Comment by July 20 to Protect Migratory Birds

A Denver Audubon member recently asked, “are all the birds dying in Denver?” Judging by the activity of birds visiting our back yard feeders—families of Black-capped Chickadees, Flickers, House Finches, House Wrens, and Bushtits—we said no.

But we do know that bird numbers in North America are down 29 %, almost 3 billion birds lost since 1970. The actions of industries and businesses can kill birds, even though those actions aren’t aimed at birds. When that happens, it’s referred to as “incidental take.”

For many years the US Fish and Wildlife Service has fined industries for incidental take. However, as Denver Audubon previously blogged about, the US Government has changed its policy, and currently ignores critical bird protections.

To analyze the effects of this change in policy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has published an Environmental Impact Statement that evaluates several “alternatives.” Denver Audubon’s position is that we should revert to the previous protections and adopt Alternative B, which would continue the practice of enforcing consequences for companies whose actions result in incidental take.

The impact statement is open for public comment until July 20, and we urge our community to submit comments. Download the impact statement here. Your comments can cite the many biological reasons to continue enforcing these rules, which are included in the analysis.  Alternatively, you can provide simple comments that say, “Adopt Alternative B of the Environmental Impact Statement to keep the birds safe.”

Please comment today by following this link!