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Washington Is on the Brink of Doing Something Right for America’s Wildlife Washington Might Be About to Do Something Right for America’s Wildlife
(7 days later)
NASHVILLE — The media hasn’t paid much attention to the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. With a war raging in Ukraine, a domestic economy in tumult, an attempted coup being explicated on national television, a virus that keeps evolving and a devastating heat wave enveloping parts of the United States and Europe, that’s not surprising. But this landmark legislation, known in conservation circles as RAWA, is poised to become the single most effective tool in combatting biodiversity loss since the Endangered Species Act. NASHVILLE — The media hasn’t paid much attention to the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act. With a war raging in Ukraine, a domestic economy in tumult, an attempted coup being explicated on national television, a virus that keeps evolving and a devastating heat wave enveloping parts of the United States and Europe, that’s not surprising. But this landmark legislation, known in conservation circles as RAWA, is poised to become the single most effective tool in combating biodiversity loss since the Endangered Species Act.
The bill, which the U.S. House passed last week in a 231-to-190 bipartisan vote, will now head to the Senate, where it has already collected 16 Republican co-sponsors. The bill, which the House passed last week in a 231-to-190 bipartisan vote, will now head to the Senate, where it has already collected 16 Republican co-sponsors.
For months now, the Alliance for America’s Fish and Wildlife, Audubon, the National Wildlife Federation, the Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Club — among many other environmental groups, including local advocacy organizations and state wildlife agencies — have been rallying their followers to support the bill. The Natural Resources Defense Council calls it “A Homerun for America’s Wildlife.” For months now, the Alliance for America’s Fish and Wildlife, Audubon, the National Wildlife Federation, the Nature Conservancy and the Sierra Club — among many other environmental groups, including local advocacy organizations and state wildlife agencies — have been rallying their followers to support the bill. The Natural Resources Defense Council calls it “a home run for America’s wildlife.”
The Endangered Species Act was signed into law in 1973, a time when Americans were finally waking up to what human activity was doing to natural systems. But the law has always been poorly funded, with resources sufficient to safeguard only a tiny fraction of threatened or endangered species. “Unfortunately, House and Senate appropriators have made it clear that saving endangered species is not their top priority,” said Stephanie Kurose, a senior policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act is now our best chance to combat extinction in the United States.”The Endangered Species Act was signed into law in 1973, a time when Americans were finally waking up to what human activity was doing to natural systems. But the law has always been poorly funded, with resources sufficient to safeguard only a tiny fraction of threatened or endangered species. “Unfortunately, House and Senate appropriators have made it clear that saving endangered species is not their top priority,” said Stephanie Kurose, a senior policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act is now our best chance to combat extinction in the United States.”
If signed into law, RAWA would establish $1.39 billion — you read that right — for wildlife conservation. Disbursed each year to states, territories and tribal nations according to demonstrated need, these federal funds would be used to help endangered and threatened species recover, and to protect struggling species before they become endangered.If signed into law, RAWA would establish $1.39 billion — you read that right — for wildlife conservation. Disbursed each year to states, territories and tribal nations according to demonstrated need, these federal funds would be used to help endangered and threatened species recover, and to protect struggling species before they become endangered.
Having so many Republicans so wholeheartedly on board with a wildlife preservation bill is of a piece with history, if not recent history. The Endangered Species Act was passed at the urging of President Richard Nixon, a Republican. The Senate version of that bill passed with unanimous support; the vote in the House was 390-to-12 in favor. Having so many Republicans so wholeheartedly on board with a wildlife preservation bill is of a piece with history, if not recent history. The Endangered Species Act was passed at the urging of President Richard Nixon, a Republican. The Senate version of that bill passed with unanimous support; the vote in the House was 390 to 12 in favor.
By today’s acrimonious norms, this is an unthinkable level of bipartisan support — for anything, really, but especially for a conservation law. Over the years the Endangered Species Act has been bitterly opposed by business interests allied with Republicans: the fossil fuel industry, the logging industry, the construction industry — pretty much any industry whose orientation toward the natural world is based in an unquestioned belief in human dominion over nature.By today’s acrimonious norms, this is an unthinkable level of bipartisan support — for anything, really, but especially for a conservation law. Over the years the Endangered Species Act has been bitterly opposed by business interests allied with Republicans: the fossil fuel industry, the logging industry, the construction industry — pretty much any industry whose orientation toward the natural world is based in an unquestioned belief in human dominion over nature.
According to this worldview, what’s best for human beings is what best caters to human consumption. That is, what’s best for us is what allows commodities to be produced quickly, distributed widely, and sold cheaply. This mind-set regards environmental protections as policies that value the lives of animals and plants over the lives of human beings. That’s why the last Republican administration did everything in its power to gut the Endangered Species Act.According to this worldview, what’s best for human beings is what best caters to human consumption. That is, what’s best for us is what allows commodities to be produced quickly, distributed widely, and sold cheaply. This mind-set regards environmental protections as policies that value the lives of animals and plants over the lives of human beings. That’s why the last Republican administration did everything in its power to gut the Endangered Species Act.
But there is more than one way to define what’s best for human beings. You don’t have to nurse a fondness for spotted owls or snail darters — creatures at the heart of two of the most contentious environmental debates in recent history — to understand that what is best for the ecosystems we share with nonhuman animals is what’s best for us, too.But there is more than one way to define what’s best for human beings. You don’t have to nurse a fondness for spotted owls or snail darters — creatures at the heart of two of the most contentious environmental debates in recent history — to understand that what is best for the ecosystems we share with nonhuman animals is what’s best for us, too.
We are not apart from nature. We are a part of it. Whatever happens to the air that spotted owls breathe, and the water and soil that feeds the forests they dwell within, also happens to the air we breathe, the trees that filter the carbon we produce, the water we drink, the climate that affects it all. This is what Kameran Onley, the director of North American Policy and Government Relations at The Nature Conservancy, means when she says that “America’s biodiversity loss is not just a crisis for the species that make up the country’s unique and iconic wildlife; it’s a threat to our future.” We are not apart from nature. We are a part of it. Whatever happens to the air that spotted owls breathe, and the water and soil that feeds the forests they dwell within, also happens to the air we breathe, the trees that filter the carbon we produce, the water we drink, the climate that affects it all. This is what Kameran Onley, the director of North American policy and government relations at the Nature Conservancy, means when she says that “America’s biodiversity loss is not just a crisis for the species that make up the country’s unique and iconic wildlife — it’s a threat to our future.”
Our future.Our future.
It would be wonderful if Americans came to understand that other creatures have inherent worth, independent of their usefulness to us. That plants and animals are worth preserving for no reason but their own right to live among us unmolested. I hold out little hope for such a transformation. Recognizing that our lives are interconnected, however, seems entirely possible, even in this quarrelsome age.It would be wonderful if Americans came to understand that other creatures have inherent worth, independent of their usefulness to us. That plants and animals are worth preserving for no reason but their own right to live among us unmolested. I hold out little hope for such a transformation. Recognizing that our lives are interconnected, however, seems entirely possible, even in this quarrelsome age.
The human species cannot live safely on this planet unless we preserve a deep and rich and multitudinous diversity of insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, plants, fungi and every other irreplaceable life form. Knowing that more than a third of the food we eat depends upon insect pollinators, for example, ought to go a long way toward clarifying to anyone, regardless of partisan affiliation, why protecting pollinators is not a political position.The human species cannot live safely on this planet unless we preserve a deep and rich and multitudinous diversity of insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, plants, fungi and every other irreplaceable life form. Knowing that more than a third of the food we eat depends upon insect pollinators, for example, ought to go a long way toward clarifying to anyone, regardless of partisan affiliation, why protecting pollinators is not a political position.
But as RAWA’s lead House sponsor, Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan, told NPR’s Laura Benshoff, “Too many people don’t realize … that roughly one-third of our wildlife is at increased risk of extinction.” But as RAWA’s lead House sponsor, Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan, told NPR’s Laura Benshoff, too many people don’t realize that “roughly one-third of our wildlife is at increased risk of extinction.”
Human beings are a stubborn, cussed lot, and finding a way to make that point without engaging a knee-jerk “Yeah, but” requires speaking the same language. That’s part of the reason RAWA stands to achieve what the Endangered Species Act has not: Local conservationists and leaders tend to understand better than federal officials how to engage local communities to protect habitat and relieve pressure on wildlife before populations drop to critical levels. Skeptics are more apt to believe the testimony of their own ears if the hunter next door remarks on the fact that bobwhite quail, which used to be the soundtrack of summer, have all but disappeared. A fellow angler observing the devastating effect of invasive carp on freshwater fish can often be more convincing than any expert on the news. Human beings are a stubborn, cussed lot, and finding a way to make that point without engaging a knee-jerk “Yeah, but” requires speaking the same language. That’s part of the reason RAWA stands to achieve what the Endangered Species Act has not: Local conservationists and leaders tend to understand better than federal officials how to engage local communities to protect habitat and relieve pressure on wildlife before populations drop to critical levels. Skeptics are more apt to believe the testimony of their own ears if the hunter next door remarks that bobwhite quail, which used to be the soundtrack of summer, have all but disappeared. A fellow angler observing the devastating effect of invasive carp on freshwater fish can often be more convincing than any expert on the news.
Along with its promise to provide huge amounts of money flowing every year into tribal areas, territories and states, RAWA may be able to tap the power of neighbor-to-neighbor persuasion and soften even the hardest red-state heart. And that good will is just as important as the money itself because some of what is required of us to save our wild neighbors will be uncomfortable or troublesome or inconvenient. It will mean shoring up a chicken coop instead of shooting the critically endangered red wolf that gets too close. It will mean passing legislation that preserves wildlife habitat as a human community grows. It will mean protecting fragile ecosystems from development altogether.Along with its promise to provide huge amounts of money flowing every year into tribal areas, territories and states, RAWA may be able to tap the power of neighbor-to-neighbor persuasion and soften even the hardest red-state heart. And that good will is just as important as the money itself because some of what is required of us to save our wild neighbors will be uncomfortable or troublesome or inconvenient. It will mean shoring up a chicken coop instead of shooting the critically endangered red wolf that gets too close. It will mean passing legislation that preserves wildlife habitat as a human community grows. It will mean protecting fragile ecosystems from development altogether.
The Endangered Species Act, poorly funded though it has been for nearly 50 years, has proven what is possible: only 1 percent of the species officially listed as endangered have since been declared extinct. Though many species remain in profound peril, good news still trickles in now and again. Last spring a litter of red wolves was born in the wild for the first time since 2018. The Endangered Species Act, poorly funded though it has been for nearly 50 years, has proved what is possible: Only 1 percent of the species officially listed as endangered have since been declared extinct. Though many species remain in profound peril, good news still trickles in now and again. Last spring a litter of red wolves was born in the wild for the first time since 2018.
The bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act has the potential to turn that trickle into a rush. It’s what the wild world desperately needs: a human world that doesn’t play politics with wildness.The bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act has the potential to turn that trickle into a rush. It’s what the wild world desperately needs: a human world that doesn’t play politics with wildness.
Margaret Renkl, a contributing Opinion writer, is the author of the books “Graceland, at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South” and “Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss.”Margaret Renkl, a contributing Opinion writer, is the author of the books “Graceland, at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South” and “Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss.”
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