NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Environmental groups are applauding the federal government’s decision to remove the brown pelican from the endangered species list. Now, they say the bird’s habitat on the Gulf Coast must be protected.
On Wednesday, the Interior Department took the brown pelican off the endangered species list, nearly 40 years after it was brought to the brink of extinction by DDT.
Melanie Driscoll, a bird conservationist with the Audubon Society, says pelican populations need a speedy recovery of coastal marshes and barrier islands. The Environmental Defense Fund’s Mary E. Kelly echoed that sentiment, saying healthy coastal wetlands are crucial to the bird’s future.
 
—-Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected]