Wild Onion - 2nd Quarter 2008
Endangered Species Day: Sierra Club Among Many Co-Sponsors
Chicago Group Plans Biodiversity Blitz, Global Warming Lecture
May 17th (Check back for location and time)
May 16 is the third annual U.S. Endangered Species Day and the timing couldn’t be better.
Not only are birds migrating and prairies, forests, deserts, marshes, pastures and parks greening across America, but many environmentalists remain concerned about last year’s behind-the-scenes shenanigans in Washington D.C. and their impact on the plight of endangered animals, plants, birds, insects and reptiles.
Sierra Club will be celebrating the amazing wildlife that resides in or visits Chicago with a biodiversity bltiz through Lincoln Park, followed by a lecture about the impacts of climate change on wildlife and a tour of Lincoln Park Zoo’s endangered species exhibits.
Endangered species protection is vital
Sierra Club and other environmental groups are concerned
about other actions by the Bush administration, including the repeal of logging
restrictions in Pacific Northwest old-growth forests that are the habitat of the
endangered Spotted Owl and Marbled Murrlet; erosion of protection for Gray
Wolves, Grizzly Bears and American Bison in Yellowstone National Park; and with
development issues in the Everglades that may adversely affect the imperiled
Florida Panther.
While many Washington legislators, including our own Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), have expressed a strong desire to strengthen protectins for threatened and endangered wildlife, especially Polar Bears, funding is chronically short for for federal listing and species protection programs. Congress needs to provide adequate funding annually for the Department of the Interior’s ESA support work. More than 250 U.S. plants, animals, insects, invertebrates and fish have been flagged as strong candidates for endangered or threatened status, but DOI staff plead a perpetual lack of funds for their lack of action in reviewing and listing these species.
But one concrete action by the the U.S. Senate is its designation of May 16 as Endangered Species Day.
Dedicating a specific day to public outreach about Endangered Species is a wonderful way to help everyone from school children to politicians to Joe Q. Public about the importance of maintaining strong protections for wildlife around the world that is threatened by habitat destruction, neglect, excessive exploitation and global climate change.
Chicago’s ES Day Celebration
Chicago Group of the Sierra Club will spend May 17 in Lincoln
Park. We’re going to scour the lake front parks from Montrose Beach to North
Avenue, recording every species of plant, animal, bird and bug that we find –
and can identify – in Lincoln Park. Amazingly enough, a number of endangered
species live in this huge city or pass through it during migration in the case
of birds. But this blitz will aim to find the maximum species possible ranging
from common residents like mosquitoes and Canada Geese to the rare migrant
Cerulean Warbler.
We’re going to move between natural areas in the park by bike to make the blitz carbon neutral. Foot travelers can meet the group at various pre-set times and locations to help with the blitz at a single site.
I’m a bird watcher, so we’ll have the flying creatures covered when it comes to identification, but we need plant, bug, reptile and lichen specialists to help with field identification.
But anyone can participate: The most important criteria flor the biodiversity blitz is enthusiasm for plants and animals and a strong curiousity about the world around you. Binoculars to help you idenitfy distant creatures and a digital camera would be helpful so you can snap pictures of creatures not immediately identifiable and look them up in guide books later.
We’ll end up at Lincoln Park Zoo, lock up our bikes and have a look at some of the zoo’s very rare species.
Afterwards, nationally recognized speaker Chad Kister will present a program about the impact of global climate change on wildlife.
Chad is a fanatic defender of the Arctic as well as an adventurer. He’s written two books about the Arctic and threats to the eco-system there. Chad traveled more than 700 miles across the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on foot and by canoe, living off the land and seeing firsthand the impacts of pollution from oil extraction and of climate change on high northern species. Chad is intimate with the Arctic and will help you understand why this habitat – and many others around the world – are so vulnerable to climate change.
Chad’s program will be the perfect ending to a perfect day. Even if you don’t care to “blitz,” you’ll enjoy the zoo tour and the educational program that follows.
Want to blitz? Attend the program and zoo tour?
Details are still in flux about the May 17 celebrations, so be sure to check back here site for more information.
You can also suscribe to Chicago Group’s E-News publication, which delivers all of our events to your email inbox at the beginning of each month. Click on the “subscribe to e-news” icon in the left column of the home page.
RSVP for the biodiversity blitz, the zoo program and Chad Kister’s program to Christine Williamson at birdchris@aol.com. If you need more information, phone Chris at 773/935-8439 (evenings).
You’ll get one entry to the Environmental Activist Awards Program for participating in each of these three activities.
To learn more about the Endangered Species Act and the Sierra Club’s efforts to protect wildlife, see: www.sierraclub.org/esa
To learn more about the impacts of global warming on wildlife and habitat see: http://www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/habitat/
For more information about Endangered Species Day, see: www.stopextinction.org/endangeredspeciesday