Species Act

Havre de Grace. -- Down the fenceline I go, in the cold wind, doing an annual farm chore that hasn't much to do with farming -- inspecting the bluebird boxes. It's usually late February or early March when I do this, but this year I'm running behind.There are more than a dozen on trees and fenceposts around the farm, and I like to clean out last year's clutter and make minor repairs before the boxes are needed for nesting again. Lots of people do this. Bluebird boxes are everywhere these days, and bluebirds, rare when I was a child, are now abundant.

Santa Fe, N.M.--We are fond of proclaiming that ours is a government of laws. But there are times when we expect too much of laws and not enough of ourselves. This explains the depressing failure of the Endangered Species Act.In the United States, we have caused the extinction of 500 of our bird and mammal species. Another 500 are in trouble, probably terminal. One of every seven of our plant species is at serious risk. Since its passage in 1973, the endangered species law has divided the nation while documenting our accelerating failure to save species.