NEW THREATS

By mid century, new threats to wildlife emerged, silent and more insidious than poaching. The damaging effects of DDT were first observed in the 1950s but it was not until the publication in 1962 of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring that the problem came to public attention. DDT alters the calcium metabolism of birds causing thin eggshells that break under the weight of nesting hens. Thin eggshells lead to years of reproductive failure and a precipitous decline in bird populations. Many bird species were again brought to the edge of extinction including the brown pelican and the bald eagle, our national symbol.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas taught us that “birds can serve as excellent indicators of the quality of habitat – not just their own, but that of humans who share the land.” It was the consequence of DDT on birds that first alerted us to the dangers of DDT on human communities. Despite a trail of evidence spanning 40 years that prove the harmful effects of DDT on human and wildlife communities alike, there are lobbyists who disparage the evidence and seek to reverse the ban on DDT.

Another threat to wildlife is indiscriminate development on environmentally sensitive lands. According to Douglas, the problem is attributable in part to “the phenomenal tide of people rushing south faster than the government, the schools, the land and the water could accommodate.”

In the 1960s, the threat to Pelican Island came from the State of Florida in the form of a policy to dredge, fill, and sell the bottomlands for development. Local citizens were outraged. A citrus grower named Joe Michael organized the Indian River Preservation League and joined forces with commercial fishermen, sportsmen, civic groups and the Florida Audubon Society to stop the sale. Citizen activism forced the State into leasing thousands of acres of wetlands and bottomlands to the Refuge for protection, providing that no restrictions be imposed on fishing and boating in the Indian River Lagoon.

Today, the Archie Carr and Pelican Island Refuges are home to many endangered, threatened, or protected species. These include the Florida manatee, the American bald eagle, the leatherback, loggerhead and green sea turtles, the eastern indigo snake, and the North American Wood Stork, only stork indigenous to this continent. Winter brings white pelicans, terns, kingfishers, and other visitors to the region. On my favorite birding trails, I have caught fleeting glimpses of roseate spoonbills and magnificent frigatebirds.

Timely interventions prevented the loss of a national treasure. It is a story about heroism in many forms: the courage of an immigrant, the vision of a President, the activism of citizens, the resourcefulness of a refuge manager, and the work of countless volunteers who keep alive the spirit of conservation.