A $300 million cut in federal funding hits nonprofit Point Blue Conservation Science, which monitors “California’s Galapagos”
Amanda Spears, Farallon program Biologist with Point Blue Conservation Science, holds a Cassin’s Auklet chick out of a manmade Auklet nest box made to protect them from predators at the Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Farallon Islands, Calif., on Friday, May 31, 2024. Point Blue Conservation Science has done seabird, shark, fish, and other research for more than 50 years at the island, but its partner, U.S.
Due to budget tightening, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will cease funding Point Blue’s year-round research next year, threatening the continuity of vital ecological data and marine ecosystem management even as climate change provokes ecological shifts. Research by the Petaluma-based Point Blue has led to several key environmental policy reforms, such as the 1987 gill-netting prohibition aimed at protecting seabirds from drowning, the 1993 legal protection of white sharks, and the creation of three California Marine Protected Areas around the islands in 2010. Its findings triggered the removal of invasive cats and rabbits, leading to the recovery of birds called Rhinoceros Auklets.
A longtime partner of USFWS, Point Blue now will be forced to depend exclusively on private donations from foundations and individuals. They worry that the loss of federal funding will make it harder to secure private donations. The loss of $300,000 in federal funding, which represented about a third of the group’s budget on the islands, helped anchor the research effort.
A Steller sea lion, center, surrounded by mostly California sea lions, including an adult male and female California sea lions nursing a pup seen in the upper right, rest at Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Farallon Islands, Calif., on Friday, May 31, 2024. Point Blue Conservation Science has done seabird, shark, fish and other research for more than 50 years at the island, but its partner, U.S.
View from the lighthouse hill at Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge in Farallon Islands, Calif., on Friday, May 31, 2024. Point Blue Conservation Science has done seabird, shark, fish, and other research for more than 50 years at the island, but its partner, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will no longer provide funding to continue research at many national wildlife refuges due to budget tightening.
On Friday, scientists spotted a rare Nazca Booby, a species that breeds in the Galapagos Islands. The Nazca Booby is very rare this far north, but occurrences are increasing. The Farallon Islands refuge isn’t alone in facing a funding crisis. The entire National Wildlife Refuge System, the nation’s largest network of lands and waters dedicated to wildlife conservation, is reducing essential services.
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