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