The Ding Darling Inhabitant Wildlife Safe haven on Sanibel Island is one of over 500 United States Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S Department of Interior refuges managed within the country.

Regular wildlife surveys are conducted to monitor populations of migratory birds and their production, and to establish trends for a number of species, primarily birds. The safe haven monitors colonial nesting and roosting bird facts, shorebird populations, mottled duck, pelican and osprey production, and alligator and red-shouldered hawk plenty. A weekly Wildlife Guide assessment is conducted on Fridays to monitor the plenty and diversity of bird populations using safe haven wetlands. Water levels are monitored continuously.

The preservation of Ding Darling and its fauna and flora are hopefully going to be part of the inhabitant agenda on the environment in President Elect Obama’s handing out. And there is also a hope that the new handing out can develop an environmental platform that helps to make preservation and conservation of lands and wild life outside the safe haven habitat.

President Elect Obama built his campaign on hope, and many public, including myself, were certainly buoyed by this “audacious” thought.

Hope for a more united, more outgoing, and more equitable America were among the ideals stated or implied.

But drilling down to finer points and the eternal question of “where’s mine” –always questioned of a new handing out– has particular power when it comes to the environment.

Most, if not all, of the environmental organizations crosswise America supported the Obama campaign even though Obama’s confirmation was sketchy with his normal absences on votes pertaining to critical environmental issues.

But because the Republican party had been so tarnished by the Bush handing out’s poor confirmation on the environment,there was one remarkably strong need stated during the presidential campaign. It was that Obama should be sensitive to and responsive to the need for strong, protective environmental laws.

Our most vital environmental safeguards like the Endangered Species Act, the Inhabitant Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act have been underfunded and undermined for quite some time. These and other key environmental pieces of legislation are in the forefront of the “where’s mine” question. The question is questioned on behalf of the nation’s creatures and their habitat, including those on Sanibel.

The Defenders of Wildlife organization have circulated a 7 point plot asking that their members sign it and send it on to the President Elect. The plot hinges on getting our new President to commit to these fundamental environmental issues:

1. Promise to end the biased manipulation of science
2. Promise to responsibly manage America’s federal lands
3. Promise to safeguard America’s rarest plants and wildlife
4. Promise to make America a chief in addressing global warming and its impacts
5. Promise to restore America’s role as a global chief in wildlife conservation
6. Promise to restore our connection to scenery through education and proper stewardship of our shared federal lands
7. Promise to encourage private landowners, states and tribes to conserve wildlife and habitat

It’s my most fervent wish that the environment, along with the humane behavior of animals, become the best and brightest bragging points for this new President.

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