Dear Conservation Scientist,
In 2007, the Bush administration's top lawyer (solicitor) at the Department of Interior issued a memorandum substantially redefining a key provision of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA requires listing of a species as threatened or endangered not only when it is at risk of worldwide extinction, but also when it is at risk in any "significant portion of its range" (SPOIR). This important provision both allows for listing of species before they are on the brink of extinction, and ensures that recovery of species goes beyond zoo like populations that are deemed secure in small portions of species' ranges. The Solicitor's memorandum, however, sharply limits the application of SPOIR by limiting analysis of whether species are endangered in significant portions of range to solely their current range. This amounts to a shifting baseline, whereby species that have lost substantial range are considered not at risk because they occupy most or all of their current range and are therefore denied the protections of the ESA. The Solicitor's memorandum also limits application of the ESA by specifying that once a species has been found to be endangered in a significant portion of range, protection will be applied in only that portion of range. This gives the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service the authority to draw lines around the most endangered portions of species' current ranges and only provide protection in these areas, effectively limiting recovery and providing little incentive for recovering species to their historic ranges. Indeed, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has already used the memorandum to deny or limit species protection. Please visit: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/cleaning_up_the_bush_legacy/opp ose_policy_limiting_esa.html to see the Solicitor's memorandum and three peer-reviewed papers discussing the potential and real impacts of the solicitor's memorandum on species conservation and to sign a letter to Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar asking for the policy to be rescinded. Also, please forward this email widely to your colleagues. Sincerely, Noah Noah Greenwald, M.S. Endangered Species Program Director Center for Biological Diversity PO Box 11374 Portland, OR 97211 503-484-7495 "Those who are most aware of the declining health of natural systems must be the ones to sound the alarm. They must be willing to take a stand. Some biologists are reluctant to vigorously defend sound practices in the treatment of the earth because they feel that their jobs, funding, and perhaps even their lives may be threatened, as indeed they may. Even so, if those who understand freshwater [or other] systems best, and are most aware of their inestimable value to mankind are not to to be advocates, then there will be little effective advocacy." G.W. Folkerts in Aquatic Fauna in Peril: the Southeastern Perspective
