British and American leaders signed the Migratory Bird Treaty a century ago. These days the Great Salt Lake plays an important role in carrying out the mission of that international treaty and others that followed.
“It was amazing, forward thinking at that time,“ says Katie McVey, a wildlife refuge specialist at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in northern Utah.
As many as 10 million birds stop at the Great Salt Lake each year for layovers on the Pacific and the Central flyways. They include American avocets whose songs were recorded a half-century ago in the Bear River marshes.
Migration journeys like theirs can span whole continents and thousands of miles. And it’s obvious now -- 100 years later -- why international law protects them. McVey says the treaty helps us appreciate the important role of birds.
“They connect people with Nature,” she says. “They add beauty, sound and color to our world, to our backyards, to our refuges -- and, and birds are so accessible to everyone.”
Birds are also vulnerable -- that’s why groups like the Great Salt Lake Audubon keep fighting for more protections.
“There are many, many threats,” says Heather Dove, the group’s president. “But I would say the largest of them is climate change and human-cause habitat destruction and fragmentation.”
Audubon has fought plans for the West Davis Highway, which would destroy miles of wetlands. The group also opposes theBear River Project proposal. Dove says what happens to migratory birds affects the environment and people.
“They are sentinels of the health of the planet,” Dove says. “And if they start to decline, that has big implications for the rest of us.
Thetundra swan is one of the many species at risk. Nearly one-third of them visit the marshes at the Bear River Refuge and nearby wetlands in a year.
Thank you to theMacaulay Libraryat the Cornell Lab of Ornithology for the American avocet and tundra swan sounds.
