The Normative Dimension and Legal Meaning of Endangered and Recovery in the U.S. Endangered Species Act
- 19 July 2006
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Conservation Biology
- Vol. 20 (5), 1383-1390
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00493.x
Abstract
The ethical, legal, and social significance of the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) is widely appreciated. Much of the significance of the act arises from the legal definitions that the act provides for the terms threatened species and endangered species. The meanings of these terms are important because they give legal meaning to the concept of a recovered species. Unfortunately, the meanings of these terms are often misapprehended and rarely subjected to formal analysis. We analyzed the legal meaning of recovered species and illustrate key points with details from "recovery" efforts for the gray wolf (Canis lupus). We focused on interpreting the phrase "significant portion of its range," which is part of the legal definition of endangered species. We argue that recovery and endangerment entail a fundamentally normative dimension (i.e., specifying conditions of endangerment) and a fundamentally scientific dimension (i.e., determining whether a species meets the conditions of endangerment). Specifying conditions for endangerment is largely normative because it judges risks of extinction to be either acceptable or unacceptable. Like many other laws that specify what is unacceptable, the ESA largely specifies the conditions that constitute unacceptable extinction risk. The ESA specifies unacceptable risks of extinction by defining endangered species in terms of the portion of a species' range over which a species is "in danger of extinction." Our analysis indicated that (1) legal recovery entails much more than the scientific notion of population viability, (2) most efforts to recover endangered species are grossly inadequate, and (3) many unlisted species meet the legal definition of an endangered or threatened species.Keywords
This publication has 25 references indexed in Scilit:
- Paying for Tolerance: Rural Citizens' Attitudes toward Wolf Depredation and CompensationConservation Biology, 2003
- Biological Correlates of Extinction Risk in BatsThe American Naturalist, 2003
- Applying Ecological Science to Recovery Planning1Ecological Applications, 2002
- Seasonal Compensation of Predation and HarvestingOikos, 1999
- IS IT MEANINGFUL TO ESTIMATE A PROBABILITY OF EXTINCTION?Ecology, 1999
- On the Use of Demographic Models of Population Viability in Endangered Species ManagementThe Journal of Wildlife Management, 1998
- Distribution and Causation of Species Endangerment in the United StatesScience, 1997
- Uncertainty and the Assessment of Extinction ProbabilitiesEcological Applications, 1996
- Factors Leading to Different Viability Predictions for a Grizzly Bear Data SetConservation Biology, 1996
- Conservation Implications of Georaphic Range Size—Body Size RelationshipsConservation Biology, 1996