Defenders Magazine

Defenders View: Heroes, Villains and the Endangered Species Act

By Rodger Schlickeisen

I admit to being a fan of the comics, including "Spiderman," and I'm known to use the phrase, "my spider sense is tingling" when I sense danger for wildlife in the activities of the extreme anti-conservationists in the Bush administration or the Congress.

My "spider sense" tingled like crazy all last summer when House Resources Committee chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) said he was working to "improve" our Endangered Species Act. Sure enough, in September, Pombo—who has since been labeled the "Dark Knight of the Environment" by the San Francisco Chronicle—ambushed the House of Representatives with a bill that would obliterate our nation's commitment to protecting our wildlife heritage. But if Pombo ended up being the villain in this story, there were also several heroes, especially Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), who together authored a bipartisan bill to counter the Dark Knight's attacks. Their bill would enhance the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act while offering incentives to landowners and others to promote endangered species conservation. Though the vote was close, alas, our heroes did not win this battle. The Dark Knight's bill passed the House.

Pow! Bam! Rep. Pombo's bill would wallop our national commitment to protecting our wildlife heritage. It would smack the law's ability to protect and conserve habitat needed for the recovery of threatened or endangered plants and animals. It would cut wildlife experts out of the loop when determining whether new projects would harm endangered animals and plants. More egregious still, it would set a dangerous precedent by requiring taxpayers to pay developers not to kill or injure endangered species. And in a final blow, the bill would exempt all pesticide decisions from compliance with the Endangered Species Act for at least five years, despite the fact that more than 67 million birds die from pesticides each year.

Now the debate moves to the Senate, where we will need some new heroes to make sure that the Dark Knight's bill dies the death it so richly deserves. Who might our heroes be? Two very real possibilities are the dynamic duo, Sens. Lincoln Chafee (R-R.I.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), the ranking members of the wildlife subcommittee that oversees the Endangered Species Act. They may well don the hero's cape, but if so, we know they will have a tough fight ahead. The evil special interests are still actively trying to cut major loopholes in the Endangered Species Act, like those in the Dark Knight's bill.

Instead of killing the law that has helped rescue the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, American alligator, gray wolf and grizzly, we should be helping it to work better for all stakeholders and especially for America's imperiled species. We can do that by: making species recovery its focus; protecting habitat necessary for species recovery; ensuring that the science underlying conservation decisions is not subject to political manipulation; enhancing the role of state wildlife agencies in endangered species conservation; providing greater incentives for landowners to conserve endangered species; and substantially increasing funding for conservation.

Our champions need help to defend the Endangered Species Act. Some of that help can come from you, the everyday heroes who are making a difference for wildlife. So if you've had a chance to be a hero for wildlife in any way, share your stories with us. Personal stories like these can wield powerful influence on the legislative process, powerful enough to help stop the Dark Knight in his tracks. We are looking for wildlife heroes such as: those living in Florida who are dimming their lights at night to help baby sea turtles make it safely to the ocean; golf course owners in the Southeast who are building nest cavities for red-cockaded woodpeckers; volunteers who are monitoring nest sites for bald eagles or acting as "wolf guardians" in the Southwest; and individuals who are working together to protect habitat for pygmy owls, bats, manatees and hundreds of other vulnerable plants and animals.