This handbook is a guide to the federal Endangered Species Act, the primary U.S. law aimed at protecting species of animals and plants from human threats to their survival. It is intended for lawyers, government agency employees, students, community activists, businesspeople, and any citizen who wants to understand the Act--its history, provisions, accomplishments, and failures.

Listing and delisting processes under the Endangered Species Act : hearing before the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, first session, on the regulations and procedures of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concerning the listing and delisting of species under the Endangered Spe

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a far-reaching law that has sparked intense controversies over the use of public lands, the rights of property owners, and economic versus environmental benefits. In this volume a distinguished committee focuses on the science underlying the ESA and offers recommendations for making the act more effective. The committee provides an overview of what scientists know about extinctionâ€"and what this understanding means to implementation of the ESA. Habitatâ€"its destruction, conservation, and fundamental importance to the ESAâ€"is explored in detail. The book analyzes: Concepts of speciesâ€"how the term "species" arose and how it has been interpreted for purposes of the ESA. Conflicts between species when individual species are identified for protection, including several case studies. Assessment of extinction risk and decisions under the ESAâ€"how these decisions can be made more effectively. The book concludes with a look beyond the Endangered Species Act and suggests additional means of biological conservation and ways to reduce conflicts. It will be useful to policymakers, regulators, scientists, natural-resource managers, industry and environmental organizations, and those interested in biological conservation.

The complex regulations of the Endangered Species Act can be challenging for environmental professionals who must comply with them or assist clients in compliance. This volume discusses the Act using clear scientific prose that all professionals can readily comprehend. It explores the history and the basic scientific theory underlying the Act. It provides an overview of its key provisions and examines the Act in the context of other key environmental planning statutes. The book also details the regulatory processes faced by other government agencies and private developers who must routinely ensure that their actions are in compliance.

This volume examines historical views of stewardship that have sometimes allowed humans to ravage the earth as well as contemporary and futuristic visions of stewardship that will be necessary to achieve pragmatic progress to save life on earth as we know it. The idea of stewardship – human responsibility to tend the Earth – has been central to human cultures throughout history, as evident in the Judeo-Christian Genesis story of the Garden of Eden and in a diverse range of parallel tales from other traditions around the world. Despite such foundational hortatory stories about preserving the earth on which we live, humanity in the Anthropocene is nevertheless currently destroying the planet with breathtaking speed. Much research on stewardship today – in the disciplines of geography, urban studies, oceans research, and green business practice – offers insights that should help address the ecological challenges facing the planet. Simultaneous scholarship in the humanities and other fields reminds us that the damage done to the planet has often been carried out in the name of tending the land. In order to make progress in environmental stewardship, scholars must speak to each other across the disciplinary boundaries, as they do in this volume.