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https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=FWS-HQ-MB-2018-0090-0002 Bob On Sun, Feb 9, 2020 at 11:33 AM Bob Dunlap <bob.dunlap...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello MOU members and MOU-net subscribers, > > As you have likely heard, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing > to change the current scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act so that only > actions that intentionally harm birds are prohibited. What this means is > that actions that do not intentionally harm birds ****but do so > incidentally**** are no longer prohibited. This defines the law as > mirroring an opinion provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior in > late 2017. > > This is very bad news for birds. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act has been a > cornerstone of American conservation since its inception in 1918. It > remains an integral part of conservation today as bird populations face > constant threats from development and habitat degradation. Under the > proposed change, an entire breeding colony of birds can legally be > destroyed because it's in the way of a tunnel expansion project, and no > mitigation or creation of new habitat is required. This isn't a > hypothetical situation; this actually happened in 2019 in Virginia ( > https://www.whsv.com/content/news/VDOT-Bridge-project-cost-25K-birds-their-nesting-site-566818131.html?fbclid=IwAR0e50qeN3axm0h6jhtUhieshgzOCxTnGJDNaHrcSSlAwSuzYqksMGh21xU > ). > > The proposed rule is open for public comment until March 19. To express > your opinion on the change, please follow the instructions provided in this > link for commenting: > > > https://www.fws.gov/news/ShowNews.cfm?ref=u.s.-fish-and-wildlife-service-solicits-public-input-on-proposed-rule-and-&_ID=36517&fbclid=IwAR1FMEGz0Z9K9yPLluarm1G4jx2wUTU65ZKjoj_DGj1F-E1VYxLDAsyF0B0 > . > > In addition, please voice your concerns to both your state and local > representatives; should this proposed change be accepted, it will then be > up to state governments to enforce their own laws regarding incidental take > as the federal protections would no longer be in place. > > Bob Dunlap, Immediate Past President > ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
