Martha's Vineyard: A History (Brief History) by Dresser Thomas

Author:Dresser, Thomas [Dresser, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2015-05-04T04:00:00+00:00

This memorial to the heath hen is in the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest. It was dedicated by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation in 2011. The heath hen statue can be found by taking a short walk along the bike path from Gate 18 on the West Tisbury–Edgartown Road. Photo by Joyce Dresser .

In 2014, a project known as Revive and Restore offered genomic technology to bring back the heath hen. It would cost $250,000 to determine why the heath hen became extinct.

The project explores possible restoration of a habitat suited for the heath hen. Revive and Restore depends on research, and then the revival and restoration aspects could be considered.

Is it ethical? Is it feasible?

The process of de-extincting a heath hen involves taking genetic material from museum specimens and manipulating germ cells of a closely related species, in this case the prairie chicken. The prairie chicken was almost used as a source of salvation for the heath hen before, much as the Chinese chestnut saved the American one, but the state of Massachusetts denied a permit to bring the new birds to the Island . 89

George Church, a Harvard geneticist who works with Revive and Restore, said, “I’m particularly attracted to the heath hen because it’s basically a slam dunk. We can just make a few adjustments to the DNA of the greater prairie chicken by synthesizing heath hen DNA. That would take days, thousands [of dollars], nothing. As an engineering project, birds are easy.”

Revive and Restore created a chestnut tree resistant to blight; other efforts may restore the woolly mammoth and passenger pigeon. But the heath hen?

The heath hen and four other extinct North American birds—the great auk, Labrador duck, passenger pigeon and Carolina parakeet—are memorialized in “The Lost Bird Project” by Todd McGrain, an artist in residence at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. McGrain created bronze sculptures of the five birds. Each statue is installed where the bird was last seen.

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