As of 2002, Delaware had lost 78 percent of its freshwater mussel species, 34 percent of its dragonflies, 20 percent of its fish species, and 31 percent of its reptiles and amphibians. Moreover, 40 percent of all native plant species in Delaware are threatened or already extirpated from the state, and 41 percent of Delaware’s bird species that depend on forest cover are now rare or absent (Vargo & Gallagher 2002; Hess et al. 2000).
