From our Pinelands to our seashores, New Jersey boasts a tremendous amount of wildlife and ecological diversity. Wildlife-related tourism and recreation in New Jersey also generate approximately $2.2 billion to $3 billion in economic activity annually.
Even though we’re the most densely populated state in the country — packed, as we know, with some of the greatest people in America — we share that space with a long list of animals both big and small.
That wildlife is part of what makes our state great and warrants our best efforts to protect it. I am proud of my record during my 40 years of service in the New Jersey Legislature where I championed multiple efforts to protect wildlife and promote conservation efforts across the country.
I helped pass legislation that ended the sale of shark fins in our state, banned trophies of endangered species from entering New Jersey and sponsored banning the trade of ivory products to keep elephants safe from extinction and making New Jersey the first state to do so.
That work has continued since my retirement from the New Jersey Senate, especially through my ongoing opposition to our state’s annual bear hunt which contributes to the unnecessary killing of hundreds of black bears every year.
I’m proud to do this work alongside advocates from every part of New Jersey. It’s part of our duty to protect all domesticated and wild animals that call our great state home. Unfortunately, so much of the incredible conservation work happening in New Jersey is currently being undermined in Washington, D.C.
Congress is currently considering a bill, the ESA Amendments Act, that would drastically weaken the Endangered Species Act, the bedrock environmental law underpinning our nation’s conservation efforts and the heart of the effort to protect threatened animals from coast to coast.
The Endangered Species Act is one of the most effective and popular pieces of federal legislation ever introduced. It has saved 99% of species listed for protection from extinction and it boasts 84% support from the American public.
Any changes to this popular law are nothing more than a handout to corporate polluters who want to put profits over protections for wildlife and the environment.
The ESA Amendments Act would make it much harder to keep imperiled species out of harm’s way. It would arbitrarily limit how federal agencies can help keep animals safe and narrow the designations of critical habitats.
It would also make it easier to take threatened animals off the endangered species list, stripping away protections that have allowed so many cherished animals to thrive in the wild yet again.
This is just the latest effort from Congressional Republicans to strip away protections for endangered animals. Last summer, the House Natural Resources Committee considered a bill that would remove grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in Montana and Wyoming from the endangered species list.
A separate bill seeks to strip Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves in the lower 48. These animals are only just returning from the brink of extinction, and meddling in their recovery efforts will set back progress immensely.
New Jersey is home to hundreds of wildlife species that are endangered, threatened, or warrant special concern. These are creatures people travel across the state and country to see.
But more than that, these creatures play a unique and important role in the delicate balance of our ecosystem. From the largest birds to the smallest insects, that balance is jeopardized when a species disappears for good.
Sharing the world with these animals is a privilege and since many of these species face extinction because of human activity, we have an obligation to protect them.
It’s time to ask New Jersey’s Republican representatives in Congress whether they plan to side with New Jersey or polluters. Representatives Jeff Van Drew, Chris Smith and Tom Kean Jr. have the chance to put our state and its wildlife before politics by voting against the ESA Amendments Act.
Our representatives must help turn back these attacks on our state’s endangered and threatened species. The animals that call New Jersey home deserve protection, and the people who live here deserve leaders who will keep our wildlife safe.
