Article Introduction:
The Endangered Species Act celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in December 2023. Many anthropologists hope that more healthy species will graduate from the status of extinction. Terlink, who focuses on marine creatures, agrees. “Extinction is irreversible. The future depends on us being empathetic and deliberate about what we leave behind.”
Success Stories of Species:
Despite the shortcomings of the Endangered Species Act, it has achieved many significant victories for wildlife. In 2014, the Oregon chub (Oregonichthys crameri), which is about the size of a small finger, graduated from the endangered list. The lands and ponds where these fish live were restored by landowners and government entities. Scientists then reintroduced the fish to these areas. Today, over 160,000 of these small fish swim in the Willamette River Valley in Oregon.
The status of another 60 species has improved enough to be removed from the endangered species list, though they still remain listed as threatened. This is the case for the American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus), a carrion beetle native to many states.
A great example of the law’s work is how it protects some of the largest animals in the world: whales. Eight whale species, including the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), were among the first animals added to the endangered species list in the United States. In the North Pacific, commercial whaling reduced the number of humpback whales to about 8 percent of their historic levels, from around 15,000 whales to just 1,200 whales.
In 1985, with support from the United States, the Whale Conservation Board banned commercial whaling. Since then, nine out of 14 whale populations are no longer endangered.
One of the greatest success stories for whales is the population born in Hawaii, which migrates every summer to feed in Alaska. They now number around 11,000 animals and have “probably surpassed their rich historical numbers,” according to Suzie Terlink, a humpback whale scientist based in Juneau, Alaska, who works with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Endangered Species Act provides additional protection for whales and their habitats from other human threats, including laws aimed at reducing injuries to whales from ship strikes or entanglement in fishing lines, such as imposing speed limits on ships in certain waters.
Critiques of the Endangered Species Act:
The Endangered Species Act protects endangered plants and animals by requiring the U.S. government to consider how development affects endangered or threatened species. These projects can include new roads, bridges, pipelines, as well as tree clearing, mining, or building wind power generation devices.
There are critiques of this law. “They believe it slows down development,” says Derek Goldman, the national director for national fields in Missoula, Montana, for the Endangered Species Coalition, a coalition of 400 groups working to protect endangered species.
However, he emphasizes that the Endangered Species Act is not designed to prevent projects from happening. It simply asks developers to find ways to minimize harm to local plants and animals that may be affected. For example, the company developing the largest offshore wind energy project 24 kilometers off the Massachusetts coast is taking several steps to minimize its impact on threatened marine species. This includes using bubble curtains to dampen construction noise, employing a monitor to observe endangered species during turbine installation, and operating their boats slowly to prevent whale strikes.
Criticism
The latest to the Endangered Species Act is that, for many species, protection comes far too late. For instance, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed 21 species from the list in October because they are now extinct. These include eight species of native Hawaiian birds and eight species of freshwater mussels.
A study conducted in 2022 and published in PLOS ONE found that most plants or animals listed as endangered did not receive protection until their numbers had reached “critically low levels.”
The study also indicates that for species “with very small or rapidly declining populations, delays in securing protection for several years increase the risk of extinction.”
“The Endangered Species Act has two parallel goals,” says ecologist Eric Eberhard from Columbia University, a co-author of the PLOS ONE study. “The first goal is to prevent extinction. The second goal is to recover listed species.”
When it comes to the second goal, he says the law “has not been successful.” Eberhard and his colleagues found that only 3 percent of listed species have bounced back enough to be removed from the list.
Helping endangered species recover:
One way to help species recover is to direct more funding to protect them and their natural habitats. For this reason, many biologists support the America’s Wildlife Restoration Act as a companion law that could bolster species before they need to be listed under the Endangered Species Act.
This proposed legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate in March. It will invest $1.4 billion annually to help states and tribal nations maintain a balance in wildlife. It will help fund conservation programs and state research initiatives. These funds will benefit not only the species listed under the Endangered Species Act but will also help protect 12,000 species of concern on individual state lists. These include the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), the western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis), and the pygmy shrew (Sorex nanus).
If the Endangered Species Act is the emergency room for species that have reached critical low levels, then the proposed law would provide preventive care, working to maintain balanced wildlife populations and their habitats.
Frick from the International Bat Conservation believes passing the America’s Wildlife Restoration Act could be a “game changer” for wildlife conservation.
As the Endangered Species Act celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in December 2023, Frick hopes more healthy species will graduate from the brink of extinction.
Terlink, who focuses on marine creatures, agrees. “Extinction is irreversible. The future depends on being compassionate and intentional about what we leave behind.”
Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/endangered-species-act-50-anniversary-success
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