The US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated in 2002 that up to two million birds were killed in oil pits every year. Photo: Pedro Ramirez, Jr/USFWS
Outgoing Administration Gave Thumbs Up to Migratory Bird Massacre. It’s Time to Reverse the Damage.
Jacob Carter, Research scientist | January 28, 2021, 11:24 am EDT This post is a part of a series on
Since 1918 the federal government has implemented its authority under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) to hold industries accountable for the death of birds due to their operations. Such operations include the spraying of insecticides that poison birds, maintaining oil pits that can lead to drowning, or contact with infrastructure such as wind turbines that can cause death on impact.
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While the texts of environmental laws do not change without an act of Congress, executive branch agencies that enforce those laws have a great deal of discretion in what kinds of violations to prioritize for investigation and enforcement and how aggressive to be in applying them to new or ambiguous fact patterns. Because the consequences of contesting a government enforcement case can be so onerous – financially, operationally, reputationally and otherwise – how the agencies exercise this enforcement discretion can often determine, for all practical purposes, how laws actually direct business conduct. So where should you be focusing your attention? Here are several key issues to watch over the upcoming year.
1. Song Sparrow
The Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) is a common species in brush and hedges. Aretas A.
Saunders in 1911 reported that the greatest variety of bird species in Gallatin County could be found in riparian and swampy areas with thickets of willow and alder, and that is where he found what he called the Mountain Song Sparrow. He also found the species in lower mountain canyons and in cottonwoods. Although Song Sparrows are found here year-round, the species is migratory. In the late nineteenth century the United States lost an estimated 40% of the total bird population disappeared. That prompted the Audubon movement, state laws protecting birds, and the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 that still provides protection for this and other migratory species.
Posted by EarthSky Voices in Earth | Human World |
January 24, 2021
On Trump’s way out of the White House, his administration demolished a law that protects migratory birds, putting over 1,000 species at risk. The Biden administration can still salvage it, but only if they act swiftly.
An Arctic tern defends its territory. This bird species is famous for its migration; it flies from its Arctic breeding grounds to the Antarctic and back again each year. Image via Lindsay Robinson/ Flickr.
This opinion article is written by Kelcie Walther, an undergraduate in Columbia University’s Department of Ecology, Environmental Biology and Evolutionary Biology. It’s republished with permission from GlacierHub.
On January 20, 2021, President Biden announced his administration will review regulatory actions taken between January 17, 2020 and January 20, 2021 in accordance with an Executive.