Dear HCN,
Thank you for publishing
the edition covering the (endangered) Endangered Species Act, (HCN,
5/15/95). I work as a biologist, surveying and trying to mitigate
detrimental effects to threatened, endangered, and sensitive
species and their habitats. There is a great deal of
misunderstanding concerning the effects of the act’s enforcement,
with people continuing to berate species for their audacity for
existing. Elected officials need to be made aware of the many
reasons for keeping the law intact, or better yet,
strengthened.
I am writing to defend the
Endangered Species Act. I am intimately familiar with it and the
effect it has and has not had in areas which have seen the largest
train wrecks from the act’s enforcement. A major problem has been
the continued failure to mention that the mismanagement of land is
what created the problem, not the species being pushed to
extinction.
When working in the Cascades of
Oregon, I stood atop four-foot diameter stumps in 60-acre
clearcuts, looking across canyons and seeing more clearcuts: half
the forest was gone! The realization that there never would be
another four-foot tree in those cuts because they will be harvested
long before they reach that size broke my heart.
Many times I crossed what had been crystal-clear
fish-spawning streams choked with sediment and slash below
clearcuts, with buffer strips only a few trees wide. I watched
Pacific yew trees go up in smoke during “brush disposal”
operations, trees which are now threatened with extinction, and
have been found to yield an effective drug used for cancer
treatment.
While working in the Black Hills of
South Dakota, one of the last large tracts of old-growth ponderosa
pine forest came under attack because it wasn’t producing elk and
deer. But there were numerous other species that lived only there,
under tall, closed canopies.
While in Montana,
the winter after the Yellowstone fires, I heard great cries of
anguish over losing forests in the park, while at the same time
other public lands were being massively logged with little
protest.
In Arizona where I work now, the
majority of ridgetops once covered by clumps of mature ponderosa
pines have been turned into “dog-hair thickets,” ready to be
destroyed by out-of-control wildfires, through decades of
overlogging and fire suppression.
Only small
remnants of mature forests, which took thousands of years to
develop, remain across this beautiful American country: We’ve taken
over 95 percent of them in 300 years. Is it any wonder that so many
species are in danger of or threatened with extinction? Are we so
willing to lose these species forever, without even knowing
anything about them?
We are in the unfortunate
position of living in a time when the bills of past human actions
are coming due. Loggers are now paying the price of land managers
over-estimating tree growth data, congressionally mandated minimal
cuts, and the overcutting by their forefathers. Fishermen are
paying the price of living with cheap hydro-power electricity. Blue
collar workers are paying the price of corporate CEOs’ continued
effort to reduce the bottom line by moving to countries with cheap
labor and no regulation. The healthy environment is paying the
price of uncontrolled, unsustainable economic growth and runaway
consumerism. We have a grave responsibility to look these bills in
the face. We cannot continue to ignore the facts, and keep passing
the buck on to the next generation.
We don’t need
other species because they are cute or nice or we like them. We, as
have all species, evolved over time both physically and culturally
rocked in the cradle of a healthy, diverse biosphere. Though many
are loath to admit it, we are biological creatures subject to
diseases, climatic fluctuations, ultraviolet radiation, and the
like. God made us all, from soil microbes to Homo sapiens, and that
was no mistake.
We have no idea of the myriad
connections existing between ourselves and the rest of the
biosphere. We do know, however, that the smoke alarm is the fading
howl of the wolf, the diminished croaks of the disappearing
amphibians worldwide, increased cancer rates, starving babies, and
every polluted river flowing into the sea. Diverse biological
systems can absorb many more perturbations than can monocultures.
With each loss of a species, we as humans come closer and closer to
experiencing first hand the blows which will no longer be absorbed
by the diverse web of life.
To eviscerate the
American home-grown Endangered Species Act, the only law of the
land which has teeth strong enough to fight these problems, only
passes the buck again. What is needed is for the act to be
strengthened to include entire ecosystems, from the soil upon which
it stands, the water which flows through it, to the birds which fly
above, and everything in between. If we as a people fail to realize
the enormity of the loss of biodiversity, we have failed as an
intelligent species and are pushing ourselves toward extinction as
well.
Make no mistake, this is urgent. Please
contact at least one of the task force members: Chairman Richard
Pombo, R-Calif.; Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho; Wes Cooley, R-Ore.;
Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo.; Calvin Dooley, D-Calif.; John Doolittle,
R-Calif.; Eni Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa; Wayne Gilchrest,
R-Md.; Richard (Doc) Hastings, R-Wash.; J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz.;
Maurice Hinchey, D-New York; Jack Metcalf, R-Wash.; Solomon Ortiz,
D-Texas; George Radanovitch, R-Calif.; Linda Smith, R-Wash.; Gerry
Studds, D-Mass.; W.J. (Billy) Tauzin, D-La.; William Thornberry,
R-Texas; or Bruce Vento, D-Minn. Committee members can be reached
at the Endangered Species Act Task Force, U.S. House Resources
Committee, Washington, D.C. 20515, U.S. House switchboard:
202/225-3121.
Lynn
Sainsbury
Winslow,
Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Endangered Species Act defender issues call to arms.
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