderness [source]. 20% of the existing land area doesn't seem like a lot to me but it's nearly a quarter, which is a start. There's plenty of nature left to love, and plenty of people on this planet capable of doing the right thing. 

As in any group effort, there will be slackers and there will be over achievers. Which one are you going to be in this quest of respect, love, responsibility, and stewardship of the world?

Readings

I'm an avid reader, and incredible nerd, so I have read tons of books related to the outdoors, nature, conservation, hunting, recreation, all kinds of science, physics, land ethics, and on. Here are my recommended readings, and I will only recommend a book if I've actually read it myself. These are alphabetical by book title, and mostly nonfiction but there are a handful of fiction books out there with themes appropriate to the cause that I will include. Also I will expand on this list the more books I read and want to recommend.

Come join the conversation on Goodreads at the official Outdoor Conservation Book Club!


A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking

A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil deGrasse Tyson

Barkskins, Annie Proulx [fiction]

Bayou Farewell, Mike Tidwell

Cathedral of the Wild: An African Journey Home, Boyd Varty

Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries, Neil deGrasse Tyson

Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey

Firestorm: How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future, Edward Struzik

Grizzly Years, Doug Peacock

Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - And How It Can Renew America, Thomas L Friedman

Island, Aldous Huxley [fiction]

Jimmy Bluefeather, Kim Heacox [fiction]

Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv

Our National Parks, John Muir

Out of Africa, Isak Dinesen

Pale Blue Dot, Carl Sagan

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, Terry Tempest Williams

Rising Tide, John M Barry

Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans, Sylvia Earle

Silent Spring, Rachel Carson

Tip of the Iceberg, Mark Adams

The Beak of the Finch, Jonathan Weiner

The Big Burn, Timothy Egan

The Great Deluge, Douglas Brinkley

The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins

The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, Jack E Davis

The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks, Terry Tempest Williams

The Future of Life, EO Wilson

The Lorax, Dr Seuss [fiction]

The Ravaging Tide, Mike Tidwell

The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert

Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, Bill Nye

Who Rules the Earth? Paul Steinberg