Posted
12/31/96
A
broad coalition of environmental groups including Forests Forever
has endorsed legislation to increase protection for endangered
and threatened species.
The
Endangered Natural Heritage Act (ENHA) would: 1) close
loopholes in the current Endangered Species Act (ESA), 2) add
provisions to ensure the recovery of species now listed, and 3)
prevent the need to list species in the future. Although drafted,
this legislation now must be introduced in Congress.
Since
it was founded in 1989 Forests Forever's chief campaign has been
to protect the Headwaters Forest in Humboldt County. Located
15 miles southeast of Eureka, Calif., this largest-in-the-world
unprotected forest of ancient redwoods is home to listed or rare
species including the Marbled murrelet, Northern spotted owl,
Coho salmon, Pacific giant salamander, and many others. The
ESA has been the strongest single legal tool of forest-preservation
activists in the fight to save Headwaters. And the ESA will certainly
continue to be an indispensable lever for saving California's
forest ecosystems.
Yet
the ESA is under unprecedented attack. The Republican-controlled
105th Congress has identified "revising" ESA as a top priority
in 1997. Many in that caucus repeatedly have called for amendments
to ESA that would further weaken species protections.
A
visionary law aimed at identifying and saving the nation's most
threatened plants and animals, the ESA is one of America's
proudest environmental accomplishments. Species including
the Bald eagle, Peregrine falcon, Sea otter, Manatee, Brown pelican,
and California condor have progressed toward recovery under the
ESA. But hundreds of species in the U.S. and thousands worldwide
remain in trouble. Scientists estimate that 100 species
per day are driven to extinction worldwide, largely due to
habitat destruction.
ESA
must be made even more effective, not weakened. ENHA would
strengthen ESA by:
A.
encouraging
preventive conservation of species before they become "emergency
room" cases, at which point costs of recovery are higher and chances
of success lower. The act would extend federal conservation obligations
to proposed and candidate species-- not merely to
endangered or threatened species, as is now the case.
B.
requiring
the federal government to act in a timely manner– deciding
in no more than four years whether to list a candidate species.
C.
designating
essential habitat at the time of listing, with fine-tuned
critical-habitat designation following later in the recovery plan.
Loopholes that currently allow delays in critical-habitat designation
due to economic-impact questions would be closed.
D.
mandating
implementation plans along with recovery plans. ENHA
would set forth the specific benchmarks necessary for species'
recovery, including population size and distribution and other
biological criteria.
E.
restoring
integrity to the "consultation" process, in which federal
agencies are required to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and National Marine Fisheries Service to ensure their
activities do minimal harm to protected species. ENHA would clarify
that the standard for Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) is recovery
of the targeted species, not merely survival.
F.
establishing
avenues for greater public participation in the species protection
and recovery process. ENHA would expand ESA's provisions concerning
enforcement suits by citizens groups, and concerning public comment
on HCPs as they are developed.
G.
increasing
penalties for violations of the ESA, based on specific definitions
of a violation, such as each day of an ongoing violation. Violators
would be required to pay natural resources damages to help
redress the harm caused to a species or its habitat. Similar restoration
damages currently are in force under the Superfund toxics-cleanup
law.
H.
closing
loopholes in the current HCP procedure– loopholes that
have allowed the HCP to become an egregious means of skirting
the ESA at the expense of further harm to the species.
I.
leveraging
greater protection for imperiled species abroad by clarifying
that federal-agency consultations apply to actions that may affect
non-U.S. species. ENHA would strengthen U.S. implementation of
CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)
treaty provisions protecting endangered species.
In
California alone there are 172 species currently listed under
the ESA and many more candidates. Many of these are forest-dependent
species.
What
you can do
Contact
your Member of Congress and California Senators Barbara
Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.
To
obtain your Congressperson's name, phone the Congressional switchboard
at 202/224-3121. The address is Rep. __________, U.S.
House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515.
The Senators' address is: Sen. __________, U.S. Senate, Washington,
DC 20510. Also contact Feinstein at 202/224-3841 (phone),
202/228-3954 (FAX), or e-mail senator@feinstein.senate.gov.
Contact Boxer at 202/224-3553 (phone), 415/956-6701 (FAX),
or e-mail senator@boxer.senate.gov.
Tell
them to introduce the Endangered Natural Heritage Act. (They
already have been lobbied on this and are aware of the draft legislation.)
Let them know how you feel about protecting and recovering
the planet's biodiversity. Saving imperiled wildlife is more
than just the right thing to do– it provides medicinal
and agricultural stock, and maintains the integrity of the ecosystems
on which all life– including human life– depends.
