May 03 2007

Endangering the Endangered Species Act

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GUEST: Michael Halpern, Outreach Coordinator for the Scientific Integrity Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists

A group of concerned scientists have written a letter of protest to the Bush administration regarding its new interpretation of the Endangered Species Act. Signed by 38 environmental ethics specialists and wildlife biologists, the letter takes issue with a recent re-definition of “endangered species.” Under the new definition and interpretation put forth by Interior Department Solicitor David Bernhardt, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would respond only to species, “at risk of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.” Signatories to the letter caution that such a distinction would effectively relieve the agency of many of its protective responsibilities. David Bernhardt has also interpreted the term, “range,” to mean where a species currently lives and not their previous habitat. Such re-definitions “will have real and profoundly detrimental impacts on the conservation of many species and the habitat upon which they depend,” according to the scientists. The interpretations are being rationalized on the grounds that they would allow the focus of limited resources on species that are newly defined as being truly endangered and threatened. The Bush administration has granted fewer species endangered status than any previous administration since the Endangered Species Act became law in 1973.

Text of the letter:

April 30, 2007

Regarding: proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act
www.forest.mtu.edu

Dear Secretary Kempthorne,

The U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973 gives Americans reason for great pride. It is the legal manifestation of America’s deep moral commitment to Nature. Unfortunately, a recent Interior Solicitor’s Opinion (memo M-37013, dated March 16, 2007) would have the effect of radically reducing the Act to something much less than Congress intended and the American people expect.

A key element of the Endangered Species Act is its definition of an “endangered species” as one “at risk of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.” This definition is the basis for determining which species ought to receive federal protection, and under what (future) conditions an endangered species ought to be considered recovered and no longer in need of legal safeguard. The recent Interior Solicitor’s Opinion effectively reduces the definition of “endangered species” by means of a complicated sleight of hand to merely being “at risk of extinction.” The inappropriateness of this Opinion was articulated with rigor in a recent issue of the scholarly journal Conservation Biology.

This change of definition is more profoundly problematic than first appearance might suggest. Legislative history clearly indicates that merely being “at risk of extinction” is an inadequate definition for “endangered species.” Congressional intent about the act is clear: The Endangered Species Act is intended to allow species to be restored throughout large portions of their former range. The biological wisdom of this point was confirmed in a recent report on the Act from the National Academy of Sciences.

Re-defining “endangered species” will have real and profoundly detrimental impacts on the conservation of many species and the habitat upon which they depend. The proposed rule would have, for example, allowed our national symbol, the Bald Eagle, to become extinct in the lower 48 states, and would have allowed the grey whale to become extinct in U.S. waters. These are just two of the most visible successes of the Act; ones for which Congress rightly takes credit for its thoughtful leadership.

These and other species that have suffered extensive reduction in geographic distribution – such as wolves, grizzly bears, and jaguars – are particularly threatened by these proposed changes.
We, the undersigned, request that you formally and publicly withdraw the Solicitor’s Opinion. To side with this opinion is to side against logic, the moral commitments of the American people, the species that the Endangered Species Act is intended to protect, and Congressional intent. Please consult with our Nation’s leading environmental scholars in a formal manner that can bring clarity to terms such as “endangered species” and “threatened species.”

Signed,

John C. Avise
Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolution
University of California at Irvine

Paul Beier
Professor of Conservation Biology & Wildlife Ecology
Northern Arizona University

Steven R. Beissinger
Professor of Conservation Biology and Departmental Chair
University of California, Berkeley

J. Baird Callicott
Regents’ Distinguished Professor of Environmental Ethics
University of North Texas

Carlos Carroll
Research Ecologist
Klamath Center for Conservation Research

Tracy Dobson
Professor of Fisheries and Wildlife
Michigan State University

James Hanken
Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology
Curator in Herpetology, and Director Museum of Comparative Zoology
Harvard University

Eugene C. Hargrove
Editor, Environmental Ethics
Professor of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy
University of North Texas

Mark Hebblewhite
Assistant Professor of Ungulate Habitat Ecology
University of Montana

Philip W. Hedrick
Ullman Professor of Biology
Arizona State University

David M. Hillis
Alfred W. Roark Centennial Professor, Section of Integrative Biology
Director, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
University of Texas

Stephen P. Hubbell
Distinguished Research Professor, Department of Plant Biology
University of Georgia

Malcolm Hunter, Jr.
Professor of Wildlife Ecology
University of Maine

Robin W. Kimmerer
Professor of Plant Ecology and Director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment
State University of New York-Environmental Science and Forestry

Mark Kirkpatrick
T.S. Painter Centennial Professor of Genetics
University of Texas, Austin

Russell Lande
Professor of Biology and MacArthur Fellow
University of California, San Diego

Gary K. Meffe
Editor, Conservation Biology
Professor of Conservation Biology
University of Florida

Peter L. Meserve
Professor of Population and Community Ecology
Northern Illinois University

Scott Mills
Professor of Wildlife Population Ecology
University of Montana

Kathleen Dean Moore
Distinguished University Professor of Environmental Ethics
Oregon State University

Craig Moritz
Professor and Director of the Museum of Vertebrate Ecology
University of California-Berkeley

Michael P. Nelson
Associate Professor of Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
Michigan State University

Bryan G. Norton
Professor of Environmental Ethics and Policy
Georgia Institute of Technology

Reed F. Noss
Davis-Shine Professor of Conservation Biology
President, North American Section, Society for Conservation Biology
University of Central Florida

Stuart L. Pimm
Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology
Duke University

Eric Post
Associate Professor of Biology
Pennsylvania State University

J. Michael Reed
Professor of Avian Ecology and Conservation Biology
Tufts University

Holmes Rolston, III
University Distinguished Professor of Environmental Ethics
Colorado State University

Lisa A. Shipley
Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology
Washington State University

Michael E. Soulé
Professor Emeritus, Department of Environmental Studies
University of California, Santa Cruz

James Gustave Speth
Dean, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Yale University

Steve Stearns
Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Yale University

David Tallmon
Professor of Biology/Marine Biology
University of Alaska Southeast

John Theberge
Professor Emeritus, Wildlife Ecology
University of Waterloo

John A. Vucetich
Assistant Professor of Population Ecology
Michigan Technological University

David B. Wake
Professor of the Graduate School in Integrative Biology
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
University of California at Berkeley

Robert Wayne
Professor of Population Genetics
University of California-Los Angeles

Edward O. Wilson
Pellegrino Research Professor in Entomology
Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Harvard University

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