Update: Migratory Birds at Risk Once Again

Update 5/31/2018:

A group of national conservation organizations are suing the Department of Interior over changes to the law.

Original post:

This year marks the 100th anniversary of enactment of the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), one of America’s first environmental statutes. Despite its longstanding, effective protections for birds, the MBTA is currently under attack by the Trump Administration. Mass Audubon and our federal leaders are speaking out against those attempts to weaken the law.

The MBTA makes it illegal to hunt, trap, kill, or possess nearly 1,000 avian species. When birds die through activities like energy extraction, the MBTA is one way to hold industry responsible, and gives companies a strong incentive to avoid such impacts in the first place.

Snowy owls are among the hundreds of bird species protected by the MBTA.  Photo credit: US Fish & Wildlife Service

In December 2017, the US Department of the Interior (DOI) made a decision to cripple the MBTA. In a legal memorandum, the Department stated that “incidental,” as opposed to “intentional,” bird deaths resulting from energy industry activities will no longer result in prosecution. This definition would effectively remove accountability over such deaths – for example, birds killed in oil spills. This decision comes at a time when migratory birds are already stressed by habitat loss and climate change.

Mass Audubon helped get the MBTA passed in Congress, and we’re speaking up again on its behalf today. See what Mass Audubon President Gary Clayton and Advocacy Director Jack Clarke had to say about “The White House War on Birds” in their Op Ed running in regional newspapers statewide.

Mass Audubon also reached out to the DOI in opposition to this change. You can too.

American goldfinch are also protected by the MBTA. Photo credit: USFWS

Also weighing in are Senator Ed Markey and his colleagues, who wrote to DOI Secretary Ryan Zinke requesting that he fully implement the MBTA and continue holding industries accountable for preventable bird deaths. These Senators are joined by many of their House colleagues, including members of the Massachusetts delegation, who also wrote to Secretary Zinke defending the Act. We encouraged those Massachusetts members who hadn’t yet signed on to add their names.

It’s going to take strong collaboration and continued outreach to ensure that our country’s most important bird protection law itself remains protected.