Save This Uniquely American Sparrow from Extinction

  • by: Jessica Ramos
  • recipient: Dan Ashe, Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service

The saltmarsh sparrow can only be found in American marshes, and it's disappearing. New research says that this American sparrow could go extinct in five short decades.

Brian Olsen, a researcher and professor at the University of Maine, estimates that saltmarsh sparrow's population has declined 9 percent every year since 1998, even though there's approximately 53,000 birds left. 

As its name suggests, the saltmarsh sparrow depends on marshes for its survival. But urban development (e.g. roads and railways) is destroying and degrading its habitat. Rising sea levels from climate change are also flooding their nesting areas.

Wildlife researchers are scheduled to meet with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in September to discuss whether the saltmarsh sparrow deserves protection.

And the sparrows and researchers could use your voice.

Sign and share this petition urging the wildlife agency to do the right thing by protecting the disappearing saltmarsh sparrow from extinction now. The next 20 years can't be about tracking the sparrow's decline -- we already have that research. The next 20 years should be about taking meaningful action via conservation because the saltwater sparrow might only have 50 years left.



Photo Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region

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