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Posted Apr. 30, 2005
From the Enquirer
Second chance to save a rare species
Editorials
Finding evidence of the ivory-billed woodpecker - announced by the Department of the Interior Thursday - gives hope that humankind may indeed be able to act as responsible stewards of planet Earth.
Thought to be extinct for 61 years, sightings of the ivory-billed were confirmed by a Cornell University team 15 months ago, but kept secret while Interior and assorted conservationists acted to preserve its habitat.
"Second chances to save wildlife once thought to be extinct are rare .... We will take advantage of this opportunity," Interior Secretary Gale Norton said.
The bird has been sighted in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Arkansas. The departments of Interior and Agriculture have proposed spending $10 million in federal funds for research, habitat protection and law enforcement efforts to protect the bird.
The Nature Conservancy and other conservation groups announced they have been buying land in the region to preserve a larger habitat for the bird.
For those who wonder why one bird is worth $10 million, we can only hope that there is more than one. But the ivory-billed woodpecker has now become a symbol - both of how we can destroy the creatures of the world if we are not careful, and how we can preserve and safeguard them if we act together.
There are tangible benefits to this preservation as well. Where people once rushed to exploit the landscape, denuding the forest habit and almost killing off this species and others in the process, they are now eager to preserve it. Logging could be replaced by ecotourism in the swampy lands known as the Arkansas Big Woods.
Cincinnati has its own connection to this discovery, and to the pain of bird extinctions. John Bridgeland, formerly of Indian Hill, was among the 15-person team that confirmed the sightings.
Wildlife artist John Ruthven of Georgetown was commissioned to paint a picture of the bird, unveiled in Washington on Thursday. The last of two other bird species, the passenger pigeon and the Carolina parakeet, died at the Cincinnati Zoo. A memorial at the zoo commemorates these and other extinct species.