Environmental groups are hampering species recovery under the Endangered Species Act, according to the Public Lands Council and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Tuesday, the Center for Biological Diversity threatened to sue the Department of Interior and Fish and Wildlife Service to force action on 417 proposed listings under the Endangered Species Act. NCBA and the Public Lands Council say the move stems from a massive lawsuit settlement brokered behind closed doors and without stakeholders at the table. The groups, in a joint statement, say “this is precisely why the Endangered Species Act is broken.” The environmental groups, according to PLC executive director Ethan Lane, hamper species recovery by placing arbitrary listing-decision deadlines that leave no time for sound research or science-based decisions. During the nearly 40 years since the ESA was passed, the Act has a recovery rate of less than two percent and has more than 2,000 domestic species listed.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.
Island Fox Recovery Video
by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Foxes on Three California Islands Saved from Extinction in Record Time Thanks to Conservation Partnership
Foxes that are unique to three Channel Islands off the southern coast of California went into the record books today having achieved the fastest-ever recovery of a mammal in the history of the Endangered Species Act. The three subspecies of Channel Island fox were declared saved from extinction today following a collaborative conservation effort spanning 12 years.
Image credit: Island Fox, By National Park Service, US Department of Interior. – National Park Service, Public Domain, Wikimedia commons.org.