We need to balance the needs…

We need to balance the needs of nature with the needs of people. Eliminating the Endangered Species Act and replacing it with a diluted version in the Species Conservation Act is not the solution. We need to be strengthening protections for species at risk, not weakening them.

When we remove most or all of the natural areas from our landscapes, we reduce biodiversity and ecosystem functions, which makes us more susceptible to climate change such as flooding and infestation of invasive species. We need to be integrating nature into how we develop. We can work with species at risk protections, but if we remove them, it will only lead to the destruction of remnant forests and natural areas that are essential to maintaining ecosystem functions.

We, as a society, are not above nature, and this plan to allow development over protecting what we have left, we will only delay the repercussions of ecosystem collapse.

I urge decision makers to reconsider the following changes proposed in this bill:
• Removing habitat protections by changing the definition of habitat
• Eliminating recovery strategies for species at risk
• Allowing developers to remove habitat with fewer restrictions and oversight

We need to take a commonsense approach to protecting nature and the species at risk that are signaling ecological collapse. A basking log is not habitat, and a single tree is not a forest. Without a plan in place, species recovery and research cannot happen. Removing oversight from developers will only allow even more destruction and rule breaking. These are not commonsense ideas – please consider another approach to balancing the needs of people with nature.

For the sake of future generations, we must act now to ensure we are building the homes we need for our citizens, while allowing nature to be a part of our world. The number of species at risk continue to rise and without proper plans for their recovery and protected habitat for them to find shelter, we will lose valuable ecosystem services and remove ourselves more from nature. The cost of restoring what we’re losing will vastly outweigh the cost of maintaining and improving protections for nature.