Prior to European settlement and late into the 19th century, the Passenger Pigeon was the most abundant bird in the United States. There are reliable stories of flocks that would darken the skies for a week, and their population was estimated at 5 billion. It is almost impossible to believe, but through slaughtering via indiscriminate hunting and habitat loss on a massive scale, they were extinct by 1914.
The silver lining in the very dark cloud represented by this tragedy was the 1918 passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (the “MBTA”), the fundamental environmental protection law afforded to our native birds.
Recently, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell proposed strengthening the MBTA. Possibly as a reaction, in late May the House of Representatives passed and sent to the Senate an appropriations bill containing an amendment that would defund enforcement of the MBTA for one year, effectively killing it. This represents a frontal attack on the protection of birds. After the extinction of the Passenger Pigeon, it is hard to believe that a law like this would be under attack.
During my many years of conversation activism, I have never witnessed an issue of greater magnitude affecting one of our nation’s most priceless resources than the current Congressional attack on migratory birds. Moreover, this is probably the timeliest possible Alert, as immediate action is urgently needed. For a good summary of the background and current status of this amendment, please see the American Birding Association’s June 11 summary by Nate Swick.
The Senate version of this appropriations bill passed out of Committee earlier last month without the harmful language defunding enforcement of the MBTA. The bill now proceeds to the Senate floor, where the sponsor is actively advocating for his language to be incorporated into the Senate bill through the use of a procedural maneuver.
Please call your Senators and urge them to VOTE NO on any amendments to the FY 2016 CJS Appropriations bill or any other proposal that would gut the MBTA. Urge your Senators to stand up for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and vote NO on any provisions that would allow birds to be threatened, harmed, or freely killed.
If you are an Illinois resident, please call Senator Kirk at (202) 224-2854 and Senator Durbin at (202) 224-2152, and tell them to VOTE NO on any proposed amendments that would weaken MBTA. If you live outside of Illinois, please call (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senator.