‘Endangered’ Listing for California Gnatcatcher
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An emergency is no less an emergency for being dubbed a pickle.
If I am entering the terminal stage of a deadly affliction, I will not want to have my official status changed from “critical” to “serious” in deference to some long-range plan based on prevention rather than cure, however worthy that concept may be.
The California gnatcatcher--as a distinct species--clings to survival by a hair.
To change its official status from “endangered” to “threatened,” and deprive it of the protection of the Endangered Species Act, will not only condemn it to extinction, it will also jeopardize the outlook for Babbitt’s worthy long-range, regionally based habitat protection program.
Preventive planning should be supported, but imminent extinction demands emergency action.
The flexible approach can more appropriately be applied where the risk of species loss is potential rather than immediate, as is the case of the gnatcatcher.
JEAN BERNSTEIN
South Laguna
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