STOP Texas Home Invoice 2239 – help the Golden-cheeked Warbler and the ONLY place on this planet the place this species can reproduce. HB 2239, if handed, would take away native protections presently in-place for the Ashe Juniper tree. This native Texas timber offers the one nesting habitat for the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler. (Press Release – May 3, 2023)
Letter, under, despatched to Texas Home Representatives on April 13, 2023. We thank all of our accomplice organizations that signed on to this letter: Travis Audubon Society, Metropolis of Cedar Hill, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Membership – Lone Star Chapter, Mates of Balcones Canyonlands NWR, Bexar Audubon Society.
On behalf of Audubon Texas and our companions, we want to specific sturdy considerations relating to Texas Home Invoice 2239 in its present type. Audubon Texas and our group of 90,000 Texas members, supporters, chapters, and companions are celebrating 100 years of conservation and stewardship throughout the state. Our mission is to guard birds, wildlife, and the locations they dwell for the betterment of our communities.
Particularly, our concern is the inclusion of the Ashe juniper tree on this laws. The elimination of this native species would threaten the existence of the Golden-cheeked warbler, a federally protected endangered species, and doubtlessly result in a grave rippling impact throughout our Texas ecological programs in addition to be a detriment to nature-based tourism throughout the area. That is greater than a numbers sport – decimation of habitat could have extreme implications for this and different species of birds and wildlife.
The Golden-cheeked warbler requires strips of mature Ashe juniper bark—and solely Ashe juniper bark—to construct their nests. With out mature Ashe junipers, Golden-cheeks can’t efficiently breed. As well as, their solely nesting grounds are present in thirty-three counties of the better Central Texas area. That is the one place on this planet the place this chook can reproduce. Its survival completely relies on its habitat. This invoice permits for added threats and degradation to Golden-cheeked warbler nesting grounds, inserting this federally endangered chook at even better threat for extinction.
The Golden-cheeked warbler has delighted birders and nature fans because it was first recognized in america in the course of the Civil Warfare period. Biologists started voicing alarm even within the 1800s on the charge at which the chook’s habitat was disappearing. This species requires oak timber, which host bugs for feeding their younger, and the strippable bark from mature Ashe junipers for its nests. When the primary uncommon and endangered species lists have been compiled within the U.S. in the course of the Nineteen Sixties, Golden-cheeked warblers have been already being described as uncommon. On account of speedy habitat loss by means of clear-cutting and concrete growth, the warbler was formally listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1990. In line with a current examine by Defenders of Wildlife, ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation stay existential threats to the restoration of the chook:
“Since 1985 13% of all forests inside the warbler’s breeding vary have been disturbed, with better incidences close to the metropolitan areas of San Antonio (32%) and Austin (24%). Moreover, there was a 42% lower in appropriate habitat (i.e., intact forests primarily composed of Ashe juniper and oak stands) and a lower in imply patch dimension.”
The Ashe juniper, often known as Mountain cedar, is a local Texas species. Nonetheless, it’s sometimes called a nuisance tree attributable to many outdated misconceptions. Past offering the one nesting habitat for the Golden-cheeked warbler, Ashe junipers play an important function in our Texas ecology.
Fable: Ashe juniper will not be native.
Truth: Ashe juniper has dominated the Texas Hill Nation for 1000’s of years. Early European settlers be aware seeing “cedar” (a standard title) in thickets throughout the land. Settlers to the Hill Nation, generally known as “cedar choppers,” started clear reducing Ashe juniper to make use of it for his or her houses, phone poles, and rail traces.
Fable: Ashe juniper makes use of an excessive amount of water.
Truth: Ashe juniper might help with water retention when it rains. Lifeless foliage underneath the tree acts as mulch, guiding rainwater to seep at a better charge into the soil as a substitute of operating off. There’s additionally analysis at Texas A&M College (Wilcox) and the Texas Agricultural Extension (Owens) that’s inspecting how the tree’s roots could assist with the deeper drainage of water into the Edwards Aquifer under.
Fable: Ashe juniper strips the land and chokes out different hardwood species.
Truth: Whereas bushy Ashe juniper are sometimes prevalent in areas which were over-grazed or that comprise sub-standard soils, they aren’t the trigger, however relatively the results of a disturbed panorama. Poor soils or uncovered limestone trigger Ashe junipers to develop as “pioneering” bushes as a substitute of timber. The bushes cut back erosion attributable to rain placing naked soil, add natural matter to the soil, and create shade that encourages microorganism progress. Junipers don’t “choke out” grasses and different timber however are among the first to look in disturbed areas.
Fable: Ashe juniper is the reason for extreme allergic reactions.
Truth: All flowers and timber that bloom create pollen that may induce histamine reactions for people. Oak, elders, and different timber, in addition to mildew and grasses all contribute to troubling seasonal allergic reactions. Ashe juniper is not any kind of a reason behind allergic reactions than every other flowering plant.
We strongly encourage you to rethink inclusion of the Ashe juniper in HB 2239. The elimination of Ashe juniper timber will not be solely detrimental to the Golden-cheeked warbler inhabitants, but in addition the state financial system. Texas is taken into account the richest birding state within the nation. A 2021 examine by the Texas Parks and Wildlife division estimated 2.2 million chook watchers generate roughly $1.8 billion in financial influence yearly. Please take into account the area people impacts of this invoice. Let’s preserve a thriving financial system benefitted by our native species! The place birds thrive, folks prosper.
