Request for SIgnatures on Statement Calling on Federal Agencies to Strengthen the Endangered Species Act with Independent Science

[carloscarroll]

16 April 2016

 

Dear Colleagues:

 

We recently partnered with the Union of Concerned Scientists to solicit signatures from scientists and scholars around the country in support of our proposal to reform how best available science is defined and used in listing and delisting decisions under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). Nearly 900 scientists signed on by the end of 2015.

 

Since then, a variety of ESA-related court rulings and policy shifts have placed an even heavier emphasis on the importance of our petition. In particular, recent rulings related to large mammalian carnivores have cast a stark light on how science is currently being used and how the process can be improved. In our communications with state and federal agency personnel, and scientists from the public and private sectors, we have heard a common-ground willingness to improve the current situation and work collaboratively together.

 

Thus, we have a critical window of opportunity to improve the scientific review underlying protections for threatened and endangered species. Our petition is intended to persuade the Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce that the independent scientific community can and should play a central role in this process—a review that should be transparent, rigorous, and grounded in the best available science. Such a process would improve science-based decision-making and restore scientific integrity to ESA determinations.  This, in turn, would allow the agencies to avoid litigation and the ESA to fulfill its mandates to reverse declines in threatened and endangered species and restore the habitats upon which they rely.

 

Please join us in signing and circulating the petition at https://secure3.convio.net/ucs/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=5042

 

Sincerely,

Adrian Treves

University of Wisconsin-Madison