May 15, 2015 marks the annual observance known as Endangered Species Day, the day when we try to focus the attention of the public on the plight of the rarest and most imperiled life forms on the planet—the species that man has generally driven to the brink of extinction. Part and parcel of this observance is a discussion of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), one of the most progressive and enlightened pieces of environmental legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress … and a law that has been under attack almost from the moment it was signed by President Richard M. Nixon on December 28, 1973.
In describing the concept and philosophy behind the ESA, and the foundation upon which the entire effort to protect endangered species is based, a quote from legendary conservationist Aldo Leopold is most frequently cited:
“To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” (1949)
Famed conservation biologist and human population scientist Paul Ehrlich punched up the same thought in his paraphrased statement to the Saturday Evening Post:
“The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.”
Regardless whose quote you prefer, or whose words resonate more effectively, the concept is the same – each and every one of the parts has its own significance and importance, so we must take care not to lose any of them, lest the entire mechanism fail to function properly. This is true whether working on your car, fixing a watch, or protecting the various forms of plant, animal, and insect species that populate our planet. It takes all the parts for the machine … or the ecosystem … to work properly!
Nevertheless, humans most often seem to view nature as a catalog from which they can pick and choose what species they find worthy of protection, and what life forms are simply disposable, or icky, or ugly, or scary, or pests. 
The term “charismatic megafauna” has been applied to animals like polar bears, bald eagles, gray wolves, mountain gorillas, Sumatran orangutans, Bengal tigers, black rhinos, blue whales, and other large and beautiful creatures that are easy to love (even in the midst of our ignorance about their true natural history). Yet the tiny creatures like the Tidewater goby, Oahu tree snails, staghorn coral, the short-nosed sturgeon, or the addax get little or no media or public attention, in spite of their equally endangered status. What’s worse, the protection of these anonymous species is often ridiculed because of their obscurity and because there are no social media sites devoted to their preservation. However, the integrity of entire ecosystems often depends of the health and vitality of the species at the bottom, not just the flashy and popular species at the top.
Whales are beautiful and huge and elegant, but without the tiny crustacean known as krill, giant species like the humpback whale would starve to death. The tiny and primitive marine creatures known as a coral polyps are related to jellyfish, but their calcified exoskeletons form the coral reefs that protect our tropical coastlines. Coral reefs make up only one percent of the marine environment, yet these reef systems are home to twenty-five percent of all marine species, including many of the species of fish species that support the global seafood industry. It is often the species most easily overlooked that provides the essential key to survival for all species in a given ecosystem.
Certainly, the most widely celebrated creature on the original Endangered Species List was the flagship species, the bald eagle. In addition to being a large and beautiful predator at the top of its food chain, the Bald Eagle is the symbol of the United States and a spiritual icon to many Native American tribes and cultures. What the bald eagle’s experience taught us is that predators at the top of the food chain depend on the vitality and health of the smallest and most ignorable members of that food chain.
In the case of Bald eagles, it was the farmers’ war on insects that lead to the near eradication of bald eagles, and many other species, from the lower 48 states. When the chemical DDT was developed as a tool to wipe out small insects such as aphids, mosquitoes, and beetles, it was proclaimed to be a miracle chemical because it would kill a wide variety of insect “pests”, and it lasted a long time in the environment, thus preventing the recovery of insect populations. However, when it was sprayed across every conceivable part of the United States, and many other countries, the target insects were not the only victims. DDT killed all small insects. But it did not stop there. Small insects contaminated with DDT were eaten by larger ones. Larger insects were eaten by small fish. Small fish were eaten by big fish. Big fish were eaten by eagles.
At each level of the food chain, the chemical became more concentrated as the predators at one level ate countless individual prey species from the lower levels, and with each one got a tiny bit more DDT in their systems. As a species at the top of the food chain, eagles were the ultimate recipients of all of the DDT consumed or absorbed by every small insect, large insect, small fish, and large fish in their entire food chain. We failed to recognize that a scorched-Earth war on insects has many profound and horrifying consequence, most of which were not intended.
Still, when the use DDT was ultimately banned in the United States in 1972, it was not the chemical’s impact on eagles that motivated the elimination of this deadly killer. Bald eagles are only one of the species at the top of the food chain; humans are another!
It was only after the National Institutes of Health discovered measurable amounts of DDT residues in 100% of all human tissue samples tested that we truly realized what we had done to the ecosystem. We had not only poisoned wild species like bald eagles, peregrine falcons, ospreys and pelicans; we had poisoned ourselves and our children.
While our relentless degradation of the environment pushed the bald eagle to the brink of extinction, the bald eagle’s plight helped the public understand the importance of a more comprehensive view of ecosystems and conservation. Indeed, the recovery of the bald eagle population across North America is seen as one of the most notable success stories associated with the Endangered Species Act, and indeed all efforts at environmental protection. Through the elimination of unreasonably dangerous chemicals like DDT, we have improved conditions for bald eagle and every other species in their ecosystem, including humans. By protecting nests and nesting habitats of eagles, we have protected the homes of countless other species. By making the strict enforcement of conservation laws a priority, we have made the shootings, deliberate poisoning, and commercialization of bald eagles an increasingly rare thing, but that has also motivated us to attack the entire black market in wildlife and wildlife parts and the deliberate destruction of protected species.
Once a very rare species, the bald eagle is showing up in parts of the United States in which it has not been seen in 150 years, proving that if we choose to do so, we can save what is dear to us.
My challenge for the friends of the Wildlife Center of Virginia is to use the bald eagle as a constant reminder that caring about only one species will not save wildlife; in fact, it won’t even save that species. The bald eagle is not only the symbol of the United States and an example of those species once at the brink of extinction; it is also the ambassador of all wild things and wild places. As we adore and revere this species, and as we observe Endangered Species Day, let’s also remember that each species is but a single part of a complete and complex ecosystem. We must remember that each decision we make in our daily lives could have eventual consequences for those creatures about whom we care so much, including the bald eagle.
Whether it is the energy we consume, the pesticides and fertilizers we use in our yards and gardens, the way we manage our pets, and even the products we buy, every action we take has consequences and implications for wildlife and wild places. On this day, as we remember the species that have suffered the most from the actions of humans, let’s rededicate ourselves to a more thoughtful and deliberate way of living day-to-day. If each of us finds one small thing to do each day … a small way to make things better … together we can change the world.
