Advocates for Earth Day are showing their support, virtually, for environmental protection this year. Stay-at-home orders across the country have had a noticeable impact on the environment, in the form of cleaner air, and animals taking the opportunity to enjoy areas normally occupied by their human neighbors.
Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation, told Cheddar Wednesday that the changes in the environment have allowed him to see more wildlife than he has ever seen before.
"The number of cormorant, great blue heron, Bonaparte gulls, and osprey were in greater numbers than I've ever seen," Shafroth, who was near the Potomac River in Washington, DC earlier in the day.
Shafroth also said the social distancing protocols have allowed more animals to roam free within national parks and created an opportunity to bring in more online viewers.
"The wildlife is very resilient, they're coming back. It also demonstrates an opportunity for us, as the National Park Foundation, to put a number of webcams out there, so if you can't go out and see these animals yourself, you can see them on a number of National Park websites and see them in their natural habitat," he said.
While animals have recently been able to reclaim what was once their habitats, Shafroth said that once humans re-emerge into society, the animals will most likely retreat to their previous homes.
"Some of the places where wildlife has returned will have to recede back into some of the more wild places, but we do have a pretty strong system of public lands here to protect nature and wildlife," Shafroth said.
And once humanity gets past the worst of the pandemic, Shafroth said there is a chance for humans to re-think how they treat animals in the wild.
"Hopefully people will view them as part of a bigger whole and create a sensitivity how we might be able to be better neighbors and stewards of our planet," he said.
