Endangered Species Management

• Lecture Outline

– History

– Endangered Species Act

– Management of Endangered Species

– Biodiversity Management

• Assignments

– Third draft of paper due November 25

– Paper discussion Friday (Tyus and Saunders 2000)

Endangered Fish of North America

History

1) 1966 - Endangered Species Preservation Act

2) 1969 - Endangered Species Conservation Act

3) 1973 - Endangered Species Act

a) Section 7 – Prohibited federal projects to jeopardize the critical habitat of an endangered species

4) 1973 - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

5) 1978 amendment

a) “God squad”

b) Critical habitat was required to be designated concurrently with the listing of a species

6) 1982 amendment

a) Status made solely on basis of biological, not economical, considerations

b) Rule on status to follow within one year of its proposed listing

7) 1988 amendment

a) Emergency listing

b) Modification of recovery plan protocol

Critical Habitat

1) A specific geographic area(s) that is essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and that may require special management and protection

Recovery plans

1) Guide to recovery of endangered species

2) Prepared by regional U.S. Fish and Wildlife personnel

a) May be assigned to recovery team, conservation organization, or other knowledgeable individual

3) No legal obligation to recover species

State T&E programs

1) Most states have their own list of T&E species

2) Limited funding

3) Matching funds for state conservation programs

4) Cooperation with federal agencies important

Kansas Endangered Fishes

Management of Endangered Species

1) Maintaining and enhancing historic populations

2) Protecting, expanding, or restoring habitat

3) Land acquisition

4) Pollution control

5) Land-use planning

6) Instream habitat enhancement

7) Moving specimens to refuges

8) Rearing and stocking in new or formerly occupied areas

a) Limited success

9) Genetic considerations

10) Minimizing introductions and undesirable effects of nonnative organisms

11) Controlling exploitation

Problems with the Endangered Species Act

1) Recovery efforts may be too late

2) Backlog of species is huge

3) Recovery focuses on quick fixes

4) Focus on species ignores landscapes

Alternatives to Endangered Species Management: Conservation of Biodiversity

1) Conservation of Biodiversity

2) Inventory aquatic habitats and map species distributions

3) Identify groups of species or ecosystem types in danger of being lost

4) Rank areas based on conservation value

Potential Uses of Aquatic GAP in Kansas

1) Identify priority watersheds

2) Clean Water Act

3) Review of impact studies

4) Stream lease program

5) Education

6) Ecological research

7) Integration of physical, chemical, and biotic data from various agencies and institutions