Photos this page by Jan van der Kam in Life on Delaware Bay conservation groups organizing them have a waiting list!
So my advice to the conservationists of Kiawah: Keep up the standard set long ago and build on your strengths as you create your shorebird stewardship program. Grow it with the help of agencies, but make it your own and drive it with the passion of people who love animals. Always be mindful of volunteer needs. People need expense support, good outreach materials, easily understood scientific justifications, yearly assessments that say what works and what does not, and a strong group of leaders who see their role as helping others do the job of protection.
Finally, we must always keep in mind the most important questions in any stewardship. Why do this work? Why help the shorebirds of Kiawah? The scientific reason is the easiest. I can say as a scientist from experience, that an ecosystem is only a stack of blocks, each representing a small bit of nature that can, in fact, be removed without all of it coming down. We have played this game forever. But then we pull that one key block, and it all comes tumbling down. Nature’ s thread
unravels. Usually forever. For example, once lost, red knots will not return.
The moral argument is a bit more difficult to describe. I am a father and a grandfather and see it as my duty to shepherd valuable natural resources for future generations. What right do I have to cash in on our natural resource bank account until it is bankrupt? Is this how we treat our children’ s future? Better to solve the puzzle of stewardship for the benefit of all.
The final reason comes from deep inside and is usually hidden to all but ourselves. We are all part of God’ s creation— wildlife included— and we alone have the ability to steward. This world is dying; it’ s a fact regardless of your politics or ideology. Under our care, species are becoming extinct at alarming rates, greater than at any other time in geologic history. These species that are lost are gone forever. People who care need to protect those who cannot defend themselves. From this perspective, we canal agree this is not the job of government. We must act in our own lives to protect the world and its creatures. NK
18 Naturally Kiawah