Recovery of Endangered Species

Humans have never shown a great deal of concern on how we impact the environment and its diversity, but in recent years we have begun to change that. Ever since the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the successor to the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, we have been making great strides in the protection and sustaining of biodiversity within nature. The Endangered Species Act allows the federal government of America to list species of life that are in need of human assistance and protect said species through any means necessary. This includes the protection of habitats, funding recovery projects that work towards increasing animal numbers to a sustainable population, and the outright banning of killing, hunting, harming, trapping, harassing, pursuing and just about any other type of negative impact a human could have towards an animal.

It is believed that among the hundreds of endangered species that the ESA has dealt with, at least ninety three percent has had an increase in population or has remained stable thanks to the act. This no doubt proves the effectiveness of the act and how bio diversity may have suffered without it.

One of the most famous success stories of the ESA is the preservation of the bald eagle. The use of harmful pesticides such as DDT caused chaos and death amongst much of the habitats that it was introduced in. The bald eagle’s habitat was one of the greatly effected areas. The use of these pesticides brought bald eagle breeding pairs down to four hundred recorded pairs. However the ESA and it’s predecessor the ESPA not only helped towards the banning of DDT and other harmful pesticides, but also took action to bring the bald eagle population back up to it’s current numbers of about seven thousand nesting pairs. The bald eagle species was removed from the list of endangered animals in 2007.

The ESA has made a great impact on not only animal life, but plant life as well. Eggert’s sunflower which is a rare type of plantlife found in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, was thought to be heading towards extinction. Oddly enough, Eggert’s sunflower is dependant on naturally occurring fires and animal grazing which was suppressed by human settlement. Under the influence of the ESA, studies were conducted and a plan was prepared to help reintroduce the natural fires that the sunflower is dependant on. As of 2005, Eggert’s sunflower was removed from the endangered species list.

The protection of any and all kinds of life also helps towards the protection of bio diversity. The Endangered Species Act has paved the path that allows humans to take control and initiative in protecting the very life that we have put in danger through our mistakes. Without it, many of the unique species found on our planet may have ceased to exist, though luckily, we now know that we have the power to prevent such things from happening.



Grizzly Bear. Removed from endangered species list in 2007.



  

Gray Wolf. Dramatic increase in population, not yet removed from list.







Peregrine Falcon. Removed from list in 2000.









Works Cited:

http://www.esasuccess.org/reports/

http://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Conservation/Understanding-Wildlife-Conservation/Endangered-Species-Act.aspx

http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/habitat/esa/aboutesa.asp

http://www.dodbiodiversity.org/ch6/index_9.html

Images:

http://homepage.mac.com/wildlifeweb/bird/bald_eagle/bald_eagle_01tk.jpg

http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/kentucky/images/art10856_1.jpg

http://www.treehugger.com/gray-wolf-hunt-500-dead.jpg

http://biology.usgs.gov/cro/ScienceInYourState/Montana/images/Grizzly-bear.jpg

http://mediacaffeine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/peregrine-falcon.jpg

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