The Endangered Species Act was initiated by President Richard Nixon and drafted by a group of scientists and environmentalists working towards protecting species nearing extinction and the ecosystems they inhabited. Though this act has been regarded as the most effective and modernized environmental law of our country’s history, as a consequence of economic growth and development it is slowly losing significance in our contemporary society. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is becoming less effective as it is undermined by other congressional legislation that contradict the Act’s principles. Furthermore, industry groups have begun to accuse the Act and its administrators of using it as a tool to prevent development on private lands, rather …show more content…
On December 28th 1973 the Endangered Species Act, (ESA), was signed into law.* The Endangered Species Act’s powers are divided among several national organizations. It is enforced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (FWS), and the Commerce Department’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The FWS is responsible for the protection of “terrestrial and freshwater organisms” while the NMFS is in charge of “marine wildlife and anadromous fish”. The ESA requires that these organizations develop recovery plans for the species they protect, as well as grants the FWS and the Department of Interior to compile species listed as either endangered or threatened.
Specifically, the Act authorizes the listing of species as either endangered or threatened, prohibits unauthorized possession, sale, and transportation of endangered species, provides authority to obtain and maintain land for the conservation (and ecosystems) of listed species using land and water conservation funding, establishment of programs for states to aid in the protection of endangered wildlife, authorizes the civil and criminal penalties for violating the Act, and the reward to any information leading to the arrest of such
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This may be because it is hard to accurately chart the population improvement of an endangered species, as it constantly fluctuates. Species population never truly recovers in the short amount of time allotted on the list, however, the protection of the ESA prevents them from complete obliteration. Because of this, many believe the money invested into this protection, (1.7 billion combined of both the state and federal governments), is wasteful or just excessive. However, not including various other wildlife organizations efforts and the species not included, the expenditure is roughly $5.40 per citizen. This money is not directly correlated to the ESA, but rather water and conservation efforts as well as clean and green air
The question regarding conservation is very much alive today. The United States needs wildlife conservation. And the Federal Department responsible for conservation, the Department of the Interior, are under attack with President Trump's new budget plan. So it’s important to keep pushing for better laws and policies to protect conservation.
United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library. Animal Welfare Act. 8 April 2014. 14 April 2014.
It all started back in 1989 when Home Savings of America announced to build a giant new community consisting of 3,050 homes, two schools, two hotels, two golf courses and 400,000 square feet of commercial and industrial areas on the 5,400-acre Ahmanson Ranch located at the eastern end of Ventura county, adjacent to Los Angeles County. Even though the Ahmanson Ranch has been owned by Home Savings of America since 1963, the nature remained undisturbed all these past years. The ranch has become one of the important habitats for barely surviving native organisms including threatened or endangered species. For this and other important reasons, an organization, Friends of Ahmanson Ranch, was formed to stop the development with the support from other environmental organizations, local legislatures, politicians and public. Almost seven years have passed since the beginning of this issue, but the conflict still remain unsolved. What is interesting about this issue is the diversity in the reason which the Friends of Ahmanson Ranch claims for protecting the Ahmanson Ranch from development. They point out a variety of reason, and they are not necessarily environmental opinion.
1973 had the Endangered Species Act which encouraged the conservation of species that are endangered or threated and conservation of their ecosystems.
America’s federal forest management dates back to the mid 1870’s when Congress decided to create the U.S. Department of Agriculture to maintain the forestry. This environmental department represented the growth in America’s industry and the depletion of forests. Yet, as it was defeating the initial purpose, more natural resources were being lost from their area and the government had not acknowledged the damage. The conservationist Gifford Pinchot, created an impact on society by taking a stand to conserve the natural resources by leading the United States Forest service, embracing scientific forest, and contributed to Roosevelt’s decision to protect wildlife, thus paving the way for natural conservation in the future.
Despite protecting millions of acres of wilderness, this act provided for the numerous groups of people affected by the establishment of this law. Stipulations regarding the use of protected lands by private landowners were made. People living inside the park lands were guaranteed the right to subsistence hunting and fishing, as well as the guaranteed access to their lands. This right of access is the main concern for this argument, as it is a major management issue for park officials and land owners alike.
In 1987, when the Endangered Species Act was put into practice, the Federal Wildlife Service refused to list the Northern Spotted Owl. The FWS was then sued by the National Audubon Society to list the Species. During this time period, it was discovered that when examining the Northern Spotted Owl for its listing the FWS had looked at both the economics and the politics in ...
down into several issues that all tie in together. These include the near extinction of the Northern Spotted Owl, the "business" aspect of logging versus. the environmental aspect, and the role of the government in this problem. In 1973, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed. This enabled the Dept. of Commerce and Dept. of the Interior to place species, either land or.
Mr. Middleton, a journalist, compiled an article describing, in his opinion, the flaws of the Endangered Species Act. He then attempts to back his opinion with studied analyses, researched facts, and testimonies. To summarize Middleton’s (2011) perspective, “Rather than provide incentives for conservation and environmental stewardship, the Endangered Species Act punishes those whose property contains land that might be used as habitat by endangered and threatened species” (p. 79). This quote is broad and generalized yet draws in readers and forces Middleton to spend the rest of the article backing this statement with more logic based facts.
The Endangered Species Act Introduction: Long-term survival of a species depends on its ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions (Murphy, 1994). Genetic diversity within a species, which has taken 3.5 billion years to evolve, makes adaptations to these changing environments possible. Unfortunately, the rate of extinction of genetically diverse organisms is rapidly increasing, thus reducing this needed biodiversity, largely due to the human impacts of development and expansion. What was an average of one extinction per year before is now one extinction per hour and extinct species numbers are expected to reach approximately one million by the year 2000 (WWW site, Bio 65). As a result governmental and societal action must be taken immediately!
Tónya Harris Biblical Worldview Paper Liberty University Introduction The Bible is the central focus of a Christian’s life. The Bible teaches the followers of God what is right and good, and how they are to treat people. A biblical worldview may be used to understand life within the classroom and outside of the classroom. When linking a biblical worldview to education, one must include the student, teachers, and family of the students. Biblical Worldview
Humans are destructive. Not a lot of us think about how what we do affects the world around us. We almost act like we are the only ones on this planet. We go around polluting and destroying our world with no regard for our actions. The things that live out in the wild are paying the price for it. Every day that passes there is another animal or plant that is placed on an endangered list. This is happening at an alarming rate. Because of man’s desire to expand and conquer their surroundings, there are animals and plants that are on the brink of extinction that will not be around for our kids and future generations to enjoy if something is not done about it now. This problem has been going on for hundreds of years. There are animals and plants that can only been seen in paintings or early photography. It is because of our early ancestors that we have this problem today and we have to do more to prevent more animals and plants from disappearing forever.
Simmons, Randy T. Critical thinking about Environmental issues: Endangered Species. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2002. Print.
In the world today there are about five thousand endangered species. Around one specie dies out every year. Some animals become endangered because people are killing them for their horns, as in the case of the Black Rhino of Africa. Others become extinct because pesticides are put on the food we eat, causing the animals that eat the insects off the plant to become contaminated, which causes their predators to become contaminated, which often affects the shell of that organism?s egg. Here is a list of the endangered species, 91 endangered birds, 76 endangered mammals, 36 endangered reptiles, 21 endangered amphibians, 115 endangered fish, 70 endangered clams, 35 endangered snails, 44 endangered insects, 12 endangered arachnids, 21 endangered crustaceans, 594 endangered flowering plants.