Take More Action
Here are links and short summaries of bird-related (but not Avian Flu-related) legislation currently in Congress. Please write to or visit your Congressman (as someone who has worked in a Congressional Office, a visit with either the Congressman or a Legislative Assistant is about 1000 times more effective than a letter or a letter-writing campaign) and support these bills.
- Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Improvement Act
This is the Senate version of the bill that would re-authorize and improve the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act first passed in 2000. The new bill would expand the bill to include birds that breed in Canada, increases the federal share of costs from 25 to 50 percent and establishes the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Account within the Multinational Species Conservation Fund.
- Great Lakes Migratory Bird Research and Management Act
This bill would study whether or not birds (read: Double-Crested Cormorants) are depleting commercial and recreations fish populations in the Great Lakes. This bill relates directly to the issue I wrote about here back in April. I'm not sure where I stand on this...the results of the study could either be used to justify the killing of cormorants or as proof that they aren't affecting things as much as people think.
- H.R.4315
The title of this bill is: To amend the Acts popularly known as the Duck Stamp Act and the Wetland Loan Act to reauthorize appropriations to promote the conservation of migratory waterfowl and to offset or prevent the serious loss of important wetlands and other waterfowl habitat essential to the preservation of such waterfowl, and for other purposes. Basically, it increases the price to Duck Stamps and puts the extra money towards increasing waterfowl populations and saving wetlands. Long title, simple premise
- S.1497: A bill to require the Secretary of the Interior to provide incidental take permits to public electric utilities that adopt avian protection plans.
This bill would get utility companies (read: wind turbines) off the hook for accidentally electrocuting protected birds if the companies establish a viable plan for protecting the birds. Very interesting. It would seem that if a company established an avian protection plan then they wouldn't need an "accidental take permit." If I'm being cynical, then this could be a good way for an electric company to get around worrying about killing birds by half-assing a protection plan. If I'm not being cynical this might save a lot of birds from wind farms. I'm cynical.
- Oops: The Bill
There are more, and I'll get to them tomorrow.
