Endangered Species

1. Endangered Species • U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) • A federal bureaucracy • Too few people • Insufficient funding

2. The Law • The 1973 Endangered Species Act • Anyone can petition the FWS to put a species on the Endangered Species List. • The FWS then must review the case.

3. The Process • The review takes one year. • If there is merit, one more year is taken to process. • Then the species is protected from illegal harm and trade.

4. The Two Lists • Approximately 1,100 endangered species now receive federal protection • Approximately 3,000 other species are on the “candidate” list • Now a third unofficial list has begun . . .

5. The Stockpiling List • Many species are now shunted aside “temporarily” due to funding and manpower shortages needed for processing. • This began in 1980 for plants, and 1984 for animals. • Many species on this list are now extinct. • Over 1,000 species are “Category One” on this list.

6. New Strategies: Tactic #1 • Using the Endangered Species List to protect habitats • Find an endangered species in a habitat that houses other, then list the one species and save the others in the bargain.

7. New Strategies: Tactic #2 • List many endangered species one state at a time. But . . . • This focuses on one state’s flora at the expense of others. • The total number of endangered species is still the same. • This reorders the priorities, not solves the problem.

8. The Program has Failed • Greater funding is needed to process the lists. • But many interests are opposed to habitat preservation. • Economic interests lobby against the endangered species program. • Logging companies are a good example.

9. An Alternative Way . . . • Some environmentalists want to kill the Endangered Species Act. • Let damaged ecosystems die. • Protect healthy ecosystems. • Cost effective • Saving a few species on the brink sacrifices thousands not so lucky. • The habitats are all that matter.