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Cranes remind why refuge cuts are unwise

The whooping cranes arrived in Chassahowitzka on Tuesday, completing their 1,200-mile journey from Wisconsin and bringing smiles to those who have worked so hard the past five years to make this experiment an annual success.

The birds also are a reminder of how ingenuity and determination have saved a species from extinction.

Sadly, that achievement might be in danger if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to reduce the budgets and staff at national wildlife refuges. In addition, other critical programs, including ones aimed at protecting manatees, could be affected.

A contingent of Florida Congress members have appealed to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne to restore funding to a half-dozen refuges that will be adversely affected. Among them are Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge and its whooping crane program, and the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge and its aerial manatee survey.

Discontinuing aerial surveys, which are conducted every other week, greatly undermines the ability of manatee protection groups and agencies to monitor the endangered creature. It is the most reliable way to determine where manatees gather and whether herds are flourishing or waning.

The current round of cutbacks will eliminate 21 jobs at Florida's wildlife refuges, including one at Chassahowitzka. That will mean more work for other employees and a reliance on private advocacy groups to do more to protect wildlife and their habitats - a responsibility that belongs to the government.

Fewer employees translates to less enforcement, a vital task already undermanned, especially considering how expansive and accessible the refuges are. Lack of enforcement, particularly of the no-wake laws, heightens the risk of injury to manatees.

We applaud the efforts of the eight Florida Congress members, including Ginny Brown-Waite, who are lobbying Secretary Kempthorne to restore funding to the wildlife refuges. We urge outgoing Gov. Jeb Bush, who once declared manatees his favorite mammal, to use his influence with Kempthorne's boss, President George W. Bush, to grant the Congressional delegation's pleas.

[Last modified December 20, 2006, 02:38:40]