By Elaine Giessel, Sierra Club Kansas Chapter
The annual Christmas Bird Count ended January 5th, the date designated as National Bird Day, a reminder of the importance of our avian species. Cornell Ornithology Lab estimates that bird populations have declined by a staggering 3 billion birds since 1970, with devastating losses in every biome. Grassland birds have declined by 53%, including the iconic prairie chickens of Kansas. Nearly 3 Billion Birds Gone | Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
How can we help?
Protect Our Planet from Plastics - Take reuseable bags when you shop. Most plastics, about 91%, are not recycled and can take 400 years to degrade. The Kansas Chapter has lobbied hard for restrictions on single-use plastics. Last year we defeated a legislative effort to ban local governments from imposing such restrictions. We're ready to resume that fight again this session.
Make Your Windows Safer for Birds - Simple adjustments to your windows can save birds’ lives. Bird-Friendly Windows
Reduce Lawn by Planting Native Species - The U.S. has 63 million acres of lawn. Reclaiming that land has huge potential for supporting wildlife and conserving our precious water supply.
Keep Cats Indoors - Outdoor cats kill more birds than any other non-native threat and indoor cats live longer, healthier lives.
Avoid Pesticides - Look for organic food choices not produced with the 1 billion pounds of harmful pesticides used in the U.S. each year.
Drink Coffee That's Good For Birds - Shade-grown coffees marketed as bird-friendly are delicious, economically beneficial to farmers, and help more than 42 species of North American songbirds.
Watch Birds, Share What You See - Bird watchers are vital sources of data for scientists who study how the ecological world is faring.
Unfortunately, the loss of avian habitats is an issue much harder to address. Growing human populations continue to destroy woodlands, grasslands and wetlands for food production, fossil fuel extraction, and urban development. Groundwater depletion for industrial-scale agriculture and expanding cities is a problem nationally and globally. America Is Draining Its Groundwater Like There’s No Tomorrow - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
The Kansas "stopover" wetlands on the Central Flyway for the migratory wading birds and waterfowl of Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge are threatened with lack of adequate stream inflows. So far, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to insist on getting the State to administer the senior water rights required to sustain critical habitat. Nothing's Right about Failure to Enforce Water Rights at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge | Sierra Club
It is especially ironic, on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act, that the USFWS has again fallen short of protecting critical habitat of the endangered whooping crane at Quivira NWR. For decades there has been a backlog of species nominated for listing but stuck in administrative processes, due to political pressure and to inadequate funding for the agency. The ESA, our most effective tool to protect biodiversity, is at risk even as we acknowledge the latest extinction crisis, the one caused by humans. WHAT YOU PAY FOR Sierra Magazine : Winter 2023
The time is long overdue to focus on protecting biodiversity and to change the way limited water resources are allocated.