The Endangered Species Act (ESA), passed into law in 1973, is a critical lifeline to save birds from extinction. This landmark conservation law has played a role in the comeback of species from Bald Eagle to Brown Pelican. Unfortunately, the ESA is now itself under threat.
Species that are in danger of extinction, or that may become so, can be considered for listing under the ESA. Once a species is listed, it receives certain mandatory protections to aid its recovery.
“Critical Habitat” designations with the species’ listing further protect endangered birds by safeguarding areas deemed essential for a species’ survival and recovery. To achieve recovery, areas must sometimes be designated as Critical Habitat even though they are not currently occupied by the species, allowing for future population increases and range expansion.
Without designation of Critical Habitat, some species may be restricted to tiny populations and destined to remain on the endangered species list forever.
Seventy-eight percent of the birds listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA have populations that are now stable, increasing, or have recovered enough to be delisted, according to a report published in July 2016 by ABC. The Endangered Species Act: A Record of Success analyzed population trends and recovery success for all U.S. listed birds, including those in the Hawaiian Islands and U.S. territories. Recorded presentations about the report are available here.
Our 2006 report, “American Birds: An Endangered Species Act Success Story,” found that of the 43 bird species listed under the ESA that breed in the continental United States, 63 percent had increasing or stable populations. Populations of several species had grown more than tenfold since being listed.
A few of the birds that have benefited from the ESA are Wood Stork, Bald Eagle, and Interior Least Tern.
Less than a quarter of species listed under the ESA are declining in population, and many of these were added to the list relatively recently. In fact, species that have increased since listing have been on the endangered list an average of 10 years longer than those that have decreased, showing that given time, conservation efforts can recover populations.
For the past two decades, the Endangered Species Act has been the focus of attacks from interest groups bent on relaxing species protections to allow increased development.
Today, the Act is under threat as never before. In 2014, Congress passed a rider to prevent an ESA listing of sage grouse, and this rider has been renewed each year since. But, in a big win the for ESA, a 2018 provision stripping the grouse and Lesser Prairie Chicken for ten years was removed from the National Defense Authorization Act.
The administration is also proposing new regulations to weaken the ESA. We will comment on and continue to monitor these legislative and regulatory maneuvers to help keep a strong ESA intact.
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