1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

Donald Trump has dropped the environmental destruction bomb that will have devastating consequences; planning to sunset ALL environmental regulations made in the last 100 years. And I mean ALL. The Endangered Species Act. Gone. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Gone. The Marine Mammal Protection Act. Gone. The Anadromous Fish Conservation Act. Gone. The Bald Eagle Protection Act. Gone! You name it, it's gone. I am sure you know the importance of the acts, but let me remind you how important wildlife and wild places are to not only the people of Washington State but to its economy. Animals know no state borders and as natural migrants who depend upon federal protection. The Endangered Species Act is literally the founding, central pillar of modern conservation globally. It's hard to list the accomplishments of this act as it is so vast. It directly protects and calls for plans to raise the populations of rare species. It's directly responsible for the comeback of many iconic species, such as the Bald Eagle, the Peregrine Falcon, the California Condor, and Sandhill cranes that drives ecotourism to Othello and and a host of others. Talk about return on investment, the amount of money spent vs the amount gained from people wishing to just see iconic rare species is in the billions of dollars. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act was one of the first environmental laws ever made, and bans the harm or collection of all non-game birds in America. The law and subsequent restoration efforts lead to dramatic increases in bird populations and continue to protect them from harm. The Marine Mammal Protection Act protects whales from being killed or harmed and lead to the global war on whaling. Now because of it, America watches whales! You can go on a whale watch in nearly every coastal city in America and it generates HUNDREDS of millions of dollars in tourism and employs thousands of people. We hurt whales, we hurt our Washington pockets and jobs. The Anadromous Fish Conservation Act allows the government to enter agreements with states and plan and fund ways to increase the populations of migratory fish. It has direct benefits to anglers across the country, funding 50% of initiatives for things like stocking and habitat restoration in major fisheries such as Pacific Salmon and Sturgeon. And removing the Bald Eagle Protection Act?! I thought we loved our nation’s symbol?What's more American than a Bald Eagle, and they want to remove protections for them? Many older Americans can probably remember a time when they never saw Bald Eagles. Now you can see them commonly in nearly every state! As a zookeeper, I had the privilege of rearing and releasing back to the wild two of these amazing birds back in the 1990’s as part of the effort to save their species. To see the protection for them striped away is devastating. I cannot impress upon you enough the importance of keeping these acts. I’ll be fighting this one tooth and nail and hope you will be too!