Parks, Open Spaces, Wild Places Reports

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Executive Summary

Environment America is the new home of U.S. PIRG's environmental work.

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Imagine an eastern forest without the sharp pounding of the red-cockaded woodpecker, or imagine Yellowstone without ever being able to hear the howl of the wolf. Not long ago, these images were nearly a reality. Yet today, with the help of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), these species and others are beginning to recover.

With the ESA, the federal government recognized that America’s diverse wildlife was too valuable to squander. The law acknowledged that threatened or endangered “species of fish, wildlife, and plants are of esthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational, and scientific value to the Nation and its people.” As a result, the United States made a commitment to conserve species faced with extinction.

Under the ESA, 1821 species of plants and animals are currently listed as threatened or endangered in the United States and abroad. Listing announces that we’ve taken notice of a species’ plight and intend to protect and recover it. Over the years, there have been successes that teach lessons of how to avoid future extinctions.

Many threatened and endangered species have benefited greatly from critical habitat provided by the ESA. Designation of critical habitat provides protection to areas essential to the conservation of the species.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ESA, we have highlighted species that have avoided extinction, stabilized, or largely recovered due to the Act.

Unfortunately, despite the successes of the ESA, the law has opponents, including special interests that stand to benefit from reduced species protections and, most recently, the Bush administration.

The Bush administration has hand picked some of the most fervent opponents of the Endangered Species Act to lead the agencies that administer it. One example, the Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, Craig Manson, stated in an interview, “If we are saying that the loss of species in and of itself is inherently bad, I don't think we know enough about how the world works to say that.”

The Bush administration has also opposed listing imperiled species. Since taking office, the administration has listed no species on its own accord. Under court order, the administration has listed 24 species. In comparison, the Clinton administration listed nearly three times as many species without legal action.

Furthermore, the ESA suffers from chronic funding shortfalls. The federal government acknowledges that $153 million is needed to list and protect a backlog of more than 200 declining species, yet the Bush administration has requested only $12 million for 2004. The ESA can protect species only if the government provides adequate funding and qualified experts to implement it.

We need stronger advocates for endangered species in the administration. Development in the U.S. continues at an unprecedented rate. Ecosystems altered by human activity are ravaged by invasions from non-native species. These threats and others demonstrate the folly of weakening the ESA.

These 30 success stories illustrate that Americans working together with the ESA can recover endangered species. The ESA works. With the protections of this law, we can leave a legacy of precious wildlife for generations to come.

Each of the species in this report has been saved from near extinction by the Endangered Species Act. Some of these species have recovered so successfully that they have been removed from the endangered species list. However, most of these species have more challenges to overcome before they fully recover.