The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) was signed into law on December 28, 1973, and provides for the conservation of species that are endangered or threatened and the conservation of the ecosystems on which they depend. ESA’s intent to protect and preserve species and their habitats is vital and necessary to conserve American ecosystems and our tremendous natural resources
ESA has not been significantly amended since the 1980s, during the past thirty years it has become abundantly clear that the ESA is broken. The pesticide consultation process between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services is overly bureaucratic and lacks the necessary resources. The process is not working and species are not recovering at an acceptable rate, while government agencies continue to spin their wheels in a dysfunctional process and waste tremendous resources against significant litigation. Now is the time to modernize the ESA.
Pest Management Professionals are protectors of public health and stewards of the environment. Now is the time to modernize the ESA to adhere to sound science and enable the innovation of better products to protect people their business and their homes; while better allocating our government resources to preserve our nation’s precious natural resources of diverse species and ecosystems.