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Here in Lincoln, we have just three places that have any semblance of nature. We've got a small patch of virgin prairie out by our
airport, some woodlands surrounded by housing developments and highways, and a couple of salt marshes. The marshes are the one in
the news these days because they are home to the beetle, now down to just 300-400 adults each summer, and it's about to be listed
under the Endangered Species Act.
The ESA is a whole story in itself. It's a law designed to save species, the only one of its kind in the world. Some say the
law goes too far, others not enough. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle. All I know for sure is that we're quickly
running out of wild spaces, wilderness. And we need healthy, functioning wild lands and their accompanying ecosystems to survive.
So in that sense, our fate is up to all of us.
A while back I wrote up an editorial for my local newspaper on why we should care about this bug and last of our saline wetlands
here in Nebraska. Much of this applies to other endangered species as well. In the end, it all boils down to a few simple questions.
Do we respect nature? Do we show benevolence to all life forms? Is there room for 'us and them'? You decide. But you'd better hurry.
Time's almost up for one species in Lincoln. The rest of us can't be far behind.
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