Environmental Policy
Analysis Paper
Endangered Species Act of 1973
Steven Koster
April 10, 2013
There are an estimated 8.74 million species on the Earth, and according to
research the Earth loses about 1,000 species each year (Wall, 2011). Due to these
astonishingly high numbers in 1972 President Nixon pushed for environmental protection
of species that are threatened, resulting in the US government passing the ESA in 1973.
With the Endangered Species Act there was hopes that by identifying these species who
were classified as threatened or endangered, the government could implement programs
to restore the habitat and ecosystems these species relied upon, or reduce threats to the
species, resulting in the population reaching self-sustainable levels again (Endangered
Species Act – Overview).
After being signed into law in December 1973 by President Nixon, the
Endangered Species Act (ESA) became one of the most complex policies that covered
every federal agency. Mandating that all federal agencies must be sure that before
undertaking any project that will affect the lands or water do not harm the continued
survival of any listed species or result in destruction of precious habitat of such species
(Summary of ESA). Under the ESA a species thought to be in critical condition can be
classified in two ways, endangered or threatened. Being endangered means “in danger of
extinction throughout all or a specific portion of its range,” and being threatened is when
a species “is likely to be endangered… within the foreseeable future” (Endangered
Species Act (ESA)).
The agencies responsible for implementing the ESA, and determining whether a
species is threatened of endangered, are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS), and
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS) (Endangered Species Act, National Wildlife Federation). The FWS
manages all land and freshwater species, and the NMFS manages all marine and saltwater
species (Endangered Species Act (ESA)). Once on the endangered species list the
government develops a recovery plan for the species, and every two years this plan is
reevaluated to determine whether it is effective and whether the species should have its
status on the list changed. This system has shown to be very effective, as it requires that
each case be revisited and updated to ensure that progress is actually being made on each
case (Recovery Plans Search)
The ESA also has provisions that allow citizen-suits, allowing individuals and
interests groups to sue the government if they feel the Act isn’t protecting species as it
should be, as well as having a critical-habitat provision which provides “direct legal
protection” of ecosystems and habitats that species need to survive (The Endangered
Species Act, Campaigns). The ESA is also hailed as one of “the world’s most powerful
and successful legal tools for protecting species” (The Endangered Species Act,
Campaigns) and has been seen in many cases to have very beneficial effects to species
population. This can be seen in various species throughout the U.S. whose populations
have improved, such as the manatee, bald eagle, or American alligator.
Though the Endangered Species Act has helped improve the state of many species
in the use and around the world its implementation has not come without its own hurdles.
To implement a policy such as this one, in which every governmental agency must meet
certain requirements while carrying out their own duties, and when managing things such
as protecting habitats, sometimes large sums of money are required to keep areas of land
under protection and not encroached upon by industry. Similarly, organizations like the
National Water Resources Association have been affected by the ESA when planning
potential water projects, like a dam or diverting water, because the water in new areas
could lead to habitat destruction on the land, as well as making the ecosystem within the
lake unlivable for species that lived there prior to changes (Endangered Species Act,
Issues).
Before the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 American did have in
place some policies to protect species, however they were nowhere nearly as extensive as
the ESA, nor where they implemented with as much success. Acts such as the
Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, which allowed the FWS and NOAA to list
species and endangered and allowed for minimal protection, and the Endangered Species
Conservation Act of 1969, which expanded the ESPA onto a worldwide scale to limit
importation of endangered species and called for agreements to be made about species
protection (A History of the Endangered). As with many environmental laws passed in
the late 1960s and 1970s the ESA follows the incremental model. As the Congress
passed these previous acts the very taking small steps to see what was required before
passing the ESA which to this day has shown to be effective and a positive result passing
regulations incrementally and allow for all the provisions to be covered.
As stated before, this policy has made substantial impacts on American society,
by bringing the population of several species back to safe levels. One such species that
has been benefitted by this policy is the American Alligator. Since Europeans made it to
the Gulf States there has been a trade for alligator, whether it be for meat, their skin to
make leather out of, or their oils that were used in early industry. Even though the selling
of alligator leather shoes, belts, hats, and saddles was a huge business in the 1800s and
early 1900s, there was a visible decrease in the population of the species during this time
period as well, due to the high amount of hunting that was taking place to harvest the
expensive resources from the alligators. (General Alligator Information).
After the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 was passed, alligators got
put onto the endangered species list which this act provided a provision for, and with the
ESA in 1973; there was more effort to protect their habitats in Florida, Louisiana, and
Texas. As alligators became protected in each state however the trade for them also died.
Though not a huge effect on a National scale, this affected the economy of those whose
culture was built around alligator trade, such as near the Florida Everglades and the
Louisiana Bayou (General Alligator Information). Slowly through the 1970s and 80s the
alligator population began to return to stable levels and in 1987 the American alligator
was removed from the endangered species list, as they were seen to be at a selfsustaining level (Scholastic News: Endangered Species). Since coming off the
endangered species list there is now a hunting season for American alligator, however
there is a special permit required and only a specific amount of people may receive it
each year, by a lottery system, and each hunter is only allowed to take a certain amount
of alligators. Due to this the trade for alligators have returned, though on a much smaller,
and sustainable scale, and it is well regulated by the government (Scholastic News:
Endangered Species).
Though the ESA has not stopped the extinction of species on an international
scale, it has protected threatened and endangered animals from being traded into and out
of the US, as well as start talks on the international scale to protect species and natural
habitats. If laws like this get implanted on a global scale, or even in developed countries,
it could decrease dramatically the amount of species that go extinct each year.
Works Cited
"A History of the Endangered Species Act of 1973." Endangered Species Program. US
Fish and Wildlife Service, 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 05 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/esa-history.html>.
"Endangered Species Act (ESA)." Laws and Policies. NOAA Fisheries, 7 Mar. 2013.
Web. 06 Apr. 2013. <http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/laws/esa/>.
"Endangered Species Act." Issues. National Water Resources Association, 2011. Web. 06
Apr. 2013. <http://www.nwra.org/issues/endangered-species-actimplementation/>.
"Endangered Species Act." National Wildlife Federation. Wildlife Conservation, 2013.
Web. 07 Apr. 2013. <http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/WildlifeConservation/Endangered-Species-Act.aspx>.
"Endangered Species Act - Overview." Endangered Species Program. US Fish and
Wildlife Service, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 06 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/>.
"The Endangered Species Act." Campaigns. Center for Biological Diversity, n.d. Web.
06 Apr. 2013. <http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/esa/>.
"General Alligator Information." Alligator Program. Louisiana Department of Wildlife
and Fisheries, n.d. Web. 08 Apr. 2013. <http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/generalalligator-information>.
"Recovery Plans Search." Endangered Species Program. US Fish and Wildlife Service,
n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. < http://www.fws.gov/endangered/species/recoveryplans.html>.
"Scholastic News: Endangered Species." Animals on the Mend. Scholastic, 2013. Web.
06 Apr. 2013.
<http://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/endangered_species/ani
mals/index.asp?article=animalsonthemend>.
"Summary of ESA." Laws and Regulations. US Environmental Protection Agency, 24
Feb. 2013. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. <http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/esa.html>.
Wall, Tim. "8.74 Million Species on Earth." DNews. Discovery Communications, 08
Aug. 2011. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. <http://news.discovery.com/earth/plants/874million-species-on-earth-110823.htm>.