{"id":31277,"date":"2025-07-08T15:11:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=31277"},"modified":"2025-07-08T15:27:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:27:47","slug":"trumps-budget-would-clip-bird-banding-and-hunters-are-not-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=31277","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Budget Would Clip Bird Banding, and Hunters Are Not Happy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Bird Banding Laboratory has turned duck hunters into citizen scientists. What happens if it is defunded?<\/p>\n

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For more than a century, the Bird Banding Laboratory has placed small metallic bands on the legs of birds across North America. Each year, the lab receives thousands of reports from bird watchers and biologists who spot the markers on the birds and report them to the lab. In this way, the lab tracks and monitors the movements and numbers of birds, from sparrows to sparrow hawks.<\/p>\n

At a moment when bird populations are declining globally, banding is essential for conserving species and tracking population changes over time. It is also integral in setting regulations and limits for waterfowl hunting. Indeed, no group reports more bird bands \u2014 or prizes them more \u2014 than hunters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the trophy of trophies for a hunter,\u201d said Rusty Creasey, a duck hunter from Arkansas.<\/p>\n

The trophy may not last. The lab falls under the U. S. Geological Survey\u2019s Ecosystem Mission Area, the agency\u2019s major ecology program, which under President Trump\u2019s 2026 proposed budget would see funding reduced<\/a> to $29 million, from $293 million. Many hunters are unhappy at the prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hate the thought of losing that,\u201d said Eric Patterson, a duck hunter based in Alabama. \u201cIt is an extreme measure to take.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mark Lindberg, a wildlife biologist who worked for the University of Alaska Fairbanks for 20 years, said that the cuts would have a lasting effect. \u201cWe\u2019re going to go from being the most refined waterfowl harvest management system in the world \u2014 no comparison \u2014 to one of the least informed,\u201d he said. Dr. Lindberg is also a hunter.<\/p>\n

Each band reported by hunters is essential for detecting changes in waterfowl populations and for setting hunting regulations. In its contribution to waterfowl management, the Bird Banding Laboratory \u201chas given us something that is the envy of the world,\u201d Ramsey Russell, a duck hunter in Mississippi, said.<\/p>\n

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The Bird Banding Laboratory has turned duck hunters into citizen scientists. What happens if it is defunded?For more than a century, the Bird Banding Laboratory has placed small metallic bands on the legs of birds across North America. Each year, the lab receives thousands of reports from bird watchers and biologists who spot the markers on the birds and report them to the lab. In this way, the lab tracks and monitors the movements and numbers of birds, from sparrows to sparrow hawks.At a moment when bird populations are declining globally, banding is essential for conserving species and tracking population changes over time. It is also integral in setting regulations and limits for waterfowl hunting. Indeed, no group reports more bird bands \u2014 or prizes them more \u2014 than hunters.\u201cIt\u2019s the trophy of trophies for a hunter,\u201d said Rusty Creasey, a duck hunter from Arkansas.The trophy may not last. The lab falls under the U. S. Geological Survey\u2019s Ecosystem Mission Area, the agency\u2019s major ecology program, which under President Trump\u2019s 2026 proposed budget would see funding reduced to $29 million, from $293 million. Many hunters are unhappy at the prospect.\u201cI just hate the thought of losing that,\u201d said Eric Patterson, a duck hunter based in Alabama. \u201cIt is an extreme measure to take.\u201dMark Lindberg, a wildlife biologist who worked for the University of Alaska Fairbanks for 20 years, said that the cuts would have a lasting effect. \u201cWe\u2019re going to go from being the most refined waterfowl harvest management system in the world \u2014 no comparison \u2014 to one of the least informed,\u201d he said. Dr. Lindberg is also a hunter.Each band reported by hunters is essential for detecting changes in waterfowl populations and for setting hunting regulations. In its contribution to waterfowl management, the Bird Banding Laboratory \u201chas given us something that is the envy of the world,\u201d Ramsey Russell, a duck hunter in Mississippi, said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31277"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31280,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31277\/revisions\/31280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}