IMPENDING RECOVERY OF KIRTLAND-WARBLER - CASE-STUDY IN THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ENDANGERED-SPECIES-ACT

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) has received a large amount of critic ism in recent years by conservative landowners and others who believe that it has infringed on property rights. It also has been criticized by those who think it has been costly and ineffective in reaching its goal of preventing extinction and recovering species. Recent evidence, however, shows that the ESA has stabilized or increased the populatio ns oi over a third of the listed species. In addition, its chief admin istrator, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, has been increasingly flex ible in implementing the ESA. After reviewing the administrative machi nery of the ESA, this paper provides a case study of one endangered sp ecies, the Kirtland's warbler (Dendroica kirtlandii). This particular recovery program actually began before passage of the federal ESA, whe n biologists alerted the Michigan Department of Natural Resources of t he perilously low population of this bird, which only breeds under jac k pine (Pinus banksiana) trees in Michigan. By the time an ESA Recover y Team was formed for this bird in 1975 (the first such team created u nder the ESA), a legacy of consensus and interagency cooperation was w ell established. This has led to successful efforts at habitat managem ent and control of its nest parasite, the brown-headed cowbird (Moloth rus ater). While the Kirtland's warbler is not yet recovered, its popu lation is near an all-time high, and its recovery is possible within t he next decade. When (and if) this happens, it will be clearly attribu table to this successful model of federalism for natural resources man agement.