Ecotourism
When looking deeper into what the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow contributes, it is obvious that ecotourism is a major factor. In one of the few prairies that houses these birds, Kissimmee Park, has become a large attraction to bird watchers, as the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow has become so rare. The picture to the left shows a map of Florida. The few small red dots are the only areas in which there are confirmed sightings of this unique sparrow.
Birders will come from all over the world to see this small bird, as no one knows how much longer it will be in existence. Also, about 75% of Florida residents consider themselves to be birders, meaning that they enjoy taking the time to view and admire these beautiful birds. (Birding in the United States, 2013) Being able to catch a glimpse of this bird has become so popular that the official Kissimmee State Park advertises the sparrow on their homepage, boasting that this park is the only place to see this endangered bird. Over the past 80 years, the Florida State Parks have helped to try and preserve this sparrow, as well as the surrounding environment. However, this may not be enough. From the over 31 million visitors the Florida State Parks have each fiscal year, Kissimmee Prairie has about 22,500 visitors in the same amount of time. This brings in some revenue for the state, but with only charging $16.00 a night for a campsite, it’s still not enough to completely shut out any corporations that lobby the government to turn more of the prairies into grazing fields. (Florida State Parks, 2015)
Corporations
There are more costs than meets the eye when trying to revive
this population. While the money is used to help preserve the
sparrow’s natural habitat, the national parks that are created
would have previously been agricultural land or grazing pastures
used by large corporations.
The only way to save these sparrows is to stop these corporations
from eliminating their habitat and home. When creating these lands,
the areas where the birds normally live, the prairie, is completely
destroyed. This means that the bird’s usual nest, in native saw
palmetto on the ground, a small palm with fan-shaped leaves, would
be ripped apart. The cost to the corporations of not having the land to develop could be devastating, causing them to lobby to government endlessly. An example of one of the sanctuaries set aside for these tiny creatures is called Kissimmee Park, which is about 54,000 acres. This covers a little more than half of the total amount of land that is set aside for the sparrow now, which used to be a total of 1.2 million acres for the bird to roam over. (National Audubon Society, 2015)
The restricted range of this bird is only within the central prairies of Florida, meaning that it does not migrate. With such a small ecological niche, it is considered a specialist species as well. When a corporation goes into a prairie, they call it “improved pasture,” putting in grasses that better support more cattle. These pastures lack the structure that the sparrow needs, such as the forest burning every two years so it doesn’t become too overgrown. Corporations can and have seriously harmed the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow population, and will continue to do so if someone doesn’t take a stand soon. (National Audubon Society, 2015) In 1996, a count of the birds showed that there were fewer than 600 individual birds left in the wild, but as of 2012, there were only 200 sparrows still living in the environment. (Spear, 2012).
