The world may be hurtling to the worst extinction crisis since the dinosaurs were wiped out, but the US is claiming success in its own efforts to prevent species following the path of titanosaurs, dodos and passenger pigeons.
A total of 34 species have been removed from federal Endangered Species Act protections since 1978 due to them recovering, rather than becoming extinct. This pace has accelerated under Barack Obama’s presidency – 16 of the 34 recovered species have been delisted during the current administration.
Animals as diverse as the brown pelican, gray wolf and Concho water snake have been pulled back from the brink and removed from the at-risk list. The Louisiana black bear, famous for one of its number being spared by Theodore Roosevelt on a hunting trip which prompted the name “teddy bear”, was officially deemed no longer at risk in March.
In Obama’s final year in power, his administration has started to puff its chest out over apparent victories in preventing wildlife loss.
“Preventing extinctions has certainly been a priority for this administration,” said Gavin Shire, a spokesman at the Fish and Wildlife Service. “It takes time to reverse invasive species or change land management regimes. We are now seeing the fruits of these efforts.”
Shine said the Endangered Species Act is a “strong, flexible law” that has been wielded effectively by the federal government. Enacted in 1973, the act places restrictions on federal actions that could harm listed organisms. Currently, there are 1,430 domestic and overseas species considered threatened or endangered – including the wood bison, grizzly bear and sperm whale. A further 901 plants, spanning cacti, lilies and ferns, are also imperiled.
With species around the world under increasing pressure from climate change, habitat loss, pollution and poaching, the loss of just 1% of listed species to extinction since the act’s creation is a relatively respectable record.
But some ecologists warn that conservation efforts are too narrow, meaning the apparent successes of the Obama administration aren’t as impressive upon closer inspection.
“It’s like what Winston Churchill said about democracy being the worst form of government, except for all the others,” said Quentin Wheeler, president of the College of Environmental Science and Forestry at the State University of New York. “The Endangered Species Act is hugely inadequate but it’s the best we have. We have to work with the tools we have.
“It’s an arbitrary, short list of species. Charismatic, larger organisms are the ones that tend to get listed after biologists who care enough have spent the time and money to gather the evidence.
“But that doesn’t mean we are making progress in general in terms of preservation of biodiversity. Extinctions are happening at an alarming rate. We are plunging headlong into the biggest extinction event in 65m years.”
Wheeler said it is “wonderful” that certain species have recovered enough to be delisted but pointed to a yawning gap in our knowledge of what is actually out there. There are an estimated 10m species on the planet, excluding bacteria – less than two million of these are known to science. And the discovery rate isn’t increasing.
“I find it incredibly frustrating that we still fail to support basic inventory work,” Wheeler said. “We find a small percentage of living species, protect some of them and it makes us feel good. But the reality is we need to find out what exists to make scientifically informed decisions about what we want to save. At the moment, we are using a very narrow, limited approach.”
Even “quick” recoveries take several years. An island fox only found off the coast of southern California was reduced to fewer than 100 individuals in the 1990s due to introduced diseases and a large feral pig population. A recovery effort that began in 1999 has paid off, meaning that the fox is due to be delisted this year.
Other recoveries can seem expensive and provoke dismay with farming or hunting interests, such as the $500m spent on saving the sage grouse – an effort that Utah is battling in the courts. Perhaps the best kind of intervention is an early one, such as the habitat restoration that ensured the decline of the New England cottontail was reversed before the rabbit reached official at-risk status.
But the pressures continue to mount. A growing human population, increasing consumption and climate change will take their toll. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has warned that rising temperatures could push up to a third of plant and animal species closer to extinction, with birds, amphibians and reef-building corals at particular risk.
Radical solutions rather than a boutique list of cared-for species may be called for. “EO Wilson’s book, sadly, may suggest our best option,” said Wheeler, referencing a new tome by the biologist that advocates for 50% of all the planet to be set aside as a permanent, undisturbed wildlife reserve.
In the US, conservationists believe it will be a long road to recovery. A few grumble about what they see as inconsistencies in the Obama administration’s approach.
“This administration has been very accommodating to industry, especially oil and gas interests,” said Brett Hartl, endangered species policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The record has been mixed. There’s been a contradiction between what the president says about the Paris climate agreement and policies on the land.
“We have been successful in preventing extinction – the question is whether these species are on the road to recovery. The North Atlantic right whale, for example, has a global population of 400 and it will take around 100 years for it to be considered for delisting due to its reproduction rate. It’s going to take a long time.”
