06/29/06 Endangered Species Act

Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act has been law for over 32 years. Is it a help or hindrance to listed species? I'm Jeff Keane' I'll be right back to talk about that question. A quest editorial in our state cattlemen's newspaper by Dave Skinner writer for Evergreen was a very good assessment of the 32 years of the Endangered Species Act. Is it successful? That depends who you are or what group you belong to. Environmental organizations think the act is a huge success since only a few species have been "delisted" due to extinction. Well, on the other side of that argument is the fact that even fewer species have been delisted because of the act. I think the original intent of the ESA was a worthwhile effort, but the actual implementation of the act by the various agencies that used regulations as the foundation of their recovery plans alienated a large majority of the very individuals that could have a big impact on saving species  private landowners. Why would any landowner want to try to provide habitat or worse yet admit they have endangered species on their land when all they received for their efforts was regulations and restrictions under the guise of critical habitat designations? Environmental groups have used the ESA as a basis for filing lawsuits to even block efforts of federal land managers if management plans didn't fit their agenda. I think this negative use and regulation-based administration of the ESA has rendered it a failure. I'm Jeff Keane Ketch Pen June 2006