The Endangered Species Act has had a 1.3 percent success rate since it started in 1973. During those 42 years, 59 species were delisted — 10 due to extinction, 19 due to errors in being listed in the first place, and only 30 were delisted because the species was recovered.

“We need better than a 1 percent success rate,” Gov. Matt Mead said during the recent Western Governors’ Association forum on the ESA. “I chose this initiative because it is critical to the West to get this right; it is critical to our wildlife, our energy sector, recreation, tourism and government — all the things we cherish in the West.”

We agree completely, this abhorrent low success rate is unacceptable. Like many Wyoming residents, we value our diverse wildlife and want to see each species thrive. Of course, this means a balancing act between development and conservation must take place, since jobs are necessary for anyone to live here.

Recently, Park County played host to the Western Governors’ Association, a group of governors from Western states that gets together to work on issues impacting the western half of the country. The ESA is among their list of concerns, so they rallied up experts from environmental, industrial and governmental entities to figure out what’s wrong with the ESA and, hopefully, to find a way to improve it.

Mead serves as the chairman of the group, and we are excited to see Wyoming leading the charge to promote wildlife conservation — after all, it is in everyone’s best interest. But right now, the ESA is primarily benefitting lawyers. 

The ESA generates lawsuits that do not help species, Mead said. ESA-related cases cost taxpayers $21 million in attorneys’ fees to outside groups involved in ESA lawsuits from 2001-10, according to the Government Accountability Office.

“Lawyers are not threatened or endangered, they are thriving,” Mead said. He also questioned how much money, time and effort is spent on species that have recovered while ignoring other species that need help. We also would like to know the answer to that question.

What we do know is that Wyoming’s list of species under ESA protection is not getting any shorter. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the following Wyoming species are considered endangered or threatened under the ESA:

• Black-footed ferret

• Canada lynx

• Colorado River fish — bonytail, Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, razorback sucker

• Gray wolf

• Grizzly bear

• Kendall warm springs dace

• Northern long-eared bat

• Platte River species — interior least tern, pallid sturgeon, pipin plover, western prairie fringed orchid, whooping crane

• Preble’s meadow jumping mouse

• Wyoming toad

• Yellow-billed cuckoo

The FWS still lists the Greater Sage Grouse as a candidate species for listing, but a not-warranted finding was announced earlier this fall thanks to the concerted efforts of many groups. Governmental agencies, companies from several industries and environmental groups teamed up and took action to help the sage grouse and keep it off the list, and that conservation work is set to continue for years.

When a species is listed, it creates a very large roadblock to development in that area — so it is in everyone’s best interest to make sure no species gets to the point where an ESA listing is needed.

There are two big reasons why precluding listings is important. First, because the smaller a species population gets, the harder it is to recover them. The black-footed ferret is a prime example of this. Secondly, once a species is listed, it becomes difficult to get them off the list — even when population objectives have been met.

Species such as the Wyoming toad were listed for more than 30 years before a recovery plan was even developed. This is completely unacceptable. Time is of the essence when it comes to species recovery, and stalling the recovery process by waiting for forms to be filled out and a plan to get approved is ludicrous at best.

When there is a problem as pressing as a potential species extinction, we should not be sitting on our hands waiting for someone in Washington, D.C. to cross their t’s and dot their i’s. We should get to work immediately.

Helping wildlife doesn’t always require government action. We encourage landowners to do what they can to make sure their property is clear of potential threats to wildlife, since it is easier to prevent a problem than it is to fix one.

Even those living in town can do their part; it can be as simple as snipping the rings on a plastic drink holder or recycling grocery bags.

When it comes to the ESA, it doesn’t have to be an “us versus them” mentality — we are all in this together, and if everyone helps, we can work to put an end to extinction and keep our economy’s gears turning too.