The fatal Memorandum

First, a correction:

I got a letter of the name of that memorandum wrong in my posting of a few days ago --Thought it was an acronym for Migratory Bird Treaty Memorandum. But its officially called a Migratory Bird Permit Memorandum. [I've corrected it now]

So it's MBPM-2

Sorry about the mistake.

A number of people have written to ask what they could do to try to get rid of that memorandum. I'm reprinting below a long Petition someone came up with around the time of the crisis. I don't know if it was ever sent in. Maybe we should give it a try. And maybe it might inspire some of you to come up with other ideas:

PETITION
Pursuant to Section 11-0311 of the Environmental Conservation Law
To:
Commissioner Erin M. Crotty
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233–1011

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that,
WHEREAS the Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) is a species of bird defined as a “protected bird” under the Environmental Conservation Law of the State of New York and as a “migratory
bird” under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and

WHEREAS section 11-0505(5) of the Environmental Conservation Law states that “No person shall rob or wilfully destroy a nest of any protected birds unless a permit shall first be obtained from the department,” and WHEREAS section 11-0505(7) of the Environmental Conservation Law states that “No person
shall at any time disturb a nest box or any structure constructed for the purpose of harboring wild birds whether or not such structure is inhabited by wild birds, except for annual maintenance of
such structure or when deemed necessary by the owner of the property whereupon such structure is located,” and

WHEREAS the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, as codified at 16 U.S.C. 703, provides that
“Unless and except as permitted by regulations made as hereinafter provided in this subchapter, it shall be unlawful at any time, by any means or in any manner, to pursue, hunt, take, capture,
kill, attempt to take, capture, or kill, possess, offer for sale, sell, offer to barter, barter, offer to purchase, purchase, deliver for shipment, ship, export, import, cause to be shipped, exported, or imported, deliver for transportation, transport or cause to be transported, carry or cause to be carried, or receive for shipment, transportation, carriage, or export, any migratory bird, any part, nest, or eggs of any such bird,” and

WHEREAS the above-cited provisions of the Environmental Conservation Law contemplate the issuance of permits for the destruction of nests of protected birds, including Red-Tailed Hawks, and expressly permit the disturbance of nest boxes or other structures constructed for the purpose
of harboring wild birds, including Red-Tailed Hawks, when deemed necessary by the property owner, and

WHEREAS federal enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibition against the taking of nests of migratory birds, including Red-Tailed Hawks, has been undermined by a U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service policy memorandum, which interprets the Act as prohibiting only the possession of nests, or the destruction of nests containing birds or eggs, and thus as permitting the destruction of nests not containing birds or eggs, and

WHEREAS the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act appears to be an attempt to weaken bird protections that might present legal obstacles to activities such as logging, mechanized agriculture, and construction, and

WHEREAS an individual Red-Tailed Hawk, known as “Pale Male,” and a series of female mates have actively nested for over a decade on the façade of 927 Fifth Avenue, in the City and County of New York, successfully fledging 23 offspring, and

WHEREAS the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently advised the corporate owner of the property at 927 Fifth Avenue that federal law permitted the owner to destroy the nest at that location because it contained no eggs or birds, and

WHEREAS, on December 7, 2004 – a date which will live in infamy among New York’s defenders of wildlife – agents of the property owner destroyed that nest and prevented its reconstruction by removing the metal reinforcements that had secured it, and

WHEREAS the revival of raptor populations within the City of New York has been a goal and a proud achievement of local and state wildlife conservation efforts, and

WHEREAS the Red-Tailed Hawk known as “Pale Male” has become the most recognizable symbol of the revival of Manhattan’s raptor population, of the ability of the ability of wild birds to coexist with humans in New York City’s urban environment, and of the need to accommodate and facilitate the presence of wildlife within that environment, and

WHEREAS the visible presence of breeding raptors in our midst is an asset of incalculable and unique significance to the City and State of New York, and

WHEREAS section 11-0311 of the Environmental Conservation Law empowers the Department of Environmental Conservation “to give to any wildlife or fish, other than migratory fish of the sea, protection or additional protection to that afforded” by the Fish and Wildlife Law, upon the filing of a petition signed by ten more citizens and stating the grounds on which such protection is necessary and giving their addresses;

WE THE UNDERSIGNED CITIZENS,
DESIRING to afford further and greater protection to the health, safety, and reproductive success of Red-Tailed Hawks than is provided by the laws of the state of New York or by federal law as
currently interpreted and enforced by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and
EXERCISING our right to petition for additional protection of wildlife species pursuant to section 11-0311 of the Environmental Conservation Law,
RESPECTFULLY PETITION, upon the grounds herein given and for other reasons that could be elaborated more fully in a public hearing held in the City of New York pursuant to section 11-0311 of the Environmental Conservation Law, for the adoption of regulations
Prohibiting, within the City of New York, the destruction, disturbance, taking, harassment, or collecting of Red-Tailed Hawks or their nests, or the disturbance without a permit of any structure used by Red-Tailed Hawks for nesting purposes, and

FURTHER REQUEST that the Department use all appropriate means within its statutory authority to enforce such regulations and those laws and regulations now in effect.