This news, courtesy of a local alert reader, is a little off our usual area of coverage. But it is a reminder of the importance of careful management of our water resources everywhere in the state. The water we consume up here in Central Texas sometimes contributes to leaving our wildlife friends on the Gulf Coast high and dry.
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Here's a link to the story at The Aransas Project web site:
http://thearansasproject.org/basin-management/plucky-whooping-crane-gives-wildlife-experts-hope/
For an in-depth report on the issue see this excellent story in the Texas Tribune by Morgan Smith: http://www.texastribune.org/stories/2010/mar/11/big-whoop/
The Aransas Project has filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division, against several officials of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in their official capacities for illegal harm and harassment of Whooping Cranes at and adjacent to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in violation of the Endangered Species Act.The defendants named in the suit in their official capacities are the three TCEQ Commissioners, the agency's Executive Director, and the TCEQ's South Texas Watermaster. The Aransas-Wood Buffalo flock of Whooping Cranes that winters on the Texas coast is the only natural wild flock remaining in the world.
The 2008-2009 year was the worst in recent history for the Whooping Crane, with a death toll of 57 birds, a staggering loss of 21.4% of the flock – of which 23 deaths, or 8.5% of the flock, occurred in Texas during their winter at Aransas. The Aransas Project cites the lack of freshwater inflows to the bays from the Guadalupe and San Antonio Rivers, especially during times of low flows, as the cause of very high salinity levels and depleted food and water sources for the Cranes.
6 comments:
The woopers are subject to extremes of weather as well as man. Man can however, overcome this to some extent by planning and science. The lack of freshwater inflows to the bays from the Guadalupe and San Antonio Rivers was caused by the extreme drought, not man’s over consumption. Consequently, there was less water in the rivers and the cranes suffered and some died. Maybe the Aransas Project should sue God.
Hey, Anonymous. If you are an expert in the reasons the Whooping Cranes died, show us your research and put your name, title and credentials so we can decide for ourselves whether you have the credibility or not to make such claims.
Yes, I thought so.
Here again we have another water glutton who is not open to the possibility that man's over-development and anti-environmental, pro-industry government rubber stamping may be the cause of nature's demise.
These people will get poisoned by industrial pollution, die, and go to the grave before they will admit they may be wrong.
"The root cause of everlasting ignorance is contempt for investigation"
Herbert Spencer
Anonymous, I believe they've properly sued God's earthbound intermediaries in this case, TCEQ. The state has rules in place that TCEQ is supposed to enforce to prevent this kind of wildlife catastrophe, even in times of extreme drought. You should do some basic research before spreading such uninformed nonsense.
An old timer from Wimberley once told me that Cypress Creek flowed pretty well all through the drought of record in the '50s. Everything above ground was parched, but the creek kept flowing. I assume the creek joined a flowing Blanco and then merged with the Guadalupe River all the way down to the coast.
It would be interesting to know if there were any major whooping crane kills back then caused by a lack of fresh water inflows.
Today, with all the development and over consumption of our groundwater, the Cypress pretty much stops flowing even in moderate dry spells. That pretty much snuffs out our contribution to the cranes when it is most needed.
My guess is the TCEQ's actions which allegedly ended up killing the cranes was untintentional but believable.
Government watchdog agencies are walking a fine line between pleasing environmental/amimal protection groups and business developers. Texas regulators, however, due to the majority of pro-business politicians, are going to favor the latter.
Unfortunately, businesses feel they MUST grow or they will die a non-competitive stagnation death. Income streams alone do not seem to suffice for the private sector so they are always trying to infiltrate regulatory agencies thrugh lobby money or political appointments to make them the most business friendly they can be - to increase profits at the expense of the natural environment.
I guess its OK for our children to live with less animal species on earth as well as insufficient clean water for their children to drink.
Don't worry. T. boone Pickens will figure out s way to get on God's Board of Directors so he can control and profit from the heavenly rains. If not, he will sue God for lack of good faith.
What good are these Whooping Cranes?
Nothing is more important than human property rights (other than gun rights). These cranes can relocate to another area - just like my wife did when I threatened her with extinction.
And I believe these cranes are smarter than she was. She married me, didn't she?
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