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Center for Biological Diversity:
The Endangered Species Act: A Wild Success

The St. Augustine Record, June 27, 2014

Fla. homebuilders said to spur wood stork down-listing
By Sarita Chourey

Morris News Service

The wood stork has moved one step closer to being removed from the Endangered Species Act list, following a reclassification of the wading birds by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

“Things are working for the wood stork, and it wouldn’t have happened without the Endangered Species Act and its ability to apply resources to targeted species,” said Tom MacKenzie, spokesman for the federal agency.

“When we do so successfully, which we’re doing on a number of species, we can bring those back,” he said. “It takes that partnership of private landowners organization and agencies that are willing to take some risks and try some innovative activities.”

Even as environmental advocates celebrate the wood stork’s progress, a property-rights group is taking credit for pressuring the federal agency into shifting the wood stork from the “endangered” status to “threatened.”

The Pacific Legal Foundation, which dubs itself a “limited government” watchdog, said its petition on behalf of the Florida Homebuilders Association prompted the birds’ reclassification.

“This past spring, PLF attorneys warned they would launch a lawsuit if the government did not reclassify the wood stork as ‘threatened’ rather than ‘endangered,’” the donor-supported group said in a news release Thursday. The group also takes credit for fighting for the federal court ruling that led to the bald eagle’s removal from the Endangered Species Act list.

“Our ultimate goal is to have the federal government recognize the good news that the wood stork is now a healthy species, and there should be an end to unjustified, unneeded restrictions on the productive use of private property,” said the foundation.

As for the PLF’s claims, MacKenzie instead refocused on the wood stork’s recovery.

“I can just tell you that this is a great day to celebrate a major event and a milestone for what we consider an iconic species,” he said.

The change in classification is viewed as a step toward full recovery that will not undercut the species’ legal protection. Even if the wood stork is ultimately removed from the federal list under the law, it will still be covered by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

On Thursday, the Center for Biological Diversity also heralded the change, however cautiously.

“The growth and expansion of the wood stork population is great news, but substantial work remains to fully recover the species in south Florida,” said Jaclyn Lopez, a Florida attorney for the center.

“These ecosystems are still under severe threat and making sure this iconic species always has a home there is essential before we declare the wood stork to be completely recovered.”

The draining and destruction of wetlands, along with flood control practices and lumbering, are largely blamed for decimating wood storks. They went from 20,000 pairs in the late 1930s to 5,000 pairs in the late 1970s. The birds were then protected in 1984.

Since then, the wading birds have rallied.

The most recent three-year population average was from 7,086 pairs to 10,147. But they haven’t reached the five-year average of 10,000 nesting pairs, which is laid out in the current recovery plan as the level for delisting, has not yet been achieved, according to the federal agency.

At first, the storks’ range was said to span the inland waterways of Florida, and the cypress swamps of Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. But it has now touches parts of North Carolina and Mississippi, with heavy nesting found in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

 

© 1996-2014 St. Augustine Record.

 

This article originally appeared here.

Photo © Paul S. Hamilton