National Endangered Species Day: pathways to conservation success
In the United States, today’s National Endangered Species Day marks an annual occasion to learn about endangered and threatened wildlife species and ways to contribute to their survival.
This year, it also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Thanks to the ESA and continued conservation efforts and recovery programs, a range of vulnerable wild animal populations have been able to recover.
On this occasion, we seized the opportunity to highlight how the strides made in conserving some of America’s most iconic species may inspire future conservation efforts and how geospatial tools and services can expedite critical conservation action.
California condor
In the 1980s, North America’s largest flying bird came very close to never soar in Earth’s skies again.
Following its extinction in the wild, a government conservation scheme captured the last 27 remaining wild individuals of the species to start a captive breeding program in the wildlife parks and zoos of San Diego and Los Angeles in 1987. California condor populations have since been reintroduced in the wild. Today more than 330 individuals are soaring once again in Utah, Arizona, California, and Baja California, Mexico.
The California condor benefits from the ban of the use of agricultural chemicals and habitat preservation. There are also ongoing efforts to ban lead ammunition in California and provide hunters with lead-free alternatives to protect the birds. In addition, the indigenous Yurok people of Northern California are working with authorities to continue the bird’s recovery as it holds cultural significance for them.
Despite still being listed as ‘critically endangered,’ the California condor serves as a symbol of what conservation efforts can achieve. It has the potential for a significant rebound in its previous range, offering hope for other species threatened with extinction.
Louisiana black bear
In 1992, the Louisiana black bear was listed as ‘threatened’ under the ESA, lending the species legal protection. Conservation measures led to the recovery of the state’s black bear population and their original range.
Over the years, more than 240,000 ha (600,000 acres) of forestland around the Louisiana stretch of the Mississippi River were restored. Meanwhile, public and private conservation organizations including the American Forest Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and the Black Bear Conservation Coalition managed to revive habitat on private land and ecosystems critical to the bears’ survival. The Louisiana black bear population has now recovered to the point that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deems its 1992 ESA protection no longer necessary.
The comeback of these bears serves as a case study of how cooperative agreements between government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private landowners can play a significant role in protecting endangered species. Research, monitoring, and tracking programs were also instrumental in these efforts as they provided valuable data for assessing the success of recovery strategies and adjusting conservation measures accordingly.
Bald Eagle
Despite being the national symbol of the U.S., the bald eagle was once at the brink of extinction. Efforts to grow a number of subpopulations across the North American continent and a range of environmental protection policies — most notably the ban of synthetic insecticide DDT use in 1972 — have played a crucial role in their recovery.
By 2009, the iconic birds numbered just above 72,000. Ten years later, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service estimated the population of wild bald eagles living across the 48 lower U.S. states at over 300,000.
Since the bald eagle is revered as America’s national symbol, hopefully the story of its successful recovery can instill pride and inspiration for future national biodiversity and wildlife conservation efforts.
Arabian oryx
You may be wondering how an Arabian antelope found its way into a story of American wildlife conservation success stories. In fact, U.S. Zoos and conservation programs played a significant role in bringing these animals back to their native home ranges.
The last wild Arabian oryx was reportedly killed in 1972, leaving only a few animals in captivity. The zoos in Phoenix and San Diego initiated a captive breeding program and later released the oryx into the wild and into protected reserves throughout the Arabian peninsula. The International Union for Conservation of Nature recently upgraded the status of the Arabian oryx from ‘endangered’ to ‘threatened,’ marking a significant improvement.
The species still faces threats from modern hunting methods and poaching but conservation efforts persist. U.S. zoos continue to collaborate with reserves in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to protect the oryx to this date. The remarkable success story underscores the importance of persistent conservation efforts.
American bison
No collection of American wildlife comeback stories would be complete without the bison. Following a famously severe decline in population due to extensive hunting and habitat loss in the 19th century, concerted efforts were made to save the species from extinction.
In the late 1800s, the U.S. bison population declined to as few as 300 individuals. As of 2019, it has rebounded to an estimated 31,000 wild individuals. National Park Service’s conservation program in Yellowstone National Park, the American Prairie Reserve in Montana, and The American Bison Society constitute some key success programs in the restoration of bison populations across the U.S.. On top of that, indigenous people have been instrumental in the conservation of American bison populations. Various tribes, including the Blackfeet Nation, the Intertribal Buffalo Council, and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, maintain their own bison herds.
A combination of tribal conservation and restoration, federal protection and repopulation measures, captive breeding and reintroduction programs, as well as public awareness and education campaigns have paved the way for bison herds to roam the American prairie again.
Tools to advance conservation efforts
The conservation legacies of the bald eagle, California condor, Louisiana black bear, the Arabian oryx, and the American bison share a few things in common.
They succeeded because of effective conservation planning, targeted policy measures, collaboration of different stakeholders, public education campaigns, and - last but not least - scientific data and tracking methods.
The good news is that decision makers have a wide range of geospatial tools and services at their disposal to build on these efforts and to double down on today’s wildlife conservation efforts at a much larger scale.
The Half-Earth project, for instance, serves as the overall benchmark for biodiversity conservation to educate, raise awareness, and advance the cause “to protect half the land and sea to manage sufficient habitat to reverse the species extinction crisis.” Supported by initiatives such as 30x30, the E.O. Wilson Foundation’s core project depicts the global patterns and progress made in biodiversity conservation, mapping and reducing human impact, and expanding protected areas.
Meanwhile Wildlife Insights is capturing thousands of images of wildlife each day to truly understand animals’ behavior, habitats, numbers and conservation needs. Led by Conservation International, the largest camera-trap database in the world provides information on rarely observed species, including those ‘threatened’ or even on the verge of extinction.
When indigenous tribes and the U.S. government first decided to cooperate to save bison populations and even in days when the Louisiana black bear enjoyed special ESA protection, critical information and data on biodiversity and conservation was hard to come by.
Today, the global conservation movement continues to grow, involving an increasingly diverse set of stakeholders that has high-resolution, up-to-date spatial information on biodiversity loss and intactness at their disposal.
The world’s leading spatial conservation tool, Marxan, can help everyone, from local communities to international government officials, better understand the complexity of the conservation science and data landscape. Marxan has been around for many years to analyze, evaluate, and summarize all this data but it has now been updated by The Nature Conservancy, Microsoft, and Vizzuality to enable smooth, effective conservation action.
Creating a future of conservation success
Animals are not only iconic, they also provide crucial ecosystem services and humans need functional ecosystems for our own survival. In the Living Planet Report 2022, the WWF warned of a devastating drop in numbers of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish since 1970. We are losing animals at a record pace and it is happening to our own detriment.
The above stories demonstrate that despite the bleak outlook, it is possible to protect wildlife and repopulate and reintegrate species which could have been lost forever.
At the times when the American bison, California condor, or the Arabian oryx were at their lowest numbers, conservation planners could have only dreamed of the data and services available today.
So, let’s get to work.
Let’s translate the information, tools, and resources of today into a future where species’ profiles won’t need classifications like “threatened,” “endangered,” or “critically endangered” anymore.
Let’s create many more conservation success stories.
Let’s act together to prevent extinctions!
