No time to celebrate

The 230 zoos and aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) share the mission of saving threatened species from extinction. Since 1981, AZA members together have managed hundreds of captive populations of species native to the United States and from around the world. AZA zoos also have worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN’s) Species Survival Commission and others to supply animals, funds and expertise to recover U.S. species in the wild, including black-footed ferrets, California condors, western pond turtles and silverspot butterflies. These actions are bolstered by AZA members’ education and advocacy efforts that collectively reach more than 180 million Americans each year.

Zoo and aquarium professionals applauded when U.S. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell announced in September that the greater sage-grouse, a bird living in 11 Western states suffering population declines, does not need Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection. This decision was reached largely because of unprecedented collaboration between state and federal officials, local stakeholders, and the vital voluntary, public-private partnerships aimed at protecting both the grouse and its sagebrush ecosystem. Conserving grouse habitat will benefit iconic Western animals such as elk, mule deer and pronghorn, and also will prevent declines of hundreds of lesser known animals and plants, whose continuing loss ultimately would cost taxpayers in terms of recovery dollars and degraded ecological benefits.  

{mosads}Also noteworthy is that instead of mitigating the impacts of humans by removing them from the picture, the initiative’s intent is to blur the boundaries between natural and human interests.  

Many conservationists are celebrating Interior Secretary Jewell’s decision in hope that this collaborative approach without ESA listing can be duplicated, and provide a more expeditious framework for conservation than the more typical ESA approach with its inevitable litigation and political interference. While it is heartening to see a new method tried, there is no time to celebrate. While the U.S. has implemented some of the world’s best conservation laws, and the ESA has had great success saving at least 227 species, our U.S. wildlife is in perilous decline. The IUCN classifies 18 percent of animal species and 30 percent of plant species as threatened in the United States. To make matters worse, we are not just losing species, but the population sizes of many non-threatened species are declining. This matters because it is both the kinds of species and their abundances that provide the foundation to build healthy communities and a sustainable U.S.  

For all the promise that September’s sage-grouse decision brings, moving forward we must combine caution and hard work. First, the grouse initiative needs to be rigorously monitored, and the conservation plans allowed time and political headroom to be implemented. Luckily, the ESA will still serve as an insurance policy, guaranteeing that the protections a listing could offer will be available to the grouse if the plans are not sufficiently realized and funded. 

Moreover, this new approach should not be seen as a panacea, and when warranted, the Service must continue to apply ESA listings. The hard truth is that in the nation’s congressional corridors and statehouses the decline of American wildlife is largely unaddressed. While new public-private partnerships protecting biodiversity are needed, they must not become an excuse for federal budget cuts. Instead, new incentives for states and citizens to participate in wildlife conservation on public and private lands are needed.

In fact, USFWS decided that the greater sage-grouse didn’t need to be listed in part because of the collaboration between the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service and ranchers across the West, who used grant funding to remove invasive plants, address fencing issues, and restore habitat. Similar stories of public and private land managers working proactively on rare species conservation efforts abound. USFWS recently announced 17 additional species that had avoided the necessity of a listing. Without the Endangered Species Act, efforts like this simply wouldn’t happen. 

Changes in wildlife policy will require political leadership and broad public support.  U.S. zoos and aquariums are well positioned to help with public education and advocacy. At Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, we are aiming to increase our work in this arena and to build on our 20-year partnership with Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. We urge other zoos and aquariums to do the same to ensure we are saving species in their native habitats.

Koontz is vice president of Field Conservation, Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington.