While Virginians get increasingly worked up over the impact of Global Warming on Virginia’s climate and coastlines some 70 to 80 years from now, cricical environmental problems demand our attention right now.
The Virginia Department of Inland Game and Fisheries has published the State Wildlife Action Plan, the most comprehensive investigation into the status of Virginia wildlife ever conducted. The encyclopedic, 900-page plan assigns 925 species of mammals, fish, birds, amphibeans, reptiles and other creatures to one of four tiers of conservation need — critical, very high, high and moderate — and maps the locations of their habitats.
The plan, the culmination of a Warner administration initative, identifies two major threats to native Virginia species, as well as several deficiencies in wildlife conservation programs. The threats are:
Unprecedented fragmentation and development of habitat. This is one of the most frequently identified problems facing wildlife. To address it, those responsible for land planning will need to be more fully engaged in wildlife conservation efforts.
Invasive exotic plants and animals negatively impacting native wildlife and habitats. Even though they are already widespread, the prevalence of invasive species is increasing in both aquatic and terrestrial communities. From exotic common reed (Phragmites) in coastal marshes to crayfish introduced through the bait trade, this is a crucial statewide conservation issue.
You see, folks, we don’t have to wait for global warming to witness the widespread extinction of native species. Five species of mammals, 15 of birds, 11 of fish and countless more are designated Tier I, facing “an extremely high risk of extinction or extirpation.”
So, what can we do? Combatting invasive species is incredibly difficult — foreign marauders don’t respect state lines. The challenge of invasive species can be addressed systematically only at the level of the federal government. On the other hand, Virginia can do a lot to preserve wildlife habitat.
And that raises an interesting issue — the prioritization of Virginia’s conservation easement tax credits. Demand for the tax credits has taken off, but for reasons of fiscal prudence the General Assembly has clamped a lid of $100 million a year upon the program. I’m not sure what the criteria are now for awarding the credits, whether applicants join a queue and wait their turn, or whether some other factors come into play. But it strikes me that not all conservation easements are created equal. Easements that preserve vital wildlife habitat, I would suggest, should have a higher priority over easements that preserve significant viewsheds, which should have priority over easements that preserve some random property owner’s farm land.
Inland Game and Fisheries has published a map (see above — click on the image for greater detail) that shows where the most critical habitat is located. If Virginia is going to expend $100 million a year in tax credits, some portion of that sum should be used to secure the habitat of Virginia’s threatened species. The greater the threat to the species, the higher the priority for habitat conservation.
Additionally — and this was a major point raised during a meeting in Prince William County I attended recently on the topic of land conservation — local governments should integrate the Inland Game and Fisheries data into their comprehensive plans. We know where the threatened species live now. There is no excuse for waiting until a developer blunders upon a piece of critical habitat to do something about it.
Finally, Virginia needs to look at the full panoply of its land management practices. States the report:
Pollution, sedimentation, and nutrient overloads are causing changes in water quality that negatively impact aquatic wildlife and habitats. Such aquatic degradation is caused mainly by certain agricultural and forestry practices, industrial and municipal development, and certain industrial practices, such as mining. Rivers in southwestern Virginia experienced degradation from certain mining practices, certain agricultural practices, and creation of downstream dams.
Virginia’s wildlife constitute one of the state’s most precious and irreplaceable assets. This superb study gives us a powerful tool to conserve this heritage. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries deserves praise for a job well done.
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