Please remove this address from your mailing lists. Thank you.
Vince Hannas, AET
Toyokoro, Hokkaido
Japan
At 10:44 PM 99.9.23, Steve Kurtz wrote:
> FYI,
> Steve
> --------------------------------------------------------
> America's Vanishing Biodiversity
>
> By Catherine Lazaroff
> Environment News
>
> WASHINGTON, DC, September 21, 1999 (ENS) - Biological diversity in the
> United States is declining dramatically, a new U.S. Geological Survey
> assessment shows. The agency龝 report underscores the need for science
> to be used in guiding decisions on resource management.
>
> The two volume report, "Status and Trends of the Nation's Biological
> Resources," compiles current scientific research within a historical
> perspective to document how the nation's biological resources are
> changing. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) says the report is the first
> large scale assessment of the nation's natural resource heritage.
>
> "This study is a CT scan of our nation, and like a doctor, it can give
> us a diagnosis as to what we need to do to restore the health of our
> living landscapes," said Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. "The rest is
> up to us."
>
> Almost 200 federal, academic, and non-governmental experts provided
> baseline information to scientists, policy makers, resource managers and
> the public. The 1,000 page scientifically peer reviewed report took four
> years and $1 million to complete, and details both the issues affecting
> biological resources and the status and trends of specific regions.
>
> The report documents that land use changes including urbanization,
> conversion of lands to agriculture, draining of wetlands and the
> fragmentation of forests are the major factors leading to the loss of
> biodiversity.
>
> In the central U.S., the report finds that decades of fire suppression
> and heavy grazing have led to the widespread disappearance of native
> grasslands.
>
> "For example, in seven states once covered with native grasslands, less
> than 1 percent of the native tall grass prairie habitat remains," said
> USGS director Dr. Charles "Chip" Groat. "Losses are due to agriculture,
> grazing, urbanization and mineral extraction. The result is that native
> grassland bird species have shown more consistent, widespread and
> steeper declines than any other group of North American birds."
>
> In the Pacific Northwest, old growth forest logging has led to alarming
> declines in a number of birds and plants. At least 83 percent of the
> region龝 old growth Douglas fir forests have been destroyed, along with
> 75 percent of the coastal rain forests in Washington state. In
> California, 85 percent of the state's old growth redwoods have been cut
> down.
>
> Not only high profile species like spotted owls are affected by the
> forest losses. Officials in Washington can no longer locate leopard
> frogs across much of their historic range, for example. In Oregon龝
> Willamette Valley, sharp tailed and ring necked snakes, western
> rattlesnakes and common king snakes have nearly disappeared. Birds like
> the golden crowned kinglet, Wilson龝 warbler and winter wren, all
> inhabitants of old growth forests, are vanishing.
>
> "Although we know a great deal about some biological resources - such as
> birds, large mammals and some fish species - information is often
> spotty, incomplete or nonexistent for most taxonomic groups," Groat
> said. "We don't, for example, know the status and trends of many species
> of amphibians and reptiles, of invertebrates, of a great number of
> plants, of smaller mammals, and of the vast majority of ocean dwellers.
> And yet, information presented in the report gives great cause for
> concern about certain populations of these lesser studied species."
>
> Fish and other aquatic organisms dominate the lists of species at risk.
> The report blames hydroelectric and flood control dams, and the
> diversion of water for agricultural use, for the fact that 19 percent of
> freshwater fish and 73 percent of freshwater mussels in the Southeast
> are endangered or threatened. In the Southwest, fully 48 percent of fish
> species are at risk.
>
> Almost 60 percent of California fish species have gone extinct or are
> "on the road to extinction if present trends continue," the report
> states. More than half of the state's frog species are endangered or
> threatened.
>
> Californians have also eliminated 91 percent of the state's wetlands and
> 99 percent of grasslands. One in five of the state龝 342 land bird
> species are listed as endangered by the state or federal governments.
>
> "As water supplies were acquired by large development interests with the
> political and financial ability to move water to the semideserts of
> southern California, the growth of cities and agriculture greatly
> accelerated, resulting in the loss of the incredible richness of the
> Central Valley," the report states.
>
> Groat called invasions by non-native species one of the most important
> issues in natural resource management and conservation biology today.
> "Invasive species are especially troublesome because many of them have
> become established in habitats that have no natural competitors or
> predators, enabling the invaders to thrive to the extent where they
> either out-compete native species, significantly alter habitat or both,"
> he said.
>
> Non-native species are particularly devastating on island communities.
> In Hawaii, about 90 invasive plant species pose significant threats to
> the state's ecosystems.
>
> The report does include some good news as well. Species that adapt well
> to human activities, including birds like the Stellar龝 jay and common
> yellowthroat and mammals like the coyote and red fox, are thriving. Bald
> eagles and peregrine falcons have made dramatic recoveries since the
> pesticide DDT was banned.
>
> Efforts to clean up the Great Lakes have removed toxic chemicals and
> excessive amounts of nutrients from the lakes, which, in turn, has
> sparked the revival of burrowing mayfly populations in Lake Erie.
>
> "The report documents the status and trends of individual species and
> particular habitats, which, if lost, can threaten the ecosystem
> functions on which humans depend," said Dr. Michael Mac, the USGS
> project director for the report. "In the face of environmental change,
> biodiversity may provide the stability that buffers ecosystems."
>
>
> ゥ Environment News Service (ENS) 1999.
