Posted at 9:45 a.m., Thursday, September 20, 2001

Most threats to wildlife human, says group's chief

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer

Wildlife, whether in Hawai'i or elsewhere, is under attack from a variety of threats, but at the base of most of them are humans.

Climate change, population stabilization and international trade are the focus of the National Wildlife Federation, each addressed through changes in human activity, said Mark Van Putten, the group's president and chief executive officer.

Van Putten is in Honolulu to address the 50th anniversary meeting of the Conservation Council for Hawai'i, the wildlife federation's affiliate in the state, in a meeting not open to the public.

"The Islands are notable for endemic species and habitat. They have suffered some of the most significant losses of endemic species anywhere in the United States," Van Putten said.

He said he would not lobby or conduct advocacy activities while in Hawai'i, feeling it would be inappropriate after the recent tragedies on the East Coast.

But he said last week's terrorist attacks drew many people out into nature to heal and grieve, pointing out the important value of natural environments and the need to preserve them.

"The stewardship of the natural world is an act of faith in the future," he said.

That's why the group is actively supporting preservation of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, he said.

The native Gwich'in people of inland northern Alaska and Canada oppose oil drilling in the refuge, fearing it will impact the calving of a caribou herd upon which they depend.

A coastal Inupiat Eskimo village has argued in support of the drilling, citing economic development potential, although a third of the villagers said they believed it would harm the herd and another third said they didn't know or believed more study was needed.

Van Putten said the caribou population in neighboring Prudhoe Bay has not diminished since oil development started there, but that coastal plain is much wider than the refuge, and caribou "avoid developed areas during calving time."

Honolulu scientist Steve Montgomery, president of the Conservation Council for Hawai'i and a national board member of the National Wildlife Federation, said environmental groups fear the terrorist attacks will be used in Congress to support pushing through oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"They're trying to make it a rider on a national defense bill," Montgomery said.

Van Putten said many of the wildlife federation's issues come up from the local affiliates.

The organization claims to be the world's largest member-supported conservation group. In addition to its chapters and affiliates, it has 11 offices nationwide and a full-time paid staff of 600.

Correction: A previous version of this story mistakenly reported that the Conservation Counci forHawai'i meeting would be open to the public.