No. 375, November 22, 2006

  COMEBACK KID #6: KIRTLAND'S WARBLER
   
  CARBON BUILD UP EMPOWERS POISON IVY
   
  GRAY JAY DECLINE LINKED TO GLOBAL WARMING
   
  PENDING SUIT: ARIZONA'S BALD EAGLES NOT YET RECOVERED
   
  SUIT FILED TO PROTECT 56 VANISHING BIRDS AND 5 BUTTERFLIES
   
  COUNTY JOINS SUIT TO PROTECT GUNNISON SAGE GROUSE
   
  ENVIROS MOVE TO SQUASH OFF-ROAD VEHICLE ATTACK ON DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK

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COMEBACK KID #6: KIRTLAND’S WARBLER

Kirtland’s warbler is a small songbird that breeds in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario. Its population declined dr amatically as its young “jack pine” habitat disappeared due to fire suppression. Fire formerly created a mosaic of younger and older forests, but young forests dwindled as fire suppression tactics improved. It was also impacted by brown-headed cowbirds which parasitize its nests. The warbler was placed on the endangered species listing in 1967 and continued declining to only 201 pairs in Michigan by 1971. Its numbers remained very low until 1989, when they began increasing. In 1990 and in 2005, the warblers reached a record-breaking 1,415 pairs. Recovery was brought about by habitat restoration, reintroduction of fire, and cowbird control.


CARBON BUILD UP EMPOWERS POISON IVY

Global warming is driven by the build up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses which block the escape of heat from the Earth. But carbon build up has many other effects as well. Researchers at Duke University discovered that poison ivy grows faster as carbon dioxide levels rise and that it produces more urushiol, the chemical which causes rashes. Poison ivy harms ecosystems as well, by robbing slower-growing trees and plants of light, nutrients and water. The experiment was carried out at Duke’s Free-Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment site in Duke Forest, where carbon dioxide is dispersed into the air at levels similar to those predicted to occur on Earth in 2050.


GRAY JAY DECLINE LINKED TO GLOBAL WARMING

Gray jays are a cold weather species inhabiting boreal and subalpine forests in Canada and the northern United States. Their young are born in the early spring when most food sources are still covered in snow, so each pair caches tens of thousands of blueberries, beetles, and even strips of meat from moose carcasses killed by wolves. They live off these frozen treats which are kept fresh well into the spring by subzero temperatures starting in the fall. But researchers at Ohio State University have found that heavy fall freezes have been delayed due to global warming, causing the southernmost caches to rot, destroying the jay’s food source and exposing them to food poisoning. They predict that the species could be extirpated from the Rocky Mountains, New England and southern Canada.


PENDING SUIT: ARIZONA’S BALD EAGLES NOT YET RECOVERED

While bald eagle numbers have soared nationally to about 10,000 pairs over the last 40 years, the Arizona population has not done nearly as well. The good news is that it is improving and 2006 was high point. But, that equals just 39 nesting pairs, and only 28 of those were successful. Not surprisingly, the peer review panel for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s national delisting effort opposed delisting of the Arizona population. So did the former coordinator of the multi-agency Arizona bald eagle recovery te am.

Nonetheless, in August 2006, the Bush Administration concluded that while Arizona constitutes a distinct population worthy of consideration for Endangered Species Act protection, it is not endangered. Even more bizarrely, the administration asserted that it is acceptable for Arizona eagles to become extinct because they are not biologically “significant.”

On November 2, 2006, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society put the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on notice that they intend to sue to keep the Arizona bald eagle on the endangered species list.


SUIT FILED TO PROTECT 56 VANISHING BIRDS AND 5 BUTTERFLIES

The Center for Biological Diversity claims in a lawsuit filed Nov. 16 that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has failed to provide protection for 56 of the world’s most imperiled bird species, in violation of the Endangered Species Act. At least 11 additional bird species not included in the lawsuit have already gone extinct due to long delays in protecting them. Listing under the Act will assist with conservation and recovery efforts and bring a higher level of scrutiny to projects proposed by the U.S. government and multilateral agencies. For ex ample, a major threat to the Okinawa Woodpecker, a national treasure in Japan, is habitat destruction by a joint U.S. and Japanese military proposal to construct helicopter training landing areas and related roads and infrastructure.


COUNTY JOINS SUIT TO PROTECT GUNNISON SAGE GROUSE

San Miguel County in southwestern Colorado led a coalition of citizen groups challenging the failure of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to list the Gunnison Sage-grouse as “endangered.” Co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed Nov. 14 include the Sagebrush Sea C ampaign, Center for Native Ecosystems, Forest Guardians, The Larch Company, Sinapu, Center for Biological Diversity, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Black Canyon Audubon Society and Sheep Mountain Alliance. According to avian scientists, Gunnison County is the only region in the world left with a viable flock of birds, and San Miguel County’s second largest population is imperiled and no longer viable over the long term. The Gunnison Sage-grouse’s historic range once extended into Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, as well as much of southwestern Colorado.


ENVIROS MOVE TO SQUASH OFF-ROAD VEHICLE ATTACK ON DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK

The National Parks Conservation Association, Center for Biological Diversity and other conservation groups represented by Earthjustice filed papers Nov. 15 to intervene in a case that threatens to allow extreme off-road vehicle use in a rare, fragile desert stre am in Surprise Canyon inside Death Valley National Park. Extreme off-road vehicle use would d amage the canyon's unique character, including waterfalls, towering cottonwoods and lush willows that provide habitat for desert bighorn sheep, endangered birds and rare species found nowhere else on earth except Surprise Canyon and nearby areas. Congress and federal land managers have recognized Surprise Canyon's incredible values for decades. In the 1980's the Bureau of Land Management designated the lower portion of the canyon as an "Area of Critical Environmental Concern."


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