Contacts
Ted Swem (907) 456-0441
Bruce Woods (907) 786-3695
Today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a final recovery plan for the threatened Alaska-breeding population of the Steller’s eider (Polysticta stelleri). The recovery plan identifies activities thought necessary to recover the eider population to a point at which protection by the Endangered Species Act will no longer be necessary.
Once locally common in portions of western and northern Alaska, the Alaska-breeding population of Steller’s eiders has nearly disappeared from western Alaska, while estimates of the northern Alaska population range from the hundreds to the low thousands. Neither the factors causing this decline nor the scope and severity of obstacles to the species’ recovery are well understood. However, increased predation pressure, hunting, ingestion of spent lead shot in wetlands, changes in the marine environment, and exposure to contaminants have all been identified as possible causes of the decline. Many of the early recovery tasks will involve research to identify specific threats and to evaluate their impacts. Other tasks will include reducing the birds’ exposure to lead shot and other known forms of human-caused mortality, acquisition of additional information on Steller’s eider population ecology, re-establishment of the western Alaska subpopulation, and the development of partnerships to assist in future recovery efforts.
The Service developed the recovery plan in cooperation with the Steller’s Eider Recovery Team, whose members provided a wide range of both scientific and management expertise. The plan was drafted in 2001, and went through public review by a variety of agencies, landowners, and other stakeholders before publication. The final plan represents the Service’s current thinking on how to best recover the eider, but it is expected that the plan will be modified as new scientific information emerges and the early-stage recovery tasks are completed.
The plan is available at http://ecos.fws.gov/servlet/TESSWebpageRecovery?sort=1#B. Copies may also be obtained from the Fairbanks Fish and Wildlife Office, 101 12th Ave., Box 19, Rm 110, Fairbanks, AK 99701 (telephone 907/456-0203). Background information on the Steller’s eider population decline and related issues, including photographs, can be found at http://alaska.fws.gov/media/StellEider.htm.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses nearly 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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For more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, visit our home page at http://www.fws.gov
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