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Population/Wildlife by Bob Wyss
It is difficult these days to avoid stories about white-tailed deer. The story is not about how magnificent the creatures are when they appear majestically at sunset, but about their unavoidable impacts with people. Even conservative estimates put the nation's deer at 20 million, believed the highest numbers ever. One result, according to the National Safety Council, was that in 2002 there were the 820,000 automobile collisions with deer, 100 human deaths, 13,000 injuries and $1 billion in insurance claims. The increased herd has also caused a dramatic increase in lyme disease among humans, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Deer are only one of the many wildlife and habitat stories that face environmental journalists: The Florida Panther is down to perhaps 50 adults; in Southern California the coastal sagebrush ecosystem is disappearing; in Michigan the emerald ash borer is threatening to wipe out ash trees statewide; and in Maryland officials have had to dump pesticides into ponds in fear of the snakehead fish wreaking havoc with the environment.
What these stories have in common is the increased impact of humans on habitat and wildlife. In many cases, increasing international and domestic populations are affecting the world around us. How we recognize these issues may make it easier for environmental journalists – and even town hall reporters - to deal in a different way with such old, tired standbys as land use and zoning stories.
The Issue
As the nation's population has increased, America has become increasingly urban. The US Geological Survey reports that 80 percent of the US population live in 20 percent of the land area. But it would be a misnomer to characterize this 20 percent as urban. Increasingly, metropolitan areas are spreading out, pushing into what had been rural areas and significantly changing the ecology. Sprawl is not just a matter of increased population. For instance, the Chicago metropolitan population only grew from 6.6 million to 6.7 million between 1970 and 1990, but the land area to support that population increased from 811 square miles to 1,003 square miles.
Increases in land area developed are more significant where population is also rising, according to a recent study by the US Geological Survey. The nation's fastest growing metropolitan area is Las Vegas, and the USGS found that while the population increased by 171 percent between 1970 and 1990 the land mass supporting it expanded by 193 percent.
John Kostyack, manager of the wildlife conservation program for the National Wildlife Federation, says there is a significant link between population and the expansion of metropolitan areas, and that it is most acute in the west and south. "The problem is that there is a major demographic shift underway to the sunbelt, and there is a direct correlation between that influx and the loss and decline of many species," he said.
As humans and development enter and alter habitat, some species may prosper while others are threatened. A prime reason white-tailed deer are increasing is that predators, especially armed hunters, have fewer areas where they can safely hunt near metropolitan areas.
Michael Bean, chair of the wildlife program at Environmental Defense, says the problem is more acute for endangered species that face diminished prospects as habitat becomes more urbanized and is fractured by roads and development. "Fragmented habitats disrupt the natural regime," Bean explains. The Florida Panther is one species having difficulty because it is increasingly penned in by Florida's rapid development.
The US Fish & Wildlife Service currently lists 990 plants and animals in the US that are endangered and another 275 that are threatened. While there have been some notable successes, such as the bald eagle and the grizzly bear, the numbers endangered or threatened have increased more than three-fold since 1980. The greatest numbers are in Hawaii, California, Florida and Texas.
At least half of the nation's threatened and endangered species are also in danger because of another change caused by population impacts and increased global ties – invasive species. The National Invasive Species Council estimates that new species cause up to $100 billion a year in damages. It cites, just as one example, how in California an invasive insect, the glassy-winged sharpshooter, has introduced bacteria responsible for $40 million a year in damages to the local grape crop.
Meanwhile as Americans increasingly expand suburbs and homes into the country, they seem to be more and more naïve and ignorant when they encounter wildlife. The Fund for Animals has a hotline that takes 5,000 calls a year from people confused when a skunk gets into their garbage, or a bat flies into their attic. "Folks in urban and suburban areas just don't seem to be very familiar with wildlife," said Laura Simon, who manages the program and spends much of her time teaching and soothing anxious callers.
Public Policy Options
The Endangered Species Act has been up for reauthorization since 1992, and although both developers and environmentalists want to see changes, the likelihood that Congress will agree on amendments in the near future is remote. Political polls indicate that up to 90 percent of Americans support the act's premise, making changes difficult. While the Bush administration has cut spending, coalitions have worked to devise administrative remedies designed to preserve land use options while also protecting species. Bean, of Environmental Defense, has headed one of those efforts.
The public policy response to invasive species is much more aggressive than it was years ago when Dutch elm disease and chestnut blight were allowed to destroy entire ecosystems. Since the emerald ash borer was discovered to have arrived from Asia, a task force of scientists, government, and private officials in the Midwest have worked aggressively to contain the insect and quarantine firewood and nursery stock. The cost of the effort so far totals $54 million, and the key may be a firebreak across Michigan into Ohio and Indiana in which every ash is felled in order to stop the spread of the insect.
These environmental changes are happening at the local level, and most of the answers must occur locally. Most states and local communities, even in conservative western and southern areas, have embraced a range of zoning, land use, and land preservation efforts. Private organizations such as The Nature Conservancy have bought or succeeded in protecting 15 million acres in the US alone. Government and quasi-government organizations, including land trusts, have set aside millions of acres more.
Models of aggressive programs can even be found in high population areas. For instance, Memphis has been credited with adopting innovative land use approaches to control growth, and Orlando has succeeded in moving development away from valuable wetlands in its northwest and citrus farms in its southwest.
But conflicts seem unavoidable. The Florida Wildlife Federation two years ago brokered a plan in Collier County, Florida, to limit development rights in an area called North Belle Meade, where 19 threatened wildlife species live, including the Florida panther. But some existing owners have been unwilling to give up their rights in an area where real estate is booming. Efforts in Arizona to buy and preserve portions of the fragile Sonoran Desert have struggled, especially as the land's development options become more valuable and prices rise.
Options for Journalists
Even when conflicts arise, stories about development and land use can cause an editor's eyes to glaze over. The answer is to narrow the focus of the story. Research indicates that readers do feel strongly about protecting endangered and threatened species. Some species and stories are easier than others. For instance, the Sonoran Pronghorn is an elegant animal that resembles an antelope that faces threats in the Arizona desert. The California gnatcatcher is in even more danger as the coastal sagebrush disintegrates, but even its name works against it. Readers want to know about animals, they want to know why beavers are returning to their neighborhood, or why portions of their favorite beach are off-limits while piping plovers breed.
The stories two years ago about the snakehead fish in Maryland illustrate both the potential and the problems for journalists. Stories about the ugly Asian fish with a voracious appetite and fins allowing it to walk on land soon went national. Pundits coined it Frankenfish, it was the butt of Jay Leno jokes, and it was featured on t-shirts. Maryland officials dumped poison into three ponds to kill it and other fish. The story illustrated the dangers of importing a foreign species. Researchers are now indicating that some may have over-reacted to the fish, and evidence of a similar imported species in Florida so far shows that it has not caused any dire ecological impacts.
Change is not new to the environment, habitat, or wildlife. However, the impact a rising population is having on it is unprecedented. Finding the time to understand the extent of those changes is critical.
Players and Sources
August 2003
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