Preserving Our Wildlife Heritage: The Concerned Citizen Is Essential

Abstract

THE WORD ECOLOGY is derived from a Greek word meaning rules. My own definition would add two words: house rules of nature. John Muir phrased it differently when he said whenever we tinker with any living thing we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. Preserving our nation's wildlife heritage relates directly to man's tinkering or intrusions into the life support system of the spaceship earth. Our nation's current and growing environmental crisis forces man to utilize all of his powers of reason, all of his accumulated knowledge of science and technology to maintain livable habitats for all living creatures and in so doing insure his own survival. Early explorers of America found six-foot sturgeon in the James River. The marshes were alive with ducks and geese and all manner of waterfowl. The first visitors to Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod saw what they called penguins-really great auks-as well as deer, ducks, geese, and other waterfowl in amazing plenty. An incredible wealth of fish and shellfish awaited the first European immigrants. America was indeed a land rich in wildlife, as indicated by early place names like Elk Valley, Eagle Rock, Skunk Hollow, and Hawk Mountain. In the colonial era the deer and cod gave our first settlers their food, their clothes, and their fertilizer. In the early national era, the beaver and the buffalo, which we will never learn to call properly the bison, helped lead our western migrating ancestors up the rivers and across the plains to the Rockies. We are all painfully aware of what ultimately happened to the beaver, bison, and numerous other wildlife species as a result of the settling of the continent. Some species were brought to the edge of extinction or were extirpated over large portions of their original range. Conservation efforts have been successful in the reestablishment of many to former or greater levels of abundance. Other species were not as fortunate. Conservation efforts were not implemented in time to save them. The passenger pigeon and Carolina parakeet are examples that spring to mind. Sixty-two animal species that flourished in the United States until the 17th century or later are gone forever. These include the eastern elk, sea mink, steller's sea cow, Atlantic gray whale, heath hen, and Labrador duck, to mention only a few. Don't believe that things are any different today. The ivory-billed woodpecker may well be extinct, and the whooping crane, Mississippi sandhill crane, and California condor have populations of fewer than 100 individuals each. Even our national symbol, the bald eagle, is in trouble. The southern race is listed as endangered and the northern race is expected to be so classified soon in the continental United States. Don't misunderstand me: progress has been made, but the work is far from complete. In colonial times, wildlife and other natural resources seemed inexhaustable. America was a wilderness to be tamed and conquered rather than protected. Only a few individuals were concerned. Between 1850 and 1900, proof of what could happen became evident to a few. These early conservationists made some significant progress in insuring our wildlife heritage. Nevertheless, the general citizenry remained unconcerned. By the end of World War I, Americans recognized that the times of overwhelming wildlife abundance were over and that