Will ESA be on the chopping block again?

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stlouisdude
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:30 pm
Location: St Louis, MO / Hartford, CT

Will ESA be on the chopping block again?

Post by stlouisdude »

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/republ ... pecies-act


Older article but with growing Republican power, do you guys think the ESA will face changes in the coming years? I really like that the law can protect habitat but think it's really stupid that it lists captive born species not even native in any US territory. Forcing relisting every 5 years seems like a good idea but if they pull the habitat protection then seems they might as well scrap the whole thing to me.
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Bryan Hamilton
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Joined: June 10th, 2010, 9:49 pm

Re: Will ESA be on the chopping block again?

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

Time will tell. Republicans have been strongly advocating eliminating or altering aspects of the ESA for decades. Forcing relisting every five years is a shell game. Listing decisions take a long time for a variety of reasons but if the agency is revisiting every species every five years things would grind to a halt. All paperwork, no enforcement or conservation actions

One of the major benefits of the ESA has been proactive work to avoid listing a species. States, federal agencies and private interests have put together conservation plans that have been more effective than the ESA at species conservation. Without the regulatory threat of the ESA, these locally created and effective implemented conservation programs would probably go away. Right now most parties, with some exceptions, agree that its better to work towards effective, locally controlled conservation.

The decisions of the Fish and Wildlife Service have been increasingly political. In other words, they are looking at the consequences of the listing decision as much or more than the biological needs of the candidate species. I can see some real advantages to reworking the ESA but I do not trust republicans or democrats to recraft the act for the benefit of biodiversity.
stlouisdude
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:30 pm
Location: St Louis, MO / Hartford, CT

Re: Will ESA be on the chopping block again?

Post by stlouisdude »

Brian, I fear you are right. Any decision made will have positive or negative consequences based on reasons other than true regard for than preserving species for future generations.
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