The Third Great American Extinction Event (Present Day)
This is the third chapter of a three-part series. Check out The First Great American Extinction Event and The Second Great American Extinction Event.
If there is one thing that the first two American extinction events had in common, it was their impact on the large and/or charismatic species. Today’s crisis is disturbing because species of all sizes are now vanishing at a rate thousands of times faster than the natural process, in what is referred to as Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinction Event.
In America, nowhere is this more pronounced than in the Southeast.
The American south boasts an assemblage of diverse life forms that rival those of tropical rainforests. The region’s rivers and streams alone are home to almost 500 species of freshwater fish, nearly 300 species of mussels and 250 dragonflies and damselflies. Few places on Earth are more biodiverse — or as beautiful.
To dip your snorkel under the water of a healthy Southeastern mountain stream is to enter another world. Shimmering blue, green, and gold fish dart past your mask. Turtles languidly swim the riverbed. The Eastern hellbender — North America’s largest salamander — hides among slab rocks, waiting to ambush crayfish. Various mussels, some as big as a fist, some as small as a quarter, line the streambed filtering the crystalline water. And Northern water snakes swim among the schools of fish, on the hunt.
If you’re lucky enough to witness this spectacle, you’ll have an immediate appreciation for the wonders of the Southeast. But you’ll also realize why they’re in trouble. Few streams, except for those protected within national parks and forests, are clean enough to support this diversity of life. Poor agricultural practices and sedimentation are among the leading threats facing aquatic species in the Southeast. This is also complicated by the fact that over 90% of the land in the Southeast is privately owned. Add dams and impoundments to the equation — 90,000 of which block our rivers and streams in the United States — and you have a perfect recipe for extinction.
28% of Southeastern fish, 48% of crayfishes and more than 70% of Southeastern mussels are imperiled.
On land, the challenges are equally daunting.
For thousands of years, the red wolf stalked deer among the South’s longleaf pines until 90 million acres were logged in what is referred to as the “Big Cut.” Today, the red wolf has been lost throughout 99.7% of its historical range and only hangs on in one small holdout in Eastern North Carolina.
To make matters worse, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently declared that they intend to shrink what remains of the Red Wolf Recovery Area by about 90% and allow all landowners to kill any animal that wanders onto private land. Defenders of Wildlife is battling this proposal with the help of the general public, elected officials, and the Endangered Species Act.
In the American west, the conversion of native habitats had similarly devastating impacts. Shortly after the bison and other large mammals were removed, tens of millions of acres of native grassland were plowed. As a result, black-footed ferret, sage grouse, grizzly bear, and dozens of other species require some form of habitat restoration or assistance today. The aquatic life of the west — though far less diverse than the Southeast — is also suffering from the introduction of invasive species and various dams and impoundments. In the Colorado River system alone, 90% of all the fish are non-native species.[1]
The ocean, though vast, is not immune to mankind’s heavy footprint, either.
As we explored in the last chapter, the seas were largely emptied of their great predators and prey. Thanks to stronger laws and greater awareness, however, most of the sea turtles and whales of the oceans are slowly recovering. In fact, all the various species of sea turtles have enjoyed steady growth thanks to the protections under the Endangered Species Act. Even the Florida manatee, which once numbered a few hundred, has ballooned to over 6,000 animals.
Although these marine species still face several challenges, few are greater than the threat of offshore drilling.
Despite suffering from nearly universal opposition, the federal government is seeking to open American coastlines to increased oil and gas development.
Because marine animals are sensitive to sound, the act of seismic blasting in the Atlantic alone — a precursor to drilling — would likely harm or kill 138,000 marine mammals and disrupt the behavioral patterns of another 13.6 million.[2] As for inevitable spills, we know how that goes. As a result of the BP oil spill, 27,000–65,000 critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles perished, as did countless birds, fish, and marine mammals.
Invertebrates are also in trouble. Recently, a study showed that 75% of insect populations in German nature preserves have collapsed, likely because of widespread pesticide application. Scientists have forewarned of the “ecological Armageddon” to come, should we continue to destroy these critters. The reason? Entire food chains, both on land and in the oceans, are built upon tiny animals. Invertebrates are at the foundation of the ecosystems upon which wolves, bears, and humans depend.
The Takeaway
Humans have been responsible for a fantastically destructive wave of extinctions from the very moment we entered North America. The elephants, sabretooths, and lions were the first to go. Thousands of years later, European settlers ransacked what remained of the American wild and slaughtered billions of animals. Today, the extinction crisis has accelerated and taken a devastating toll on wildlife great and small. More than 150 American species have gone extinct in modern history and another 500 haven’t been seen in decades and are likely extinct, as well.[3] These losses are expected to accelerate with climate change. If emissions continue to rise, up to half of the plants and animals in our planet’s most species-rich areas could go extinct.
These developments are, on the surface, devastatingly grim.
Yet there is, in my view, an antidote to this despair and it lies in making a simple distinction. Unlike the first people and European settlers, we now have the benefit of hindsight. For the first time, we can look upon our past, acknowledge our collective impulses, and work to consciously override them. This is at the core of wildlife conservation today. On this warming planet of seven billion people, it is essential that we learn to coexist with and make room for our wild neighbors. To do this, we must exercise restraint. We must deliberately choose to live alongside “inconvenient” species. And, most importantly, we must recognize that humans are not the apex of nature, but a small piece of nature. Only then will we truly begin to mend the wounds we’ve inflicted upon the American wild.
← The First Great American Extinction || ← The Second Great American Extinction
[1] David Wilcove, The Condor’s Shadow, (Anchor Books, Random House, New York) 118
[2]Weilgart, L. (2013). “A review of the impacts of seismic airgun surveys on marine life.” Submitted to the CBD Expert Workshop on Underwater Noise and its Impacts on Marine and Coastal Biodiversity, 25–27 February 2014, London, UK
[3] Bruce A. Stein, Naomi Edelson, Lauren Anderson, John J. Kanter, and Jodi Stemler, Reversing America’s Wildlife Crisis, Securing the Future of Our Fish and Wildlife (2018).
