This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WABE and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.
Federal officials are removing an iconic bird found in south Georgia from the endangered species list — but environmental advocates say that might not be good news for the birds.
Wood storks live and breed in the swamps and wetlands of south and coastal Georgia, as well as much of Florida and several other southeastern states. The enormous, bald-headed white birds with black-tipped wings have been on the endangered species list since 1984. At the time, their population had declined by more than 75 percent from their 1930s level.
The species has since enjoyed a major recovery. After downgrading the stork from endangered to threatened several years ago, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to remove it from the list.
“The wood stork’s recovery is a real conservation success thanks to a lot of hard work from our partners,” said FWS director Brian Nesvik in a statement. “The Trump administration is working quickly to remove federal protections from species that no longer need them, and I’m proud that the wood stork is another example of that.”
Environmental groups agree the wood stork has been a major success story for the endangered species list. But Will Harlan, southeast director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said it’s the “worst possible time” to remove protections for the storks.
“Delisting them right now while stripping protections for their essential habitat is a really dangerous, premature, and reckless decision,” he said.
A recent supreme court decision and a policy change by the Environmental Protection Agency have both removed protections for the wetlands wood storks rely on. Advocates argue those changes will put wood storks at greater risk, making the habitat protections that come with endangered species listing critical.
The storks also haven’t achieved two of their three main recovery goals, Harlan said. Although the number of breeding pairs has doubled since the species was first listed, the number of surviving chicks and the population in South Florida have not bounced back enough, according to Harlan.