U.S. takes brown pelican off endangered species list

Karin Zeitvogel Yahoo News 11 Nov 09;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Nearly 40 years after it was pushed to the edge of extinction by pesticide use, habitat loss and hunting, the brown pelican was Wednesday taken off the endangered species list, US officials said.

"We can celebrate an extraordinary accomplishment: the brown pelican is endangered no more," Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said.

"It has taken 36 years, the banning of DDT and a lot of work by the US government, the states, conservation organizations, dedicated citizens and partners, but today we can say that the brown pelican is back," Salazar told a telephone news conference.

The brown pelican was listed as endangered in 1970 after its numbers had been slashed by the use of the pesticide DDT, by hunters who sought it for its feathers, and by widespread loss of its coastal habitat.

The birds' recovery and removal from the list of endangered species was due largely to a US ban on the use of DDT in 1972, Salazar said.

The population was now back up to more than 650,000 of the birds across Florida, in the coastal regions of the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean, and in the Caribbean and Latin America, Salazar said.

At its lowest point, the number of brown pelicans had fallen to around 10,000, said Tom Strickland, Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The pelican population in the United States first began to decline in the late 19th century when hunters seeking the birds' plumage for women's hats "slaughtered them indiscriminately," said Strickland.

But the species recovered after then president Theodore Roosevelt ordered the creation of a wildlife refuge -- the first in the United States -- on the appropriately named Pelican Island off the Florida coast.

But after World War II, pelican populations again plummeted because of the widespread use of DDT and other pesticides in coastal areas to control mosquitoes.

Adult pelicans with high concentrations of DDT were unable to properly form calcium and laid eggs with thin shells, which broke before the chicks were ready to hatch.

A new threat to the bird is posed by global warming, which could see sea levels rise and wipe out huge swathes of the pelican's coastal habitat, the officials said.

"We could lose up to a million acres (405,000 hectares) of brown pelican habitat due to sea-level rise caused by global warming if modeling predictions are right," said Sam Hamilton, director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

"We will continue to monitor the pelican and its environment to ensure that we will never again see this beautiful bird pushed to the edge of extinction," he said.

The United States will work with government agencies and non-governmental groups in Mexico, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands to keep an eye on the health and numbers of brown pelicans, said Hamilton, adding that the bird could be relisted if numbers are seen to be falling again.

U.S. Government says brown pelicans are endangered no longer
Dina Cappiello, Associated Press Yahoo News 11 Nov 09;

WASHINGTON – Much like its death-defying dives for fish, the brown pelican has resurfaced after plummeting to the brink of extinction.

Interior Department officials on Wednesday announced that they were taking the bird off the endangered species list, after a nearly four-decade struggle to keep the brown pelican population afloat.

The bird now prevalent across Florida, the Gulf and Pacific coasts and the Caribbean was declared an endangered species in 1970, after its population — much like those of the bald eagle and peregrine falcon — was decimated by the use of the pesticide DDT. The chemical, consumed when the pelican ate tainted fish, caused it to lay eggs with shells so thin they broke during incubation.

The pelican's recovery is largely due to a 1972 ban on DDT, coupled with efforts by states and conservation groups to protect its nesting sites and monitor its population, Interior Department officials said.

"Today we can say the brown pelican is back," said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in a conference call with reporters in Washington. "Once again, we see healthy flocks of these graceful birds flying over our shores. The brown pelican is endangered no longer."

The official announcement came earlier at a press conference at Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana, which is dubbed the "Pelican State". The bird has been on the state's official seal since 1804, but the pelican had virtually disappeared from its coasts in the 1960s.

"It's been a long journey," said Tom Strickland, assistant secretary for fish, wildlife, parks for the Interior Department. "It's tracked my whole adult life."

Strickland acknowledged that the bird's coastal habitat was in danger from rising seas and erosion, but he said wildlife officials were confident the bird was ready to be taken off the list.

Anthony Walgamotte, a 75-year-old retired levee worker fishing along Irish Bayou outside New Orleans on Wednesday, said he never knew the bird was in trouble. Nearby, brown pelicans rested on pilings every few hundred yards.

"They're plentiful now," he said.

The plight of the brown pelican has tracked closely with the development and birth of the nation's environmental policy and the environmental movement. It was listed as endangered before Congress passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973. And its struggle for survival, initially due to hunting for feathers to decorate hats, led to the birth of the National Wildlife Refuge System more than 100 years ago. That's when President Theodore Roosevelt created the first refuge at Pelican Island in Florida.

Nowadays the bird is prevalent along the coasts of Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, California, Washington and Oregon, and its global population, including the Caribbean and Latin America, is estimated at 650,000. It can often be seen dramatically diving headfirst into the water to emerge with a mouthful of fish.

The Bush administration in early 2008 proposed removing the bird from the endangered species list. In 1985, the Fish and Wildlife Service eliminated brown pelicans living in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and up the Atlantic Coast from the list.

Some environmentalists Wednesday said that they would like to see populations in the Western Gulf and the Caribbean stay on the list. Along the Gulf Coast the concern is that the population lives on low-lying islands and coasts vulnerable to hurricanes and the rising sea levels expected to come with global warming. In the Caribbean, the question is whether the population has been sufficiently monitored.

"We remain very concerned with the long-term viability in the face of global warming and hurricanes," said Kieran Suckling of the Center for Biological Diversity. "We would prefer to see the federal government secure long-term agreements (along the Gulf) to ensure coastal nesting habitat is going to be restored and protected in perpetuity."

The announcement does not remove all protections for the species. It will still be protected by other laws, such as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

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Associated Press writers Cain Burdeau from New Orleans and Jeff Barnard from Grants Pass, Ore. contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Fish and Wildlife Service: http://tinyurl.com/ygvbbxe

Brown pelican no longer endangered: U.S.
Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters 11 Nov 09;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The brown pelican, listed as an endangered species even before the 1973 U.S. Endangered Species Act existed, is officially back from the brink of extinction, the Interior Department said on Wednesday.

There are now more than 650,000 brown pelicans in Florida, the U.S. Gulf states and along the Pacific coast, as well as in the Caribbean and Latin America, up from as few as 10,000, Interior officials said.

"It has taken 36 years, the banning of (pesticide) DDT and a lot of work ... but today we can say that the brown pelican is back," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a telephone briefing.

The brown pelican was first declared endangered in 1970 under the Endangered Species Preservation Act, a precursor to the current law.

Once hunted for their feathers for use in women's hats in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, brown pelicans faced further pressure from the general use of the pesticide DDT, which caused pelican eggshells to become so thin that it interfered with reproduction.

The United States banned general use of DDT in 1972. This decision also hastened the recovery of other formerly endangered species including the bald eagle and peregrine falcon.

The widespread loss of coastal habitat also played a role in the brown pelican's decline, and sea level rise resulting from climate change could have an impact on its continued recovery, the officials said.

Wednesday's announcement was the final step in the bird's recovery. by 1985, enough brown pelicans had returned to Florida, Alabama, Georgia and the Atlantic Coast to have them removed from the endangered list in those areas.

Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana hailed the recovery of this iconic bird, which is on the Louisiana flag and a symbol of the state.

"I have spent countless hours with my family watching the sunset over Lake Pontchartrain and observing pelicans feeding off at a distance," Landrieu said in a statement. "It is one of Louisiana's great sights and I am delighted the brown pelican will be enjoyed by future generations of Louisianans."

(Editing by Philip Barbara)