What is the ESA?
The Endangered Species Act was enacted by Congress in 1973 in response to an alarming decline of many animal and plant species. The ultimate goal of the ESA is to return endangered and threatened species to the point where they no longer need the law’s protections. The ESA has three basic missions: (1) to identify species needing protection and the means necessary to protect and recover those species; (2) to prevent harm to listed species; and (3) to prevent and punish the so-called “taking” of listed species and destruction of their habitats. A species is listed as “endangered” if it is in danger of extinction, or “threatened” if it is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. The Act provides a variety of tools for saving species threatened with extinction. One widely used tool is the Habitat Conservation Plan which offers protection to landowners in exchange for a promise to manage land in a way that minimizes impacts to listed species. Another tool is adoption of p
