This month, four endangered whooping crane chicks hatched in the wild at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin. It has been a banner year for the cranes at Necedah, with 20 pairs of the endangered birds nesting at the refuge. That’s great news. Coming as it does during the month we celebrate Endangered Species Day (May 20), it is a timely reminder of the crucial role the Refuge System plays in protecting threatened species from extinction.
In addition to whooping cranes, the nation’s wildlife refuges protect more than 250 of the nation’s more than 1,300 endangered and threatened birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, fish and plants. Endangered sea turtle species—including Kemp’s ridley, loggerhead, and green sea turtles—rely on the refuges of the Gulf coast for a safe place to come ashore and lay their eggs. Every May and June at the night-time high tides of the new and full moons, the refuges of the Delaware Bay are witness to an ancient drama as thousands of horseshoe crabs come ashore to lay their eggs, and thousands of shorebirds, including highly endangered red knots, feast on the bounty.
Some refuges—59 of them in 20 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands—were established specifically to protect one or more endangered species, including the California condor (Bitter Creek, Hopper Mountain, and Blue Ridge NWRs), the West Indian manatee (Crystal River NWR), the Kirtland’s warbler (Kirtland’s Warbler WMA) and the Florida panther (Florida Panther NWR). In some cases, our Refuge System has helped to bring species back from the brink of extinction. Our symbolic national bird, the bald eagle, is no longer listed as endangered, in part because the use of DDT was banned, but also because several national wildlife refuges (Karl E. Mundt in Nebraska, and the James River and Mason Neck NWRs in Virginia) were established to help eagles recover from the disastrous effects of the pesticide.
Managing—and funding—our nation’s 553 national wildlife refuges to assure the survival of these and other endangered and threatened species is important work. And it’s work that will pay dividends to future generations in the form of strong, intact ecosystems that provide benefits not only to wildlife, but to us all.
By Evan Hirsche, President, National Wildlife Refuge Association
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Great information. I’m really interested in your statement that refuges protect approximately 20% of the ESA-listed T&E species in the US. Logically one would expect refuges to provide habitat, or protection as you stated, for many more, even all listed species. Very interesting blog, thanks for posting!