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Bird Conservation |  |
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Overview
Although wildlife management is not a central part of EPA's mission, numerous Agency programs and initiatives support and complement efforts to conserve fish and wildlife and their habitats. Healthy populations of fish and wildlife are an integral component of healthy ecosystems. They also contribute directly to our quality of life by providing recreational opportunities, and generate economic benefits by supporting hunting, fishing, bird watching, photography, tourism, and other outdoor activities. Birds are an important--and highly visible--part of the ecosystem. Bird watching is one of the fastest growing recreational activities in the United States, generating sizable economic benefits.* An estimated 63 million Americans feed birds at home, and more than 24 million travel to watch birds. Bird watchers spent $5.2 billion in 1991 on associated goods and services, supporting almost 200,000 jobs. Birds are important ecologically as well as economically. They are vital links in many food webs, and often serve as biological indicators of overall ecosystem health. In addition to these tangible benefits, healthy populations of birds enhance the quality of outdoor recreation--and overall quality of life--for countless Americans. By working to safeguard the natural environment--air, water, and land--EPA is an important partner in efforts to conserve birds. Through activities such as wetlands protection, coastal management, protection of aquatic resources, regulation of pesticides, and international leadership in environmental protection, EPA programs contribute to bird conservation. EPA also participates in several public/private bird conservation partnerships to help strengthen the ties between these efforts and EPA programs, and to contribute EPA's support and technical assistance to these bird conservation initiatives. This web site has been developed to provide an overview of bird conservation including descriptions of the major North American bird conservation initiatives, actions EPA is taking in its own programs to further bird conservation, actions that citizens can take to conserve birds, and other background information, including many useful links to other web sites.
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