In July, the white -tailed Ptarmigan on Mount Rainier was officially listed under the Endangered Species Species (ESA) that was threatened by the US fish wildlife (FWS). 2014 years After Central for Biological Diversity first applied for the list. The purpose of this designation is to maintain a bird that depends on the glaciers of the Cascade Mountains in Washington and British Colombia. It also reflects the complex tasks that the birds adapted to Takayama face in a warm world.
Ptalu Migan, a white -tailed Mountlainier whitar, with a feather -like leg that can walk on the terrain of the alpine and a seasonal feathers that provide camouflage all year round, is a high altitude area on the tree line. It is adapted to. They are frequently discovered in areas with mixed plants in rock, snow and alpine. Their diet It consists of a variety of plows, leaves, buds, and seeds of Takayama Tundra vegetation, which grows only in cold and dry mountainous areas without trees that receive important moisture from spring snow melt and summer glacier leaks.
Warming temperature accelerates glacier retreat and is at risk of bird’s habitat: The glacier of the north cascade is reduced. 56 % between 1900 and 2009。 Mauri Pelt, Director North Caskade Glacier Climate ProjectPutal Migan said to Glacishahab that it was often found along the ridge of Shaxan and Ptar Migan near Baker. in studyPelt has discovered that seven of the 13 glaciers along these ridge have disappeared since the mid -1980s. Withdrew the risk of glaciers The possibility of using soil water has declined In the case of tundra vegetation related to temperature temperature and long -term habitat loss.
How to protect the seeds by ESA list
Under the ESA, the species can be listed as threatening or dangerous. ESA stated that it provides “quite robust protection” Jessica WentzColombian Sabin Climate Change Law Center A senior fellow. As a listed species, Ptar Migan, a white tail of Mount Rainier, is protected under ESA in the face of both private and public sector projects. Wentz explained that public projects approved or implemented by the federal government needed to evaluate the effects of projects on the listed species. Therefore, federal agencies need to consult with the FWS to make sure their actions are unlikely to threaten the continuous existence of the listed species, and to worsen the specified important habitat. There is.
Wentz says the important habitat is “the habitat that seeds continue to survive and potentially return to the previous number.” This decision must be based on the best available science. If the species are listed as threats or extinction ED species, the process of specifying important habitat starts.
Vulnerable hope for the future
A long delay in the ESA list is common. a study Erich Everhalt, the University of Colombia University, has discovered that the shortage of funds assigned to ESA listing activities is the main cause of delay. “We are very rarely rarely giving them the appropriate protection to them, so they are usually very rare, and thus waiting until they are exposed,” Eberhard told Glacierhub. Listed 7 times longer than the two -year timeline, which has been listed on the white tail of Mt. Rainier, has overcome the first task.
However, there are more issues for birds. One is that FWS is an important habitat of Ptalu Migan, whitares of Mountlainier. “Not wise” And remains “Included unvolae.” This decision is It is evaluated。 In an interview with GlacierHub, Noah Greenwald, the extinction Species Director of the Biodiversity Center, stated that it was considering disagreement with this decision.
“I think it’s pretty obvious [the Mount Rainier white-tailed ptarmigan is] Greenwald is died by quoting glaciers, quoting snow covering and rising trees. In his work, Greenwald thinks an important habitat as “an opportunity to identify where the seeds are warm.”
Greenhouse gas problem
Greenwald explains that the influence of climate change in mountain ecosystem is increasing, but he said, “If we do not do anything about our emissions, we will affect us. You will face some really serious results, “he warns. Greenhouse gas threatens the habitat of Takayama and threatens the survival of the white tailed Ptalmigan on Mount Rainier, but is complicated under ESA.
ESA has been established Before the climate change Because it was a major topic in the discussion, it does not include provisions that explicitly enable greenhouse gas effects on specified species. There was an interpretation of ESA languages and a lawsuit on the scope of the institution that could consider the greenhouse gas to be within the scope of laws and regulations.
One task is to provide the causal relationship between the greenhouse gas emission of a specific action, listing seeds, and the need to specify an important habitat. Researchers like Wentz are looking at that method Climate attribute scienceResearch on climate conditions can support the ESA list and management decision.
Wentz explains that a project that contains fossil fuels and a large amount of emissions can “evaluate the effects of climate change caused by specific projects” using research on detected attributes. After all, the institution adds that if the data suggests that there is a threat to the species, it cannot ignore the research on the belonging because of uncertainty and inaccuracy.
Certainly, for other species that depend on the glacier whites and the habitat of glaciers and Takayama, the current and predicted changes in climate change are important roles in supporting ESA protection. You can fulfill it. 。 Nevertheless, it is not yet clear that the court agrees that the federal government should consider the effects of greenhouse gas emissions on listed species. “I have an unresolved question,” says Wentz.
