Endangered Species Act Summary

Species List

• The FWS of the Department of the Interior maintains an up-to-date list that includes all plants and animals in crisis. In 2008, the list included 1,574 endangered species and 351 threatened species. If you have knowledge of a plant or animal needing protection, you can petition FWS and NMFS to add it to the list and it will be reviewed for inclusion.
  
  

Endangered versus Threatened

• Merriam-Webster defines endangered as "anyone or anything whose continued existence is threatened." Threatened refers to a species that is "likely to become an endangered species." According to Congress, actions that contribute to a species' demise, include negative habitat impact and overuse by humans. Disease and predators are listed as criteria for being on the endangered list.
  
  

The "Take" Prohibition

• Everyone, government agencies and private parties alike, is prohibited under the ESA from taking endangered and threatened species. "Take" is synonymous with "harm" and refers to an act that injures or kills wildlife or alters a habitat so much that it is detrimental . This "take" is not applicable to plants but it is illegal to remove an endangered plant from conserved land for ownership or commercial reasons.
  
  

Controversy

• In order to conserve the habitats of the wildlife and plants on the ESA list, protection is offered to plants and animals that live on private land. This inhibits the homeowner or business owner from caring for his own property. There is a well-known story about a farmer in Bakersfield, California who was jailed for five months because he plowed his fields (and ran over a rat or two). The homeowner's property was listed as a habitat for the endangered Tipton kangaroo rat and for his plowing was illegal. Exaggerated? Perhaps. Controversial? Definitely.
  
  

Success Stories

• A 2007 study from the Center for Biological Diversity states that 93 percent of the species on the ESP list have increased in number or remained stable. The law has proven 100 percent successful in preventing extinction and has exceeded their timeline for species recovery by almost half. May 18, 2007 was declared Endangered Species Day by the U.S. Senate to raise awareness of the ESA and encourage conservation. Well-known successes like the bald eagle (which has been de-listed) and the grizzly bear were applauded.