Why would anyone want to designate a reintroduced population of an endangered species as “experimental”?
The answer lies in the potential impact to an area of having a listed species introduced there (in terms of Sections 7 and 9 of the ESA). Before 1982 the USFWS could reintroduce threatened and endangered species into unoccupied historical range; however, many attempts to do so were fervently resisted. The USFWS was not able to assure other federal agencies, state and local governments, and private landowners that transplanted populations would not disrupt their future land-management options due to the “jeopardy” prohibition of Section 7 and/or the taking prohibition of Section 9 of the ESA. Such resistance caused the USFWS to abandon plans to reintroduce endangered red wolves to Kentucky and Tennessee in 1984. In an effort to encourage acceptance of reintroductions, Congress amended the ESA in 1982 to include a new Section 10(j) that allowed the Secretary of Interior the opportunity to designate reintroduced populations as “experimental.” Section 10 (j) gives the USFWS more flexibilit
