The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was signed into law nearly 50 years ago in an attempt to protect our precious wildlife from extinction. Unfortunately, despite efforts from administrations on both sides of the aisle over the past several decades, it has failed.
As a third-generation farmer hailing from the Pacific Northwest and a proud representative of rural America, I am all-too-familiar with the negative impacts a poorly-implemented ESA can have on the livelihoods of my neighbors and the communities I represent. Critical habitat designations for the northern spotted owl decimated my state’s timber industry, and confusion around the listing of the gray wolf created difficulty and uncertainty for our farmers and ranchers. Unfortunately, impacts like these are felt throughout the United States.
Only 3 percent of species have been successfully recovered, and the Biden administration continues to enable radical special interest groups and equip them by pushing regulations that help perpetuate frivolous lawsuits, rather than prioritizing the actual recovery of our plants and animals.
A weaponized ESA has been used to delay or completely halt agriculture, resource, and energy development projects throughout rural communities. In some regions, it has destroyed entire economies.
This should not be the case, and it doesn’t have to be. If we are going to fulfill the congressional intent of the ESA, we have to return to the reason Congress passed this law in the first place: species recovery.
The goal of the ESA is to recover endangered and threatened species populations, restore habitats, and ultimately remove them from the list — not keep them listed in perpetuity, shackling the hands of local landowners and managers across the United States.
The Congressional Western Caucus, comprised of nearly 80 members from all walks of life who represent rural communities across the United States, is spending the next week highlighting the importance of modernizing and improving the ESA based on three pillars of species recovery: transparency, flexibility, and scientific credibility.
Fulfilling these pillars is critical if we want a species protection law that actually works. We can do this by ensuring that listing decisions are made with the best, publicly available science and by incentivizing state and local species managers — those who are closest to the habitats they are working to protect — and by encouraging locally-led conservation efforts.
The legislation we continue to put forth should seem like commonsense solutions. The bills require the federal government to collaborate with states, counties, tribes, and local entities that have a vested interest in protecting species, and they require the economic impacts of a listing decision to be considered. They ensure that listings are based on scientific evidence, and they reduce bureaucratic red tape when considering new information about species’ habitats. Believe it or not, the ESA — as written — doesn’t require any of these logical provisions, giving bureaucrats in D.C. inflated power and authorities to dictate the way our rural communities conduct our conservation efforts.
Instead of accepting the status quo, we are working to bring the ESA into the 21st century while promoting effective species recovery efforts taking place across the United States.
Despite the dismal track record of the federal government, there are several success stories to tell — from the Great Plains where local industries are working hand-in-hand with the states to protect the lesser prairie chicken, to states throughout the West where governors are collaborating to ensure greater sage-grouse can flourish despite threats from catastrophic wildfires.
When it comes to protecting our threatened and endangered species, we need a roadmap to recovery, and Western Caucus Members have solutions. We are just getting started, and I encourage you to follow along as we work to modernize and improve this landmark species protection law for the betterment of our environment and our local communities.
Dan Newhouse represents Washington’s 4th District and serves as chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus.