Hovering above Washington’s huge waterways, the osprey is without doubt one of the state’s most iconic birds. With their distinctive brown and white face masks, and livid agility in diving after prey, it’s no marvel that they lend their nickname — seahawk — to Seattle’s soccer group. And whereas the Seahawks might have sadly wrapped issues up on the sphere, the seahawks of the sky are nearly to get their season began. However as habitats shift and decline, they’re going to wish our assist if we need to hold this hen on its dwelling turf.
Almost all of Washington’s ospreys are spending these winter months as far-off as South America. Beginning in late winter, they start winging their means again to the Pacific Northwest to breed and set up territories and lift their younger over the spring and summer time months. Past delighting and galvanizing us with their presence, ospreys have an important function to play within the ecosystem, serving to to take care of biodiversity in our coasts and inland lakes and rivers.
Given their connection to the realm, it’s pure to think about the osprey as ours, and to suppose that defending the species means investing in conservation in our area alone. That’s an necessary part, but when we actually need to shield the osprey and dozens of different migratory species, we have to spend money on sustaining habitats all through the hemisphere.
Luckily, for the previous 20 years, there was a federal program in place that acknowledges simply that. The Neotropical Migratory Chicken Conservation Act is an important grant program that has helped spur worldwide partnerships and funded greater than 700 worldwide initiatives geared toward conserving a few of our most beloved birds.
The NMBCA is now up for reauthorization, and new laws — the Migratory Birds of the Americas Conservation Enhancements Act — has been launched within the Home by U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington and Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida. This laws wouldn’t solely reauthorize the NMBCA, it could make updates that will enhance its accessibility for companions and supply larger employees capability to assist get extra funds the place they should go. And it could enhance its licensed funding from $6.5 million to $10 million to assist broaden its impression on the bottom.
This program has had longstanding bipartisan assist, a confirmed monitor document of success, and offers a commonsense method to investing in each wildlife and communities, however extra work must be finished to construct upon this program for the long run and the birds it advantages.
These sources are urgently wanted. A majority of our migratory hen species are in decline, and the potential impact on biodiversity is very large if we fail to preserve these species throughout their ranges. Greater than half of the birds that we like to welcome again to our yards, cities, waterways and mountains yearly spend their winters in Latin America and the Caribbean. This needs to be a simple win for wildlife. However these seahawks — and their migratory brethren — want assist on their facet to make sufficient noise for our elected representatives to know this can be a precedence.
We vastly respect Rep. Larsen’s management on this difficulty. Now we’d like Congress to behave to reauthorize and enhance this essential program and be the champion that birds and different wildlife want. Soccer season could also be over for Seattle, however we nonetheless have seahawks to root for.
