Say yes to the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act
From the editor -- June 2008
Published:
April 25, 2008
What a great time of year to be a birdwatcher. There really are few experiences as enjoyable as standing under a leafy canopy filled with colorful warblers and other recently arrived songbirds.
This issue presents several places where you can do just that. Dan Purrington describes one: City Park in New Orleans. Almost every eastern neotropical migrant has been recorded there. Jay Stenger reports on another: the Oxbow and Shawnee Lookout, in Ohio. The warblering is excellent there, too. You can find as many as 25 species during spring migration.
The excitement brought on by the arrival of such birds makes me hesitate to point out that populations of many of the species that return from wintering grounds south of the Tropic of Cancer each spring are declining, in some cases precipitously. The Cerulean Warbler, to name just one, has declined 80 percent between 1966 and 2005.
You might think that stemming a decline so dramatic would be an urgent national priority, but in fact there is only one significant federal funding source for neotropical migrants, and it's a modest one: the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act.
Signed into law in 2000 and reauthorized in 2006, it establishes a small matching-grants program to support projects that promote the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Through 2007, it has funded 225 vital projects. Considering the state of our birds, the number should be much higher, and with your help, perhaps it will be. A bill introduced in the House would reauthorize the act for the years 2010-15 and raise the authorized grant amount. Please support it.
|