The District has finally received permission from the federal government to implement a conservation strategy to protect of dozens of wildlife species from development and loss of habitat.
More than 60 species of birds, fish, reptiles and mammals are listed as most in need for conservation in the Wildlife Action Plan, a blueprint for environmental protection in the 68-square-mile nation’s capital.
Despite its urban nature, the District hosts a broad variety of wildlife, from bald eagles and southern flying squirrels to gray foxes and bog turtles. But as developers continue to build the District out and up — 80 percent of the city is developed, 7 percent is parkland and 13 percent surface water — those species and their haunts are threatened.
The American bittern, according to the plan, is “critically imperiled”; the southern bog lemming is vulnerable and the Allegheny woodrat is “possibly extirpated,” or extinct.
The plan, submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2005, calls for education, outreach and conservation, preserving grasslands, forests and marshes, protecting colonies and foraging sites, limiting use of pesticides and poisons, and restoring and restocking streams.
“While it can be difficult for humans and wildlife to coexist within the borders of one city, the District actually has an unexpectedly wide diversity of wildlife and habitats,” the plan states. “This coexistence between humans and wildlife can improve and thrive with comprehensive strategic planning.”
In the short term, said Mary Pfaffko, a wildlife biologist with the D.C. Department of the Environment’s fish and wildlife division, the city will launch a program to monitor population status and trends, develop an invasive plant management system, restore freshwater tidal wetlands through goose management and restore native vegetation through deer management.
The conservation effort isn’t pie in the sky, Pfaffko said. It is, however, a 10-year-plan — the first nationwide effort to conserve nongame wildlife.
The plan’s success is critical, said Ward 1 D.C. Council Member Jim Graham, who recently took over as chair of the public works and environment committee.
“It’s got to be possible because protecting wildlife contributes to the quality of life for all living things,” he said.
