Like a shipwrecked sailor clinging to the storm tossed cliffs of an angry sea, many plants and animals in Virginia and Maryland, such as the seabed amarath, cling to life as they pull against the swirling drain of extinction. Today the Washington Post begins its profile of 17 of the District of Columbia region’s endangered and threatened species, which will run over the next several weeks. The article starts off by recapping the Bush Administration’s recent proposed regulations to gut the Endangered Species Act’s consultation provisions, but then goes on to place that proposal in the context of specific species. It also includes a nice gallery of artwork. One of the dangers of the Bush Administration’s proposal is that it seems so abstract. But its consequences will be all too real, not just for imperiled wildlife in D.C., but across the United States. Hopefully, the Post’s profiles will remind legislators returning from their summer break what’s really at stake.
[This post is my entry into the NRDC Bulwer-Lytton © Environmental Blogging Competition]