WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne will join Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal on the steps of the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge, La on Friday, February 8, to make a major announcement about the status of the Brown Pelican.
The brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), the state bird of Louisiana, was listed as endangered throughout its U.S. range in 1970 because of sharp population declines. In 1985, brown pelicans along the Atlantic Coast states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama’s Gulf Shore had recovered to the point where they were removed from the Endangered Species List. Currently, the brown pelican is listed as endangered where it lives in the rest of the United States and in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Mexico, Central and South America, and the West Indies.
| Who: | Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham |
| What: | Key announcement on the status of the brown pelican |
| When: | Announcement and Press Conference 10:00 a.m. CST Friday, February 8, 2008 |
| Where: | Governors Mansion - front steps 1001 Capitol Access Road Baton Rouge, La 70802 |
| Media: | All credentialed media are invited to attend and photograph the event. For more information please contact: Chris Paolino, Press Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior |