Copyright 1999 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
FEBRUARY 11, 1999, THURSDAY
SECTION: IN THE NEWS
LENGTH:
2567 words
HEADLINE: PREPARED TESTIMONY BY
ROBERT
MCDOWELL
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
FISH AND WILDLIFE AGENCIES
BEFORE THE HOUSE RESOURCES COMMITTEE
FISHERIES,
CONSERVATION, WILDLIFE AND OCEANS SUBCOMMITTEE
SUBJECT - HR 39, THE
NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY BIRD
CONSERVATION ACT OF 1999
BODY:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am Robert
McDowell, Director of the New Jersey Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife,
representing the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and I
appreciate the opportunity to share with you the Association's perspectives on
HR 39, the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act. The Association supports
HR 39 as a good start to address the needs of this important group of migratory
birds at the southern terminus of their migratory route, but will also point out
the unfulfilled conservation needs for these species in the United States and
for domestic programs to address those needs.
The International Association
of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, founded in 1902, is a quasi-governmental
organization of public agencies charged with the protection and management of
North America's fish and wildlife resources. The Association's governmental
members include the fish and wildlife agencies of the states, provinces, and
federal governments of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. All 50 states are members.
The Association has been a key organization in promoting sound resource
management and strengthening federal, state, and private cooperation in
protecting and managing fish and wildlife and their habitats in the public
interest.
As you are aware, Mr. Chairman, the Association has long played an
active role in migratory bird conservation, from the negotiation and
ratification of the Migratory Bird Treaty in 1916 and passage of the MBTA in
1918, to the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. The Association has also
given the highest priority to securing the necessary funding to enable our State
fish and wildlife agencies to address the conservation needs of the so called
nongame wildlife species (such as Neotropical migratory birds) and their
habitats before they reach a point where the application of the Endangered
Species Act is necessary. I know that you are familiar with our "Teaming with
Wildlife" proposal, Mr. Chairman, to accomplish those objectives. We hope to be
able to fulfill those objectives with the passage of the Conservation
and Reinvestment Act from Chairman Young and Congressman Dingell in
this Congress. The Association and our member State fish and wildlife agencies
are also very active in Partners-in-Flight, the Western Hemisphere Shorebird
Reserve Program, the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, and other
international endeavors to conserve migratory birds throughout their range. The
Association therefore supports HR 39 as another measure to facilitate the
conservation of migratory birds, particularly in Latin America and the
Caribbean.
Most of our member State fish and wildlife agencies participating
in the North American Waterfowl Management Plan are currently sending matching
funds to both Canada and Mexico to facilitate the conservation objectives of
this plan. Our agencies in the border States of California, Arizona, New Mexico
and Texas are already engaged in conservation efforts in Mexico and other Latin
American countries to restore indigenous fauna. We anticipate that our State
fish and wildlife agencies would likewise participate in the matching fund
protocol that HR 39 would establish for neotropical migratory bird species
conservation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Association recognizes
that effective conservation of the 800+ species of birds that occur in the
United States during some part of their life cycle requires the cooperative
efforts of conservationists at international, national, regional, state and
local geographic levels. The efforts of these conservationists should be guided
by a logical framework of planning (population and habitat surveys, inventory,
monitoring actions and development of conservation strategies and measurable
conservation objectives), implementation (on-the-ground habitat conservation
actions, education, training and research) and evaluation (assessment of
effectiveness of implementation actions and progress toward conservation
objectives). This process of planning, implementation, and evaluation,
coordinated at multiple geographic scales (from local to international),
provides an adaptive approach to delivery of migratory bird conservation that
identifies priorities, measures progress, and constantly refines the efficacy of
conservation efforts. This approach, however, cannot be fully realized without a
firm foundation of technical and administrative capability, strengthened and
integrated partnership cooperation, and a clear recognition that migratory bird
conservation must be managed within a continental and international context. The
Association has recently created an ad hoc Committee on Migratory Bird Funding
to make progress on the effort to improve our abilities to effectively conserve
migratory birds within a continental and international context.
Let me now
relate to you a few examples demonstrating that in order to successfully secure
the conservation of these neotropical migrants, we need to address their life
needs and habitat requirements both in the United States which encompasses their
breeding range, in stopover habitats these species use during migration, and in
the southern terminus of their migration, which is their winter range.
The
Cerulean Warbler is a neotropical migratory bird that breeds across the eastern
United States and winters in northern South America, mostly to the east of the
Andes mountains. The North American Breeding Bird Survey indicates that this
species has declined significantly between 3.5 and 4% each year for the past 30
years on the breeding grounds in the United States, primarily as a result of
loss and fragmentation of bottomland hardwood forest. During the nonbreeding
season, the species is known to frequent coffee farms in Latin America where it
forages in the mid-story and canopy vegetation provided as shade for the growing
coffee plants. However, much of that acreage is being converted to sun tolerant
varieties of coffee. Sun tolerant coffee plantations do not provide the kind of
habitat needed by over-wintering Cerulean Warblers. The effects of widespread
loss of habitat on the wintering ground are likely to only compound the threats
to survival faced by this species. Protection of both existing breeding and
over-wintering habitat is critical, and restoration of extensively forested
landscapes and river bottoms is encouraged.
On the west coast of the
continent, the Alaska shorebird working group is developing a state-wide
comprehensive monitoring program. Since nearly the entire world population of
Western Sandpipers breeds in Alaska, monitoring of population numbers and
productivity of this abundant species must occur in Alaska. Funding is
critically needed for state participation in monitoring of breeding populations.
Much of the habitat in significant migration staging areas such as the Copper
River Delta, Kachemak Bay, and Stikine River flats is state owned tidal flats.
Funding is needed for management and conservation of these significant habitats.
Western Sandpipers winter along the Pacific coast from California to Peru,
and also to a lesser extent on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S. During
migration, they have spectacular congregations at staging sites. Major stopover
sites during spring migration include San Francisco Bay, Grays Harbor, the
Fraser River delta in British Columbia, and the Copper River Delta in Alaska. At
the Copper River, it is estimated that as much as 90% of the world population of
the species collects to feed before moving on to the breeding grounds -- almost
2 million individuals were counted on one day, and 6.5 million were estimated
during migration in one spring. Conservation risks now are mainly due to threats
to habitat at staging sites on this species migration route.
I would
like to close with a few observations relative to the significance of familiar
New Jersey habitats to neotropical migratory birds. Many of the neotropical
migratory bird species use the Atlantic coast as a major north-south
thoroughfare. Along this migration highway weather and the need for food often
force birds to delay their journey. The areas where they delay, or stopover
areas, are the most important habitats along a migrant flight path. For many
species, especially those making long flights like the red knot, scarlet tanager
and osprey, the protection of quality stopover habitat can make the difference
between a species survival and extinction.
The Delaware Bay and Cape May
Peninsula are among the most important stopovers in the world. The reasons are
numerous:
- The fall flight through Cape May not only includes over 150
species of passerines and 21 species of raptors, but also woodcock and over 30
species of migratory butterflies and dragonflies.
- The spring stopover of
shorebirds through the Delaware Bay, one of the top three in the world, includes
over 15 species, some making round trip flights of over 20,000 miles.
- Both
fall and spring migrants gain weight while stopping over and this weight can be
crucial to the success of their migration. Shorebirds double their body weight
before flying non-stop to arctic breeding grounds. The primary resource is
horseshoe crab eggs and the bay is the only place in the world where crabs occur
in sufficient number to produce enough eggs for birds to gain more than 3-5% of
their body weight/day.
- The Cape May peninsula and the Delaware Bay is one
of the most used ecotourism destinations in the country. An estimated $30
million in the fall and an estimated $5-$10 million in the spring are spent each
year by visiting birders alone.
- The wide diversity of bird species
requires a wide array of habitats, distributed over a large part of the bayshore
and peninsula. In other words, the birds require a functioning ecosystem right
in the very heart of the New York Washington megalopolis.
A major portion of
the US human population, nearly 15%, is within a three-hour drive of this area.
This adds incredible pressure in almost all areas of potential impact: land
development, disturbance, contamination, and catastrophic oil spills. But if we
are to protect this stopover habitat, we must also conserve the integrity of the
ecosystem in which these habitats occur.
In consequence, the bay and
peninsula have been the subject of numerous protection attempts. In the last 15
years we have seen nearly every major national program play some role in
protection. The bay has been designated a RAMSAR site, a WHRSN Hemispheric site,
an EPA Estuary of National Significance, and a TNC Last Great Place, to name a
few. It has been ranked near the top of several land acquisition programs
including the Land and Water Conservation Fund program, a North American
Waterfowl Management Plan Joint Venture, as well as the New Jersey state Green
Acres Program. The areas include four National Wildlife Refuges including the
recent Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, three different wild and scenic rivers
(two sections of the river and one tributary), many state Wildlife Management
Areas on both sides, and a large number of parcels held by private conservation
organizations.
Yet despite this extraordinary protection, there are clear
signs of major needs for these wildlife species that remain unsatisfied. The
fall migration is threatened because nearly 40% of all migratory bird habitat
has been lost between 1972 and 1992, the period of greatest protection
activity.These problems can only be corrected with a significant increase in
conservation efforts and programs directed at these problems. The New Jersey
Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife has piloted a number of projects using funds
from private foundations and mitigation agreements that with stable and
significant funding can lead to permanent protection.
These pilot projects
suggest the conservation of both the spring and fall flight of migratory birds
can be accomplished with new programs aimed at an increased involvement of
citizens, municipal and local governments, and an additional emphasis by state
fish and wildlife and land management agencies.
The first job would be to
create landscape level mapping of significant wildlife habitat areas that would
be made widely available, and characterized not only as key habitat for
wildlife, but as indicators of our community quality of life. These maps can be
based on satellite imagery and could be redone regularly to provide feedback to
community organizations on the real impact of the conservation of these
habitats.
This regional scale mapping can be used to facilitate the
coordination of state and federal level activities that include consideration of
migratory birds such as land acquisition, and application of conservation and
habitat management programs.
At the county and municipal level, state fish
and wildlife agencies can assist land use planners in the development of land
use ordinances that reduce impact to migratory birds and recommend zoning
classifications to protect areas of greatest importance. This could include, for
example, changes to the minimum amounts of land cleared for each new house or
the width of setbacks for roads and property.
At the private landowner
level, state fish and wildlife agencies can affect habitat in two ways. For
large private landholdings, we can develop management plans that allow bird
habitat protection while still achieving landowners' goals. To encourage
protection, we would- take advantage of existing financial incentives from other
agencies such as farmland conservation programs under the federal farm bill and
other state and federal programs. We can also refer landowners of valuable
wildlife habitat to programs of land acquisition, conservation easements, or
purchase of development rights if they are interested in long-term conservation.
Backyard habitat for migratory birds can also be created or enhanced by
working with individual homeowners. We can target developments that are adjacent
to important areas and have created a state program to certify backyard wildlife
habitat. We can also use additional funding to create incentives to manage
backyards. State fish and wildlife agencies can also work with developers to
certify entire new developments as migratory bird sanctuaries. Working with
homeowners has the additional benefit of creating habitat in areas where habitat
has already been lost, namely housing developments.
These project elements
were embraced by the Northeast Partners in Flight working group as a realistic
way to conserve stopover habitat throughout the midAtlantic region, from New
Jersey to Virginia. Unfortunately, funding is currently unavailable for this
forward- looking endeavor.
I share these examples with you, Mr. Chairman, to
highlight the very vital needs that these species have in both their northern
and southern habitats. Towards addressing those needs, the Association certainly
supports HR 39 as a good first step in the right direction. We also look forward
to working closely with you to successful passage of the Conservation
and Reinvestment Act, which will position the state fish and wildlife
agencies to fulfill our conservation obligations to these species in the United
States.
Thank you for the opportunity to share the Association's
perspectives with you, and I would be pleased to address any questions.
END
LOAD-DATE: February 13, 1999
