OPINION/COMMENTARY

Woodpecker Return Raises Worries for Land Owners

Reports this week that a bird thought to be extinct for the last 60 years has been spotted in Arkansas caused bird lovers around the nation to rejoice and highlighted the need for reforming the Endangered Species Act. “The rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker, a large bird nearly the size of a raven, shows it is possible for a species to survive undetected, even in a modern highly developed and densely populated nation,” said Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Environmental Scholar R.J. Smith. “It shows that the doomsayers who preach that man and nature cannot both survive and that man is a cancer on the planet are totally out of touch with reality,” said Smith. “If we want to save species like the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, we need to start rewarding and compensating property owners rather than punishing them for providing habitat,” said Smith. “The tragic results of Endangered Species Act enforcement have been the biggest challenge to property owners’ natural instinct for stewardship,” said Smith....

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