The Silent Coast

Hundreds of millions of native animals have been losing their homes and forced to live in unsafe environments to the point that there is no safe place left for anyone to call home. One day, without warning, human beings arrived, taking their homes, their lives, and their promise of a future. Helpless, they struggle to survive in ever-decreasing numbers, drawn closer each year to the inevitable collapse of their habitat. 

 

Native animals in Texas now step out their “doors” and into roads full of vehicles. They roam in an environment that is laden with litter and chemicals that are harmful to them. They now are forced to live in our yards—among ornamental trees and shrubs imported from other continents. These invasive plants compete with the native plants that our species depend upon for food, shelter, and other resources. Domestic animals, introduced by humans,  prey on the natives, while consuming valuable habitat that could have provided refuge when their homes were built over, paved over, or planted over.

 

Now, imagine a world where the calls of the birds you once knew are silenced, where the spring chorus of frogs is quieted to a tiny fraction of what you once knew, where squirrels and opossums have disappeared, and where flocks of migrating birds are so rare that spotting them is an unexpected occurrence. When you do see them, the environment around them is highly dangerous due to the presence of pesticides, vehicles, domestic and feral domestic animals, and us. Imagine no break from urban and industrial noise pollution, or chemical pollution. 

 

You can stop imagining because, in a few short years, we will experience a Silent Coast. A place where American Bison, Black Bears, packs of Red Wolves, and flocks of Greater Prairie Chickens once called home. Today, it is now home to half of the Texas human population. Nine million acres of coastal prairies and marshes have been urbanized and developed for agriculture. Large swathes of the Post Oak Savannah have been made into reservoirs to provide humans with drinking water, and sizable portions of the Piney Woods cut down for timber and encroaching urban areas. This is the harsh reality we now face. 

 

There are many questions we could ask: How did we allow this to happen? Why has it been allowed to continue? The most important question, however, is this: What are we going to do about it? Although sad, this is the stark reality that our native wildlife faces. Who will have the courage to face that future alongside the animals and protect what remains?

 

Stay tuned for more about this message in The Silent Coast: What Still Remains - and thank you for reading.