The Endangered Species Act protects habitats of threatened and endangered plants and animals. Courtesy: Pixabay
Grants Pass, Ore. — Revisions to the Endangered Species Act has sparked debate as proposed changes aims to reduced the amount of restricted habitat that is protected from development.
“ I’d like to think that our future generations and maybe my children’s children will be able to go out in the wild sometime and see a peregrine falcon, a bald eagle, a a buffalo, or any number of animals that could disappear without protection of our laws and regulations,” Dave Siddon, executive director at Wildlife Images said.
The ESA protects habitats of threatened and endangered plant and animal life from development.
Proposed changes from the Trump administration argues protections are extreme.
”Policies from 50 years ago really aren’t serving the challenges that we’re facing today,” Nick Smith from the Oregon Society of American Foresters said. “In the context of the Northern spotted owl is, are these policies actually working? Does locking up millions of acres of federal land really saving the northern spotted owl which by and large are burning up in wildfire.”
Smith and critics of the ESA claim restrictive habitats prevent forest thinning and fuel reduction work, which Smith said should be priority one.
“Using treatments like thinning and prescribed birding to improve wildlife habitat and currently how the Endangered Species Act is implemented now is just simply a barrier to that act of stewardship that public land managers want to do and what the public expects,” Smith said.
The Endangered Species Act has helped save iconic animals like bald eagles. Proposed changes could put local wildlife at risk while industry groups argue regulations slow economic growth.
Danny Stipanovich is a multimedia journalist at NewsWatch 12. You can reach Danny by emailing dstipanovich@kdrv.com.