The Endangered Species Act of 1973
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is one of the most powerful tools that environmentally concerned citizens have to preserve biodiversity. Specific categories that the Endangered Species Act (ESA) includes are the listing of "Threatened species", "Endangered species", and the designation of "critical habitat". When these categories are identified, it is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) which assumes the responsibility of enforcement. Development of recovery plans, Biological or Environmental Assessments, and the development of Habitat Conservation Plans are just some of the tasks for USFWS (Smallwood, et al,). This act which was originally enacted in 1973, and its’ reauthorization, is now going through quite a bit of debate. The ESA has actually been awaiting reauthorization from Congress since 1995 (Reid, 1995). There are two main "ideas" for bills to effect the ESA. There are bills that will strengthen the Act by emphasizing endangered species recovery over extinction risk. The other bills will weaken the Act by bringing more attention to the needs of businesses and landowners (Brown, et al). The main controversy seems to arise from economic and social concerns. There is also a great deal of scientific concern about the accurate implementation of this "species-saving" act. I was recently alerted to the economic ramifications of this Act through a local issue I have been "looking into". My frustrations mounted when I learned the USFWS gave an "OK" to developers, to bulldoze through a pristine habitat in my community. Seeing that six threatened and endangered species make their home here, I couldn’t understand why the USFWS had backed down. The answer, which seems all too common was, the USFWS simply doesn’t have enough money to effectively protect these species at this time. Consequently the majority of my paper will focus on some of the economic issues the ESA is faced with.
Question number one is "How effective has the ESA been?" This question is difficult for both scientists and government officials to answer. Most agree that the amount of time since the ESA was enacted is really too short of a time period to impartially answer this question. I will attempt to point out some of the facts. "Since the inception of the Act in 1973, 11 species of more than 1,000 listed have recovered and have been removed from the list, including the eastern states brown pelican, Utah’s Rydberg milk-vetch, and the California gray whale" (Brown, et al, 1998).
These two sides of the issue bring about a major controversy in America today. Should the Pacific Northwest’s old growth forests and the welfare of the Northern Spotted Owl be sacrificed for America’s economy, and the jobs of the people in the logging industry? Which should be placed at a higher value, the forests in the Pacific Northwest and the northern spotted owl, or the American economy and the jobs and welfare of thousands and thousands of people?
Social workers level the playing field for individuals and families that have experienced hardships, terminal illnesses, mental health disorders and other adverse environmental situations that inhibit their ability to thrive within society. Social workers accomplish this by providing individuals and families the resources necessary to ensure that their needs are being met. Social workers serve an essential role to the functioning of our society, as they are committed and dedicated to increasing the quality of life for underprivileged community members. I fully intend on actively contributing to this endeavor, as I believe social workers have the responsibility to ensure that all community members have their needs met and the opportunity to
The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 was a federal law enacted by congress in 1878 to restrict the federal governments from utilizing the Air Force and Army powers in civil law enforcement functions. The law ensures that civilian police agencies are directly responsible for all law enforcement functions in the United States, and the Armed Forces are responsible for fighting American wars abroad. The military can only be used as law enforcement in America if it specifically authorized.
The question regarding conservation is very much alive today. The United States needs wildlife conservation. And the Federal Department responsible for conservation, the Department of the Interior, are under attack with President Trump's new budget plan. So it’s important to keep pushing for better laws and policies to protect conservation.
1973 had the Endangered Species Act which encouraged the conservation of species that are endangered or threated and conservation of their ecosystems.
Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid (DNA) is a chromosome found in the nucleus of a cell, which is a double-stranded helix (similar to a twisted ladder). DNA is made up of four bases called adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C), that is always based in pairs of A with T and G with C. The four bases of A, C, G, and T were discovered by Phoebus Levene in 1929, which linked it to the string of nucleotide units through phosphate-sugar-base (groups). As mention in Ananya Mandal research paper, Levene thought the chain connection with the bases is repeated in a fix order that make up the DNA molecu...
In 1872 Congress set aside a piece of land in Wyoming, establishing Yellowstone as the country’s first national park. This was followed by the first forest reserve in 1891, and the first wildlife reserve in 1903 (Opener). With the creation of parks and reserves our nations land would be preserved and cared for with the admiration for generations to come. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge [ANWR] was established to protect native plants and animals from human interference. The Refuge would cover 19 million acres, an area about the size of South Carolina (Opener). This land has been sought after for years, as it caries for animals and plants that exist nowhere else on Earth, just like the Amazon Rain forest it needs to be protected and persevered. To protect the ecosystem, most of the Refuge was declared closed to oil...
Perhaps one of the most versatile and diverse careers is social work, as this career works with individuals struggling with substance abuse, low-income families, and homeless individuals. Social work is a profession that is concerned with solving personal, group, and community relationships (Farley, Smith, & Boyle, 2011). Among some of the most important aspects of social work are the restoration of impaired social functioning, the provision of social services, and prevention (Farley et al., 2011). Reducing problems in human relationships and improving human interactions among individuals are the major focuses of this profession, regardless of which people group the social workers are serving (Farley et al., 2011). Even though it is a relatively new profession, social work has existed in various forms throughout history. However, the beginning of social work’s development as a profession was primarily European in origin, with the ideals spreading to the United States
The Endangered Species Act Introduction: Long-term survival of a species depends on its ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions (Murphy, 1994). Genetic diversity within a species, which has taken 3.5 billion years to evolve, makes adaptations to these changing environments possible. Unfortunately, the rate of extinction of genetically diverse organisms is rapidly increasing, thus reducing this needed biodiversity, largely due to the human impacts of development and expansion. What was an average of one extinction per year before is now one extinction per hour and extinct species numbers are expected to reach approximately one million by the year 2000 (WWW site, Bio 65). As a result governmental and societal action must be taken immediately!
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) was first discovered in the year the year 1869 by Swiss physiological chemist, Friedrich Miescher. Back then they didn’t have the technology that we have today, so it
Since the last fifteen years of my life, I have been interested in social work involving families with children. I have always had an interest in helping, supporting and working with children and adults. These practical experiences social work will continue to lead me to learned, applied, and prepared to become a social worker. I will continue to work with developmental disabilities and other diverse groups of the population.
The first noticeable step towards conserving the natural resources and wildlife in the United States started with the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act was started by Senator John Lacey in 1900 to stop the drastic drop in the number of animals and decrease in natural resources in the United States. Lacey’s act made it illegal to kill animals for sport and sell them elsewhere to escape from the law also known as market hunters. Thankfully an end was put to them. The Lacey Act is the oldest wildlife protection law in the United States and the prominence does not stop there. Multiple amendments have been made to the Lacey Act over the years to help preserve plants and wildlife. Since then, numerous species have been saved and the conservation of our natural
I want to pursue a career in social work because I want to help people who are suffering from mental illness and who are underserviced when it comes to getting help for mental illnesses. By working with a distressed person to become better, not only will I be able to enhance their life, but also the community will transform into a more positive place. I view transformation as a ripple effect, where changing the situation for one person eventually causes a change in the majority. This is especially true when it comes to mental illness and the stigma that surrounds it. I have been highly involved in mental health work on my college campus since my sophomore year. I am one of the founding members of our Active Minds chapter, and have held the
Lingenfelter, S.. (1985). [Review of A Critique of the Study of Kinship]. American Ethnologist, 12(2), 372–374. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/644228
As a young girl in West Africa, Liberia, seeing oppression and living through poverty developed my love for interventions and social services. My years of acclimating to American culture have enabled me to engage in my education and earn responsible positions such as a resident assistant (RA), and president of the University of Pittsburgh at Titusville’s Black Student Union organization. To effectively sustain my positions, I became accustom to wearing many hats on any given day and setting boundaries. These skills have helped me to prepare myself as a future social worker by allowing me to aide people outside the traditional consulting and medical settings while accepting the limits of what can be accomplished during a specified period