Recently, a petition was sent to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), asking that the monarch butterfly be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As a scientist studying monarch conservation, I followed the news surrounding this petition closely. I was concerned by how much confusion, misconception, and incorrect information emerged in discussions about the petition. Unfortunately, this was also the case recently when the gray wolf was considered for delisting. Since the ESA is the most powerful piece of environmental law in our country, I thought I would take a chance to provide a brief explanation of the act and the process of listing a species under the act.
The purpose of the ESA is to protect threatened and endangered species and to conserve the ecosystems and habitat that support them. Endangered species are ones that are in danger of becoming extinct across all or a significant portion of their range. Threatened species are ones that are in danger of becoming endangered soon.
In order to receive protection under the ESA, a species must first be officially listed as endangered or threatened by the USFWS. Any person or organization can petition the USFWS to consider a species for listing. However, because a successful petition usually contains a great deal of scientific data and ecological information, most effective petitions are produced by teams of scientists, environmental lawyers, and other professionals. After receiving a petition, USFWS has 90 days to determine if the petition provides enough valid information to indicate that listing might be warranted. If it does, USFWS has 12 months to fully investigate the status of the species and make a decision about whether or not it should be listed as threatened or endangered. This decision is based solely on biological data- not financial, political, or social concerns.
When a species is listed, it becomes illegal to “take” it; according to the ESA, take means “to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect or attempt to engage in any such conduct.” Critical habitat is designated that needs to be protected in order to ensure the survival of the species, and USFWS biologists create a recovery plan to guide the management of the species and create criteria to determine if the population has recovered enough to be removed from the list.
I’ve provided just a bare bones description of the ESA. Like most pieces of legislation, the Endangered Species Act is lengthy and complex; however, most people who have the time to sit down and examine it closely will find it quite understandable. You can find the full text of the act at http://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/ESAall.pdf.
