Participation
in bird conservation on the national level generally
involves group political activities. As a member of the
Audubon Society, which disseminates information on bird
conservation through its magazines, Audubon and FieldNotes,
or other conservation-oriented groups such as the Sierra
Club, Friends of the Earth, and the National Wildlife
Federation, you can remain informed about issues of
importance. You can support the activities of The Nature
Conservancy, which raises money to purchase habitats that
are important for conserving various species. You can also
become an associate of the Laboratory of Ornithology at
Cornell University, which is a major center for documenting
the conservation status of North American birds. It needs
your financial support, and in return will send you its
interesting publication, The Living Bird
Quarterly. Participation in bird
conservation on the national level can, however, also
involve individual contributions such as those offered in
exchange for the annual duck stamp which is available
through most U. S. post offices. Although its purchase is
required by waterfowl hunters over the age of 15, popularity
of the stamps is increasing as nonhunters begin to collect
them. As of 1984 some 3.5 million acres of wetland had been
purchased with the $285 million revenue from stamp sales.
The program happily weds the harvesting of a living resource
and the preservation of its habitat, helping to assure that
the resource will be available to future
generations. The conservation of birds
can hardly be separated from the broader problem of
conserving Earth's organic diversity as a whole. The Center
for Conservation Biology at Stanford University has a
mission somewhat different from other conservation groups.
It is concerned with providing current scientific thinking
on conservation issues to those involved in the design and
management of nature preserves. It holds workshops for
preserve managers on strategies of conservation for
organisms as diverse as Spotted Owls and grizzly bears.
Center scientists also carry out research projects. For
instance, they have used the array of isolated mountain
range "islands" of moist habitat in Utah and Nevada as a
model to identify the essential characteristics (size,
shape, habitat diversity) for preserves for birds, mammals,
and butterflies. Another of the center's research programs
is aimed at developing projections of the rates of bird
species extinctions in tropical rain forests by applying
island biogeographic theory to a computer data base of bird
distributions and rates of forest destruction. Some conservation
organizations help to coordinate national political action
(letter writing, lobbying, reporting on the activities of
congressmen and of members of Parliament, etc.) needed to
encourage our leaders to take the steps necessary to
preserve the biological riches of the United States and
Canada. These steps include legislation such as the United
States' Endangered Species Act and laws protecting migratory
birds, as well as more general environmental legislation. It
is important, for example, that you support legal abatement
of acid precipitation, which is damaging freshwater and
forest habitats. Many avian populations ranging from those
of aquatic birds, such as loons, which depend on freshwater
fishes, to those of woodland species are
threatened. Too many American and
Canadian decision-makers seem unaware that, to a large
degree, humans compete with birds (and most other animals)
for both habitat and food resources. Pressing for steps to
limit (and then gradually reduce) the scale of human
activities on our continent is perhaps the most basic action
we can take to ensure a future for its nonhuman
residents. SEE: The
Decline of Eastern
Songbirds;
Wintering
and Conservation;
Island
Biogeography;
Birds
and the Law;
Helping
to Conserve Birds -- Local
Level. Copyright
® 1988 by Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl
Wheye.