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The Peregrine Chick:
... addendum to the previous post ...

History of the US ESA - https://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/esa-history.html
Timeline of the US EAS - https://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/history_ESA.pdf


* 1918 - USA & Canada - Migratory Birds Treaty - the only protection for birds (nothing similar for non-birds) for the next 60  years in Canada
* 1966 - USA - Endangered Species Preservation Act passed.
* 1969 - USA - 1966 Act expanded and became the Endangered Species Conservation Act; Canada - DDT banned.
* 1970 - peregrine falcons designated as extirpated in the Eastern US and endangered in the Western US - one of the first, if not the first species to be designated.
* 1972 - USA - DDT banned
* 1973 - 80 nations sign onto the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) treaty; US - Endangered Species Act (ESA) supersedes earlier endangered species acts, broadens and strengthens protection for all plant as well as animal species listed by the U.S. as threatened or endangered, prohibits take and trade without a permit, requires Federal agencies to avoid jeopardizing their survival, and requires actions to promote species recovery. The ESA defines an “endangered species” as any species in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.” A “threatened” species is one likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.” The ESA has become one of the most effective tools in the continuing effort to protect imperiled species and their habitats in the U.S.
* 1977 - The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) was created in 1977 as a result of a decision made at the Conference of Federal-Provincial-Territorial Wildlife Directors held in 1976 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. It arose from the need for a single, official, scientifically sound, national classification of wildlife species at risk. COSEWIC made its first status designations in April 1978 and has met annually since then.  COSEWIC is an independent committee of wildlife experts and scientists.
* 1978 - Canada - COSEWIC designates Anatum peregrine falcons as "endangered", tundrius peregrines as "threatened" and pealei as a species of "special concern". Recovery efforts for the Anatum peregrine falcon included captive breeding and reintroduction improved the subspecies’ status.
* 1981 - first hack release of captive-bred chicks in Winnipeg (we are one of the oldest projects in North America)
* 1992 - Canada - Tundrius peregrine designation changed to "special concern".
* 1994 - USA - the Tundrius peregrine falcon is delisted due to recovery.
* 1999 - USA - the Anatum peregrine falcon is delisted due to recovery.
* 2000 - Canada - Anatum peregrine falcon designation changed to "threatened" federally, but still designated as "endangered" under Manitoba's Endangered Species Act.
* 2002 - Canada - the Species-at-Risk Act (SARA) passes becomes a federal law & authorizes COSEWIC to identify threatened species and assess their conservation status. COSEWIC then issues a report to the government, and the Minister of the Environment evaluates the committee's recommendations when considering the addition of a species to the List of Wildlife Species at Risk.
* 2017 - Canada - peregrine falcons - anatum, tundrius & pealei - are designated as species of "special concern" federally; still designated as endangered in Manitoba because of low numbers of breeding pairs in the prairie population (Manitoba & Saskatchewan) - federal designation includes Alberta as part of the prairie population so while the population numbers are high, they are very (very) heavily skewed to Alberta.  The 2010 national survey of Anatum peregrines found just over 600 nesting pairs - in Manitoba and Saskatchewan in those same years there were only 3 pairs nesting in Manitoba (Ivy & Princess, Beau & Jules & Brooklyn & Hurricane) and 1 in Saskatchewan (Chaos from the Brandon nestsite and her unidentified mate).  Should we lose all our breeding birds in Manitoba and Saskatchewan (and that did happen in 2003) then the entire prairie population of peregrines would be in Alberta and we have never had an Alberta (or Ontario/Quebec/Maritimes) peregrine turn up in Manitoba (not sure about SK) and we would be reliant on peregrines from the US Midwest to repopulate our province.  And who's to say they would stay, Manitoba peregrines have been turning up to nest in Alberta since the 1980s/90s albeit not in great numbers.

The Peregrine Chick:
I'm sorry that this is the first post on this topic ... it would have been nicer to have a story that was more upbeat ... I'm going to look for a more hopeful one for balance ...

So why this is the US ESA important?  There were no such thing as an endangered (or extirpated, threatened, vulnerable) designation prior to the passage of the ESA.

Trump administration overhauls Endangered Species Act protections

Original act protected species regardless of economic interests, which is among the proposed changes
Thomson Reuters / CBC Science & Technology / 12 August 2019

The Trump administration on Monday finalized changes to provisions of the U.S. Endangered Species Act that it says will streamline the decades-old wildlife protection law, although conservation groups say it will threaten at-risk species.  The 1970s-era act is credited with bringing back from the brink of extinction species such as bald eagles, grey whales and grizzly bears.

However, the law has long been a source of frustration for drillers, miners and other industries because new listings can put vast swathes of land off limits to development.  The weakening of the act's protections is one of many moves by President Donald Trump, a Republican, to roll back existing regulations to hasten oil, gas and coal production, as well as grazing and logging on federal land.  The changes would end a practice that automatically conveys the same protections for threatened species as for endangered species, and would strike language that guides officials to ignore economic impacts of how animals should be safeguarded. The original act protected species regardless of the economics of the area protected.

The changes were announced by the Interior Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service.  "The revisions finalized with this rulemaking fit squarely within the president's mandate of easing the regulatory burden on the American public, without sacrificing our species' protection and recovery goals," U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement.

Legal challenges expected

Conservationists and environmentalists said they would challenge the revised law in court.  "These changes crash a bulldozer through the Endangered Species Act's lifesaving protections for America's most vulnerable wildlife," Noah Greenwald, director of endangered species with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. "For animals like wolverines and monarch butterflies, this could be the beginning of the end."  He said the group would go to court to block the rewritten regulations, "which only serves the oil industry and other polluters who see endangered species as pesky inconveniences."

Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico also criticized the plans.  "At a time when one million species are at risk of extinction caused by humans, we should be strengthening the Endangered Species Act, not crippling it," said Udall. "This is wrong and dangerous."  The new rules will also prohibit designation of critical habitat for species threatened by climate change, the Center for Biological Diversity said. Trump rejects mainstream climate science.  Conservation groups and attorneys general of several states including California and Massachusetts had been critical of the changes first proposed last year, saying they were in violation of the purpose of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/us-govt-endangered-species-act-1.5243971

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