Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

Top Six Hot Spots1 Hawaii2 San Francisco Bay area3 Southern Appalachians4 Death Valley5 Southern California6 Florida Panhandle25436Concentration of rare species1LowModerateHighFigure 12-14 Threatened natural capital: biodiversity hot spots in the United States. This map shows areasthat contain the largest concentrations of rare and potentially endangered species. (Data from State NaturalHeritage Programs, the Nature Conservancy, and Association for Biodiversity Information)the survival and recovery of each listed species. So farcritical habitats have been established for only aboutone-third of the species on the ESA list, mostly becauseof political pressure and a lack of funds. Beginning in2001 the Bush administration stopped listing newspecies and designating critical habitat for listedspecies unless required by court order.Getting listed is only half the battle. Next, theUSFWS or the NMFS is supposed to prepare a plan tohelp the species recover. By 2004, final recovery planshad been developed and approved for 79% of the listedendangered or threatened species in the United States.Examples of successful recovery plans include thosefor the American alligator, the gray wolf, the bald eagle,and the peregrine falcon. Bad news. About half ofcurrent recovery plans exist only on paper, mostly becauseof political opposition and limited funds.Should the Government CompensateLandowners When Endangered SpeciesDecrease the Economic Value of Their Land?Private Versus Public Property RightsThere is controversy over whether the governmentshould compensate private property owners whosuffer financial losses when it restricts how they canuse their land because of the presence of threatenedor endangered species.Critical habitats for more than half of the listed endangeredand threatened species in the United States arefound on private land. One controversy over the ESAis the political and legal issue of whether federal andstate governments must compensate private propertyowners when government laws or regulations limithow the owners can use their property and decreaseits financial value. Many people who own land onwhich threatened or endangered species live think thelaw goes too far and infringes on their property rights.The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitutiongives the government the power, known as eminent domain,to force a citizen to sell property needed for apublic good. For example, suppose the governmentneeds some or all of land you own for a road. It canlegally take your land but must reimburse you basedon the land’s fair market value.The current controversy is over whether the Constitutionrequires the government to compensate youif instead of taking your property (a physical taking) itreduces its value by not allowing you to do certainthings with it (a regulatory taking). For example, youmight not be allowed to build on some or all of yourproperty or to harvest trees from your land becausethese areas are habitats for an endangered species.This can decrease the value of one’s property. Forexample, a property owner in Travis, Texas, saw herland decrease in value from $830,000 to $38,000 becauseit contained two endangered bird species: theblack-capped vireo and the golden-cheeked warbler.Should she be compensated for this loss by the federalgovernment?242 CHAPTER 12 Sustaining Biodiversity: The Species Approach