What do whales, ferrets, salmon, and prairie dogs have in common?

Science versus politics

Orca whales and black-footed ferrets are both endangered species, who depend on a main primary food source: disappearing Chinook salmon and imperiled prairie dogs respectively. The Endangered Species Act requires that food and habitat available to sustain an endangered animal must be protected. So far, government agencies are failing to do so, and all four of these interconnected species are caught in the battle to survive against politics, agribusiness, and special interest groups.

In the summer of 2000, temperatures in Western Washington hovered at a sweltering 90 degrees in the shade. However, there was little shade to be found along the shores of Lake Sacajawea above Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River. The river sides were barren of trees and shrubbery, which allowed the still waters to warm up and stagnate. There were four hydroelectric dams on the lower Snake River; each creating a reservoir to facilitate barge transportation for moving agricultural products. Environmental agencies estimated the damaging effect of warmer water and increased gases had decimated approximately 90% of the Chinook salmon and steelhead populations.

Fast forward to the summer of 2008, after eight years of the Bush administration and virtually nothing had changed to improve the outlook for Chinook salmon. As a result, it was recently discovered that seven endangered orcas from the Puget Sound whale population have disappeared, including two reproducing-aged females. The whales are feared dead and scientists believe they may have died from malnutrition, starvation, and vulnerability to other threats, like water contamination.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the scientific evidence remains as strong today as it did then, in favor of restoring stream habitat and removing the four dams on the lower Snake River. It is the best way to protect and recover Chinook salmon, thereby ensuring the endangered orca’s food source. Local farmers and politicians have been successful in blocking any progress to breach the dams and restore the lower Snake River back to natural flowing conditions.

There are similar political road blocks in conserving prairie dogs and their habitat in the effort to sustain black-footed ferret recovery. The importance of prairie dogs, considered to be a biological keystone species that supports dozens of other animals and birds, along with the highly endangered ferret, has been greatly disregarded. Specifically, by ranchers, developers, and special interest groups, who refuse to see prairie dogs as anything more than a nuisance. They claim that prairie dogs compete with cattle for food, although they lived and co-existed with bison and other large herbivores for many decades.

The Department of Agriculture designated prairie dogs as “pests” in the mid 1800’s and millions of them have been slaughtered since then for crop land conversion and development.

The 25 million dollar black-footed ferret recovery plan is in jeopardy.The five year review of the ferret plan was just completed in November, 2008, and it recommended “improvement of management actions regarding the conservation of prairie dogs.” But prairie dogs are still routinely shot, poisoned and bulldozed, without conscience or regard for the natural world.

Despite numerous efforts from environmental groups to gain ESA protection for the five remaining species of prairie dogs, they have been decimated down to 2% of their original population by human activity, disease, and habitat destruction.

Orca whales in the Pacific Northwest and the remaining wild black-footed ferrets in South Dakota, may not share the same ecosystem, but they are connected in a similar fight for their future existence. This battle is caused by the inadequacy of our federal agencies to overcome political pressure from self-serving individuals and organizations, that stand in the way of properly managing vital natural resources.

This year, President Obama reversed the last ditch efforts of Bush/Cheney to eviscerate the Endangered Species Act. The president wants science to prevail over politics. There may be a glimmer of hope for the protection of our wildlife to be based exclusively on biological decisions and peer reviewed research.

Especially, for the most vulnerable creatures inhabiting our oceans, rivers, and terrestrial lands.