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This site presents the latest news on the policy activities of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB). SCB is an international professional organization whose mission is to advance the science and practice of conserving the Earth's biological diversity, support dissemination of conservation science, and increase application of science to management and policy. The Society's membership comprises a wide range of people interested in the conservation and study of biological diversity: resource managers, educators, government and private conservation workers, and students make up the thousands of members world-wide. The purpose of this blog is to make SCB members and the wider public aware of the variety of policy work being done by SCB's global organization, regional sections, working groups, and chapters, and to facilitate dialogue between SCB members on how to make the society's activities more effective at advancing our mission of conserving biological diversity.
IMPORTANT NOTE: In July 2012, SCB launched a entirely redesigned
website, which includes frequently updated policy news. Although older posts can still be accessed on this page, we encourage you to visit the new
Policy Page at conbio.org for direct access to blog posts and other information.
Several international scientific societies joined together on April 2 in asking the Department of the Interior (DOI) to reconsider its proposal for expansion of commercial timber harvesting in critical habitat for threatened Northern Spotted Owls in the Pacific Northwest. In a letter to DOI Secretary Ken Salazar, the Society for Conservation Biology, The Wildlife Society, and the American Ornithologists’ Union called for a full environmental impact statement (EIS) and peer-reviewed scientific assessment on the potential impacts of a DOI proposal that would allow substantial commercial timber harvesting in the critical habitat of threatened northern spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest. The societies are recommending that the EIS identify a range of experimental forestry techniques, appropriate scientific methodologies to assess those techniques, and a scientific process for evaluating impacts on northern spotted owls.
“I am disheartened that we are revisiting this hard-fought protection for northern spotted owls. The spotted owl continues to need protection,” Paul Beier, president of the Society for Conservation Biology, said. “Any activity that can have significant long-term consequences for the owl must be fully vetted by the peer review process. An environmental impact statement is the best vehicle for accomplishing this task,” he said.
Read more…
Today, the Society for Conservation Biology submitted extensive comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service concerning the Services’ proposal to define and implement the U.S. Endangered Species Act’s phrase “significant portion of its range.” Because the U.S. Endangered Species Act allows the Services to list species as threatened or endangered based on threats “throughout all or a significant portion” of a species’ range, it is critically important that this definition be based on the best available science in order to effectively conserve biodiversity.
SCB outlined several areas where the Services’ draft policy appears to ignore key principles from the field of conservation biology. Most importantly, the policy appears to ignore the basic purpose of the ESA, which clearly envisions protecting declining species, and the ecosystems on which they depend, before they become threatened or endangered with extinction globally, and to restore such threatened species that have been extirpated from significant portions of their historic range.
SCB developed a detailed alternative to the Services’ proposed policy that would better reflect the intent and goals of the ESA and best practice in applyng conservation science to effect recovery of endangered and threatened species.
The full text of SCB comments can be found here.
Background provided by the Fish and Wildlife Service on the Services’ draft policy can be found here.
Read more…
The National Forest Management Act (NFMA) contains some of the most powerful mandates to preserve biodiversity on our public lands. NFMA requires the Forest Service to maintain all plant and animal species found on forests and grasslands as viable components in their ecosystems. On January 26, the federal government finalized a new set of regulations that revise how NFMA is implemented. In April 2011, SCB scientists reviewed the proposed changes and suggested improvements. In an article covering the revisions, the Washington Post quoted Society for Conservation Biology policy director John Fitzgerald that the rule continued to have “several weaknesses” include the fact that it would “assume and not require the responsible official to show that the plan includes all practicable steps to conserve the full biological diversity” within a given forest.” Read more…
Bialowieza Forest is the last lowland primeval forest within the European Union. It is a unique biodiversity hotspot and a fascinating source of scientific knowledge. It represents a much needed ecological blue-print for the restoration of forests in Europe. In 2003, SCB’s European Section delivered a resolution concerning the preservation of the Bialowieza Forest to the Polish Minister of the Environment. In 2010, the Polish Minister of the Environment imposed a restriction on logging in Bialowieza Forest that limited timber extraction to an amount sufficient to support local needs as well as sustainable in safeguarding both the ecological and cultural uniqueness of this Polish, European and World Heritage Site. SCB-Europe recently sent a letter to the new Minister of the Environment, Marcin Korolec, encouraging the government to retain this limit and to avoid logging of the remaining old-growth.
SCB-Europe also recently joined with other SCB sections in issuing a declaration on sustainable forest management to mark the 2011 International Year Of Forests.
Non-native insects and pathogens are seriously harming natural and human-managed forests. Invasive pests and forest diseases, in concert with other anthropogenic disturbances such as land clearing and changes in fire regimes, are dramatically altering the composition and structure of many forests in North America, the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Australia, China, Africa and elsewhere. Further, they inflict high costs on society, including: the costs of prevention, control and eradication of the harmful organisms; costs of removing diseased trees; direct market losses (e.g., timber and nursery industries); and loss of nonmarket benefits, including wildlife habitat for vast numbers of species, carbon sequestration to mitigate global warming, and recreational and aesthetic benefits for humans. In connection with the recognition of 2011 as the ‘International Year of the Forest’, SCB recently released a report on ‘Recommendations for Protecting Forests From Introduced Forest Pests and Plant Pathogens’ (available here).
This detailed report builds on SCB’s earlier declaration in support of the International Year of the Forest.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing gray wolves in Wyoming from the list of threatened species and returning them to state management. The state of Wyoming has proposed a management plan that divides the state into three zones: 1) a Wolf Trophy Game Management Area (WTGMA) where wolf hunting is seasonally permitted, 2) the remainder of the state where a designation of the species as a ‘predator’ allows year-round unrestricted hunting and other forms of lethal control, and 3) seasonal expansion of the WTGMA by 80 km southward for 4.5 months during peak wolf dispersal season. While in some respects the Wyoming wolf population is healthy and may merit delisting, SCB-North America Section is concerned that a problematic precedent for connectivity is being proposed in this management plan. The plan envisions that artificial translocation (e.g., movement of wolves in trucks) is adequate for recovery in place of allowing natural dispersal between wolf populations.
Read more…
SCB’s North America section has previously commented on the proposed construction of the Keystone XL pipeline because the pipeline controversy touches on broader concerns regarding sustainable energy and wildlife conservation (see here and here). The White House has announced plans to delay a decision on permitting the pipeline in order to allow more scrutiny of these and other concerns (news report).
In response to the announcement, SCB President Paul Beier joined Policy Committee Member and Canadian scientist, Paul Paquet, in issuing the following statement: “SCB plans to continue its strong scrutiny of the entire tar sands process as well as any alternate routes for the Keystone XL and Enbridge Pipelines. It seems likely that any routes will still cause great harm to the whooping crane, several ecosystems in Canada and the United States, and the earth’s climate.”
[This post is an update as we missed posting the document in July] In July of this year, SCB, along with the Wildlife Society, the Ecological Society of America, and the American Statistical Association, sent a letter to the House of Representatives urging representatives to support an amendment by Norm Dicks blocking efforts to suspend listings of endangered species. The House subsequently did vote to strip the Endangered Listing Ban from the Interior Appropriations Bill. 37 Republicans bucked their leadership and voted with all but two Democrats to allow new listings of endangered species to continue. SCB continues to explore additional opportunities to collaborate with other scientific societies on similar policy issues.
SCB’s North America section has been extensively involved in policy issues surrounding the proposed construction of the Keystone XL pipeline because the pipeline controversy touches on broader concerns regarding sustainable energy and wildlife conservation. On October 9, SCB submitted comments on the State Department’s finding that the permit to allow the Keystone XL pipeline would be in the national interest.
The full comments are here. Also see SCB previous comments on the pipeline. The six questions are:
1) If you cannot adequately assess the effects of the pipeline and alternatives to it, how can you determine that it would be in the national interest?
2) How can the Secretary comply with her duties to ensure that her action will not be likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the endangered whooping crane when neither her Biological Assessment nor the Interior Secretaries’ Biological Opinion consider the impact of the oil sands developments and the pipeline that makes them probable on the northern third of the habitat?
3) How can the Secretary find the pipeline to be in the national interest when Canada’s own Environment Commissioner has found that the effects are poorly understood, poorly controlled and will diminish the effectiveness of Canada’s participation in international agreements for the control of climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gases?
4) Will approving the permit reduce our environmental and other security risks more than choosing more prudent available alternatives?
5) Will approving the permit guarantee a source of transportation fuel for the U.S. at any reasonable price considering the competing bidders who will be much less constrained by market prices? Or will it merely guarantee access to those very bidders who would not otherwise have that access at all?
6) Why cause serious environmental harm and raise serious security risks — and reduce room for renewable energy — by permitting the pipeline, when we can conserve wildlife and supply our energy needs with secure, safe, clean, renewable energy in ways that can probably provide more permanent jobs across the US?
Many SCB Chapters are active in discussing and developing positions on conservation policy. The SCB Chapters committee has recently established a new website to provide information to the Chapters and a discussion forum to facilitate information sharing between Chapters. If you are interested in becoming involved with a local SCB chapter, you can also find more information at this site.
