Endangered Species Act Essay

What is known as the Endangered Species Act began in mid-1960. In order for the Fish and
Wildlife Service to expand their efforts to protect endangered species, Congress enacted the
Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966. This Act did little more than allow a list of endangered species to be made. The Act did not prohibit the killing of endangered species or the destruction of their habitat. The lack of legal protection for the endangered species led the Fish and Wildlife Service to convince Congress to enact a second endanger species act called the Endangered Species
Conservation Act of 1969. This law prohibited the commercial trade of wildlife and wildlife products, but did not prohibit the killing of
(Bean, 2009). The implementation of the first Earth Day helped bring momentum to other environmental laws, including amendments to the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Marine Mammal
Protection Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and in 1973, The Endangered Species
Act. (Bean, 2009). Having had only a few amendments in 1978, 1982, and 1988, the
Endangered Species Act has essentially remained the same since 1973. There are two primary agencies that enforce the Endangered Species Act’s regulations, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for the protection of land animals and freshwater animals, while NOAA is responsible for all marine species. With that being said, the Secretary of Agriculture has the responsibility of enforcing laws relating to the import and export of species, and the Department of Justice is responsible for enforcing criminal aspects of the Act and defending the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA when the laws
Growing population means more land is needed to support that growth, restricted land use means less property for urbanization or industrial growth. Also, many of the listed endangered species occur on private land, restricting the landowner’s use of their own property.
Cost is another source of conflict with the Endangered Species Act. Large amounts of money are spent in order to aid in the recovery of endangered animals, an example of this would be with the recovery of the California condor. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on recovery programs in the past 2-3 decades and currently, five million every year is spent in aiding their recovery. I believe the Endangered Species Act contains laws that are adequate to achieve its conservation purpose. Laws are in place to protect species on the verge of extinction and because of the protection from the ESA, iconic species such as bald eagles, gray wolves and grizzly bears were able rebound and recover. Without the ESA we could potentially lose species that are vital to our ecosystem and our existence