Question: How successful has the Endangered Species Act been in preventing the extinction of fish and wildlife?
Answer: 99%
Of the more than 1800 species
under the Endangered Species Act's protections, only 9 have been declared extinct, a 99
percent success rate. Because of the Act, wild coho salmon can still be found in rivers like the Clackamas, gray whales still swim off the Oregon coast, and bald eagles still soar over the wetlands of the Klamath Basin.
The Endangered Species Act is one of America's most successful conservation measures!
99% success?
Posted by
jdegraw
at
May 21, 2008 06:23 PM
Considering the sheer number of species that despite being listed are still declining (i.e. certain species of salmon and the spotted owl) it seems a bit too broad sweeping to say the act is 99% successful It's purpose was to recover the species not just keep them hovering on the brink of extinction.
99%
Posted by
Rich Wallick
at
Aug 26, 2010 04:25 PM
Considering the time scale our planet operates on, a claim of a 99% non-extinction rate is absurd. We can not, and should not, lay claim to the success or failure of work such as the Endangered Species Act; it is our great, great, great, grandchildren that will quantify the successes and/or failures of our environmental work.