Environmentalist's lawsuits dry up funds for endangered species conservation (5/30/2003)

Lawsuits brought by environmental groups that claim to support conservation are draining the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) funding. The Service will soon be depleted of funds earmarked to designate critical habitat for threatened and endangered species.

In July, the USFWS is expected to exhaust the monies required to designate critical habitat as directed by court orders and settlements for fiscal year 2003. To cover the shortfall, the administration has requested authority from Congress to shift money from other endangered species programs. The move to redirect the money will undermine endangered species conservation by compromising the USFWS' ability to protect new species and its work to restore species already listed under the Endangered Species Act.

According to Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Craig Manson, two-thirds of the endangered species listing budget is being consumed by court orders and settlement agreements requiring designation of critical habitat for species already on the endangered species list. In most cases, designation of critical habitat provides little additional protection for endangered species.

"This flood of litigation over critical habitat designation is preventing the Fish and Wildlife Service from protecting new species and reducing its ability to recover plants and animals already listed as threatened or endangered," said Manson. "Imagine an emergency room where lawsuits force the doctors to treat sprained ankles while patients with heart attacks expire in the waiting room and you've got a good picture of our endangered species program right now."

Organizations like the Sierra Club, in business to protect the environment, ironically interfere with conservation when they bring such suits against the USFWS.

"The Sierra Club and other conservation groups use litigation as a marketing tool," said U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Senior Vice President Rick Story. "Unfortunately, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service points out, they are actually standing in the way of conservation."

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