Endangered Species Act - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Endangered Species Act

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Endangered Species Act GOALS: Prevent species extinctions Increase numbers to the point where a species has recovered and can be delisted – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Endangered Species Act


1
Endangered Species Act
  • GOALS
  • Prevent species extinctions
  • Increase numbers to the point where a species has
    recovered and can be delisted

2
Endangered Species Act
  • Protection of gene pools
  • Subspecies, evolutionary significant units
  • Protection of populations
  • Distinct population segments
  • Protection of species
  • Protection of habitat
  • Recovery plans
  • Incidental take permits
  • Habitat Conservation Plans

Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) or Tasmanian
wolf extinct 1900s
3
  • ESUs distinct populations or groups of
    populations of vertebrates.
  • Population unit must be reproductively isolated
    from other populations of the same species to a
    significant extent.
  • Population unit must represent an important
    component in the evolutionary legacy of the
    species.

Pacific coast coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch
4
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5
Endangered Species Act
  • Protection of gene pools
  • Subspecies, evolutionary significant units
  • Protection of populations
  • Distinct population segments
  • Protection of species
  • Protection of habitat
  • Recovery plans
  • Incidental take permits
  • Habitat Conservation Plans

Bajii, or Yangtze River dolphin 2007?
6
  • USFWS (2007) listed Alabama sturgeon as distinct
    species rather than include it as part of the
    more populous shovelnose sturgeon.
  • Decision based on morphology, not on genetics
    (both species genetically identical).

Alabama sturgeon - Scaphirhynchus suttkusi
7
Endangered Species Act
  • Established procedures for
  • Listing species as
  • threatened likely to become endangered in the
    foreseeable future throughout all or a
    significant portion of its range, or
  • endangered at risk of extinction throughout
    all or a significant portion of its range.
  • Designating critical habitat.
  • Preparing recovery plans for listed species.

8
Critical habitat
USFWS must designate critical habitat at the
time of listing to the maximum extent prudent
and determinable. Definition the specific
areas occupied by the species on which are found
those physical or biological features that are
essential for its conservation and that may
require special management considerations or
protection. May include areas that the species
does not occupy.
Monk seal, 1952 (declared extinct 2008)
9
Criteria for Listing
  • Present or threatened destruction or modification
    of the species habitat or range
  • Overutilization for commercial, recreational,
    scientific or educational purposes
  • Disease or predation
  • Inadequate regulatory mechanisms
  • Other factors affecting the species continued
    existence
  • Any interested person can petition USFWS to
    list species and start review process. Review
    must provide substantiative scientific
    information indicating listing may be warranted

10
Recovery plans
  • Within 2.5 years of listing, a formal recovery
    plan must be completed
  • The goal is not only for protection, but to
    remove species from the brink of extinction
  • Must include
  • Site-specific management actions.
  • Objective, measureable criteria for
  • evaluating recovery.
  • Estimates of time and costs

Pyrenean ibex, 2000 Last female killed by falling
tree
11
What does the ESA do?
  • Unlawful for any person subject to the
    jurisdiction of the US to engage in acts
    threatening to endangered and threatened species,
    including taking, possession, transportation, and
    sale
  • Taking is defined broadly to include harass,
    harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill trap,
    capture, or collect, or attempt to engage in any
    such conduct.

12
Does take habitat destruction?
  • Palila v. Hawaii Dept. of Land and Natural
    Resources
  • Court ruled that when the State allowed sheep and
    goats on the slopes of Mauna Kea, the defoliation
    caused by browsing changed the habitat,
    endangered the Palila, and therefore constituted
    a take.

13
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14
Harm/harass
  • This changed the definition of harm and harass
    to any intentional or negligent act or omission,
    including habitat modification, that creates the
    likelihood of injury to wildlife by annoying it
    to such an extent to significantly disrupt normal
    behavior patterns which include, but are not
    limited to breeding, feeding, or sheltering.

Canadian oystercatcher, 1940 (declared extinct
1994)
15
What happens if there are Endangered Species on
your property?
  • Incidental take permits Habitat Conservation
    Plans
  • Landowners may receive a permit to take imperiled
    species on their lands, provided that such
    takings were incidental to otherwise lawful
    activities (e.g., construction or timber
    harvest). A landowner must prepare an HCP that
    outlines how much take will occur as a result of
    the proposed activity and what steps would be
    taken to minimize and mitigate the effects. If
    HCP minimizes and mitigates to the maximum extent
    practicable, and that the taking is unlikely to
    jeopardize the continued survival and recovery of
    the species, then the HCP is approved and the
    permit is issued and the project may commence.

16
What is an HCP?
  • Taking permitted on land if it will be incidental
  • The applicant will, to the maximum extent
    practicable, minimize and mitigate the impacts of
    the taking
  • The applicant will ensure that adequate funding
    for the plan will be provided
  • Taking will not appreciably reduce the likelihood
    of the survival and recovery of the species in
    the wild
  • and other stuff

17
Components of aHabitat Conservation Plan
  • Status
  • Take
  • Impact
  • Mitigation
  • Monitoring

18
The (dreaded) no surprises clause
  • Essentially, state and private landowners are
    assured that if unforeseen circumstances arise,
    the FWS will not require the commitment of
    additional land, water, or financial compensation
    or additional restrictions on the use of land,
    water, or other natural resources beyond the
    level otherwise agreed to in the HCP without the
    consent of the permit holder.

Javan tiger, 1994
19
Criticisms of ESA
  • Decisions to list are not sufficiently timely and
    are subject to political pressure.
  • Animal species are afforded more protection than
    plants (plants and animals protected on federal
    lands, but only animals on private lands.)
  • Protects distinct populations of vertebrates
    but not plants or invertebrates.

20
Criticisms of ESA
  • Listing also favors vertebrates invertebrates
    84 of all species in US and 1/3 or at-risk
    species, but only account for 14 of listed
    species.
  • Funding also favors vertebrates (especially
    iconic species) 20 vertebrates in 2004 received
    gt50 of funds10 to all plants.
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