Every day is Earth Day for Endangered Species Act

  • Published
  • By Scott Johnston
  • AFCEC Public Affairs
FORMER MCCLELLAN AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Chances are burrowing owls, fairy shrimp and desert tortoises won't be sending a card or a present, but they do owe a great debt of gratitude to the Endangered Species Act.
 
The act turns the big 4-0 this year and during its four decades of service, few pieces of legislation have been as important to Air Force land managers and the diverse areas they conserve.

Whether the land remains in active service at open bases, or closed by the Base Realignment and Closure Act, it continues to provide sanctuaries for species of endangered and threatened plant and animal life.

With worldwide Earth Day celebrations throughout the month of April, there is no better time to appreciate the Endangered Species Act's platform for ecosystem conservation, which makes every day Earth Day for theses plant and animals that call military bases home.

"In addition to the endangered and threatened species, the ecosystems are also important for migratory water fowl and wintering shorebirds," said Molly Enloe, Air Force Civil Engineer Center's natural resources project manager at the former McClellan Air Force Base. "So you end up having a wide variety of species benefiting from it."

More than 520 at-risk plant and animal species live on military lands across the nation and a number of examples can be found at former Air Force installations like McClellan and Mather Air Force bases in Sacramento, Calif.

Species such as the fairy shrimp, and the vernal pools they live in, are found at both locations. And these entire ecosystems have benefitted from the ESA.

At first glance, vernal pools may not look much different than any other stretch of dirt and grass. However, they are home to a variety of plants and animals that survive only in a vernal pool's unique wet/dry cycle.

Often these vernal pools are overrun by non-native plants. To combat the problem, hundreds of sheep are trucked in annually to consume the intrusive and allow the native plants to thrive.

"We have to protect and maintain the West Nature Area," said Enloe, "and the sheep do a great job of eating down the non-native plants, which allows the vernal pool's plants to grow. The sheep are a much better alternative because they are less intrusive than mowing or controlled burning. It's more of a natural process."

In addition to four kinds of threatened or endangered fairy shrimp, the fields and creeks at McClellan are also home to burrowing owls, a species of concern across most of the western United States, and the threatened Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle and the Giant Garter Snake.

"Even though it was written to protect individual species, the Endangered Species Act ends up benefiting the entire ecosystem's community where other species reside," said Enloe. "Many of these plants and animals would not be here today without it.