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The Endangered Species Act of 1973: Summary

Background

Enactment: December 28, 1973

Related legislation: Endangered Species Preservation Act (1966); Endangered Species Conservation Act (1969); Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES, 1973)

Revisions: Amendments in 1978, 1982, and 1988, summarized below. Funding is authorized within the act through Fiscal Year 1992. The act must be renewed every 5 years, although funding specific to the implementing agencies is determined annually.

Implementation and enforcement: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Department of the Interior) is generally seen as the primary agency behind the ESA. The National Marine Fisheries Service (Department of Commerce) holds responsibility for certain marine species. Ultimate responsibility lies with the Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce. The Secretary of the Treasury, or of whichever department is operating the Coast Guard, has additional enforcement responsibilities (Sec. 11(e)(1)).

Intent*

The stated purposes of the ESA are:

…to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species, and to take such steps as may be appropriate to achieve the purposes of the treaties and conventions [on international trade in endangered species] (Sec. 2(b)).

Certainly the best-known impact of the ESA is the establishment of broad prohibitions against any take of endangered and threatened animal species. However, another major intention of the act is to integrate federal and international legislation on endangered species, including the national-level implementation of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, 1973). Within this structure, the ESA establishes guidelines to define categories and listing protocols for endangered and threatened species (Sec. 4). In addition, the act defines the concept of "critical habitat". Federal agencies are required to (a) actively promote the conservation of listed species; and (b) avoid any actions that would have negative effects on listed species and their critical habitat. Finally, the ESA provides matching federal funds for some state actions in support of the act and authorizes the acquisition of land for plants and animals listed under CITES.

Amendments to the ESA have been passed in 1978, 1982, and 1988. The most relevant of the 1978 amendments establishes a cabinet-level committee authorized to exempt federal agencies from section 7 regulations under specific circumstances (the Endangered Species Committee, informally known as the "God squad"). Among the amendments adopted in 1982 is a provision for the designation of "experimental" (or reintroduced) populations, with a modified set of liabilities defined around these experimental populations and their critical habitat. This has led to the establishment of Safe Harbor Agreements, under which the good intentions of groups and individuals attempting to help conserve or reintroduce native species can be taken into account when determining later limitations on land use. 1988 amendments provide for monitoring of candidate and recovered species, enact several changes for recovery plans and related reports (most notably requiring recovery plans to be subject to public review), and allow for federal protection for endangered plants only when destruction takes place on federal land or violates state law.

* Adapted from the Endangered Species Act (1973) and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (1996)

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