As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday, 16 August 2018

Piping Plover Newly Threatened in Proposed Changes to Endangered Species Act



By TRIMMEL GOMES WISCONSIN NEWS CONNECTION • JUL 25, 2018

MADISON, Wis. - Bird enthusiasts and conservation groups say the Trump administration's plans to change the Endangered Species Act would make it more difficult to recover threatened or endangered birds.

The proposal, announced last week by the Interior and Commerce departments, would end the practice of extending similar protections to species regardless of whether they are listed as "endangered" or "threatened."

Steve Holmer, vice president for policy at the American Bird Conservancy, said those distinctions matter, especially in the case of the piping plover, which is considered endangered around the Great Lakes and threatened in other areas of the country. "It's a very charismatic bird that nests on beaches," he said, "but now, under this rule, it could be easier to remove some of that habitat because they wouldn't look at it one project at a time. They would try to bury it within the whole entire habitat."

Deputy Interior Secretary David Bernhardt described the proposal as an effort to fulfill President Donald Trump's executive order to scale back government regulation. Holmer said he'll make his concerns known during the 60-day public comment period through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and another government website.

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