Halt to Conservation Efforts
In an article posted by CBS news the attempt of restoring a lost Atlantic flyway of the Whooping crane has been stopped because FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) says it is an illegal payment or employment of the pilots to guide to cranes to their wintering destination. The rule stats that only commercially licensed pilots can be paid to fly any form of aircraft and the pilots being used to fly the sport aircraft have the license to fly just such an aircraft. That is the rule placed by the FAA to prevent businesses and charities from flying clients on risky planes as the article puts it which does make sense, but having said that I think it is a sad day when a conservation effort is halted because of some rule implied to prevent passenger transport on risky planes. There are no passengers on this flight the only person on the aircraft is the pilot who is guiding the young cranes down the path of the flyway to be established. This to me shows the big business' attitude towards wildlife and conservation efforts. They show little importance to the efforts to restore this species to healthy levels. The group responsible for the attempt to restore the flyway (Operation Migration) has put in for  a waiver allowing them to pay the pilots for their time to continue the journey but the FAA has stated that it will more than likely not be examined or considered until after spring which will delay if not completely miss the time they cranes need to leave for their journey back north. The FAA has once again shown us how little they care about the world of wildlife conservation in their lax approach to looking at a simple waiver that will in no way delay them in their other tasks. I think this is a reflection of what the majority of the world's out look on wildlife conservation is at this time. Unless someone has a background or interest in the subject it usually gets passed up as not important. I think that this shows us what people think about the efforts to restore species populations as it only matters to "tree hugers" or naturalists and they have little to no importance to the economy and is therefore not important. The fact that efforts to restore a population of an endangered species and an extinct flyway have been stopped because of a regulation that really does not apply to the situation and could easily be back on track by simply passing a waiver is very disappointing as well as disturbing.