BigHornRam
Well-known member
What's good for critters seems good for us - Sunday, December 31, 2006
SUMMARY: We don't have to join the endangered list to remove other species from it.
Endangered species have been making headlines lately.
The Bush administration says it intends to have the bald eagle removed from the list of threatened and endangered species by mid-February - belatedly finishing the legal paperwork reflecting long-acknowledged success at restoring populations of the national symbol.
The formal process of removing now-abundant gray wolves from the list of threatened species in Montana and Idaho is set to begin next month, completing what stands as one of the most remarkable success stories written since enactment of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park, now thriving after rebounding from the brink of extinction, also are in the process of graduating off the list of threatened species. Meanwhile, as the Great Falls Tribune reported the other day, advanced population estimates based on DNA samples peg the number of grizzlies roaming Glacier National Park and the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem at a minimum of 545 - higher than most previous estimates - suggesting that population of bears also is on the verge of becoming another Endangered Species Act success story.
The recovery of these species is noteworthy for a variety of reasons.
For one thing, these top-of-the-food-chain species embody some of the greatest challenges in wildlife management, not the least of which are large landscapes and many potential conflicts with humans. If we can succeed with these, we can succeed with most.
What's more, the recovery of these three species brings tremendous spin-off benefits. What eagles and wolves and grizzlies need more than anything else is healthy, secure habitat. Protect their habitat and the animals can largely fend for themselves. And guess what? The same healthy, secure habitat that supports eagles, wolves and grizzlies also supports a long list of other species. In other words, it's no coincidence that today's Montanans enjoy wildlife in greater abundance than at any time since settlement.
The big surprise - only because the reality directly contradicts decades of inflamed rhetoric - is that our own economic prosperity has been on the same upward trajectory as the populations of eagles, wolves and grizzlies.
The notion that imperiled wildlife can only be protected at great economic sacrifice and with ruinous loss of property rights has been - and continues to be - repeated so often that it's almost easy to overlook the happy reality. Business is booming! Montana's unemployment rate has never been lower. The state treasury is overflowing with taxes - there's a projected tax surplus of nearly $1 billion - thanks to brisk production of natural resources, combined with rising incomes across nearly all sectors of the economy. Property values - a useful indicator of property rights - have reached staggering heights - most of all in areas in closest proximity to grizzly, wolf and eagle habitat. Whether endangered species protection has helped the economy is unproved, but there's simply no question that the economy and wildlife can thrive at the same time.
SUMMARY: We don't have to join the endangered list to remove other species from it.
Endangered species have been making headlines lately.
The Bush administration says it intends to have the bald eagle removed from the list of threatened and endangered species by mid-February - belatedly finishing the legal paperwork reflecting long-acknowledged success at restoring populations of the national symbol.
The formal process of removing now-abundant gray wolves from the list of threatened species in Montana and Idaho is set to begin next month, completing what stands as one of the most remarkable success stories written since enactment of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park, now thriving after rebounding from the brink of extinction, also are in the process of graduating off the list of threatened species. Meanwhile, as the Great Falls Tribune reported the other day, advanced population estimates based on DNA samples peg the number of grizzlies roaming Glacier National Park and the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem at a minimum of 545 - higher than most previous estimates - suggesting that population of bears also is on the verge of becoming another Endangered Species Act success story.
The recovery of these species is noteworthy for a variety of reasons.
For one thing, these top-of-the-food-chain species embody some of the greatest challenges in wildlife management, not the least of which are large landscapes and many potential conflicts with humans. If we can succeed with these, we can succeed with most.
What's more, the recovery of these three species brings tremendous spin-off benefits. What eagles and wolves and grizzlies need more than anything else is healthy, secure habitat. Protect their habitat and the animals can largely fend for themselves. And guess what? The same healthy, secure habitat that supports eagles, wolves and grizzlies also supports a long list of other species. In other words, it's no coincidence that today's Montanans enjoy wildlife in greater abundance than at any time since settlement.
The big surprise - only because the reality directly contradicts decades of inflamed rhetoric - is that our own economic prosperity has been on the same upward trajectory as the populations of eagles, wolves and grizzlies.
The notion that imperiled wildlife can only be protected at great economic sacrifice and with ruinous loss of property rights has been - and continues to be - repeated so often that it's almost easy to overlook the happy reality. Business is booming! Montana's unemployment rate has never been lower. The state treasury is overflowing with taxes - there's a projected tax surplus of nearly $1 billion - thanks to brisk production of natural resources, combined with rising incomes across nearly all sectors of the economy. Property values - a useful indicator of property rights - have reached staggering heights - most of all in areas in closest proximity to grizzly, wolf and eagle habitat. Whether endangered species protection has helped the economy is unproved, but there's simply no question that the economy and wildlife can thrive at the same time.
