Thursday, May 24, 2012

Great Fact: California Condors Escape Extinction (In Age Of Wind)

The hand of man pushed the California Condors to the brink of extinction.  Just 23 individuals were left in the wild by 1982.  By 1987 the US Fish and Wildlife Service captured all the remaining Condors and put them in special breeding programs.

Here we are 30 years later and the hand of man has created a California Condor population boom.
www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/05/california_condors_hit_a_miles.html.

A grand total of 405 Condors now live and 226 of them are free, using their majestic, 10-foot wingspan to fly over California, Arizona, and Baja, Mexico.  Another 179 Condors are in zoos and breeding programs.  This is wonderful conservation news and congratulations to those involved!

While the California Condor reached extinction before the wind power boom in California and the West, the bird's rebound has coincided with the boom in wind power that now provides 5% of California's electricity.  This result shows that wind that is zero carbon and Condors both can boom at the same time.

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