Bob Berwyn:
"SUMMIT COUNTY — Like it or not (and some people definitely don’t), the Endangered Species Act does what it’s supposed to do when it’s implemented the way it’s supposed to be, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
The conservation group last week released an analysis of how the ground-breaking environmental law has been effective in recovering at least some species that are threatened or endangered. Read and download the full report at http://esasuccess.org/.
While some critics will quibble about the species selected for the study, the fact remains that, if habitat is protected, the act can work. Release of the report comes against a backdrop of renewed attacks on the Endangered Species Act, most recently when Congress unilaterally acted to de-list wolves in the Northern Rockies — the first time lawmakers have succeeded in making a political end run around the law.
Additionally, Congress has repeatedly sought to defund the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s ability to list and recover species that clearly need protection.
“There are Endangered Species Act success stories in every state in America,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “No other law in the world has done so much to rescue species from the brink of extinction and put them on a path to recovery. Simply put, the act has been remarkably successful.”
On the other side, critics of law often make vague charges that the law “destroys rural American communities,” without ever showing any specific examples, like in this coment on a post in the New Century of Forest Planning blog (scroll down to the comment section).
The review examined population trends of plants and animals protected by the Endangered Species Act in all 50 states, including gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, Florida panthers, Aleutian Canada geese and California condors. Again and again, the analysis finds species on a positive trajectory toward recovery — and in some cases exceeding expectations..." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetic pursuit and tracking of patterns within the news others make since 2010."
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