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Kensli Tindall
Mrs. DeBock
English 4 Honors
29 October, 2015
Essential Question: What is the Endangered Species Act, how does it help the endangered
species, and why is the government attacking it?
Working Thesis: The government is attacking the Endangered Species Act.
Refined Thesis: The Endangered Species Act was created to help species survive, without the
ESA most of the endangered species would die out and be lost to us forever.
Annotated Bibliography
"Removing Protections for Wolves and the Future of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (1973)."
Policy Perspective. Ed. Wayne Linklater. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
The proposed rule depends on a definition of endangerment that is inconsistent with the
legislative history and historical implementation of the ESA. According to the ESA, an
endangered species is on that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of
it range.
Alfano, Jessica. "Gaps in the Endangered Species Act: The Plight of the Florida Panther." Web.
21 Oct. 2015.

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The ESA contains no critical habitat designation requirement for species listed prior to the 1978
Amendments, such as the Florida panther. The ESA currently states, "Critical habitat may be
established for those species now listed as threatened or endangered species for which no critical
habitat has heretofore been established." The ESA should be revised to require design of critical
habitat for all species on the endangered or threatened species lists. Because all species now
being considered for the endangered species list must be designated critical habitat, the same
structure that currently guides agencies can also provide guidance when assigning critical habitat
to pre-1978 species.

Eubanks, William S. "Subverting Congress' Intent: The Recent Misapplication of Section 10 of

the Endangered Species Act and Its Consequent Impacts on Sensitive Wildlife and Habitat."
Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
As our nations preeminent wildlife conservation and habitat protection law, the Endangered
Species Act represents the most comprehensive legislation for the preservation of endangered
species ever enacted by any nation. Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act strictly prohibits
any person or other entity from taking any endangered or threatened species, whether
purposefully or incidentally. In section 10 of the Endangered Species Act, Congress created two
distinct permit mechanisms to allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or FWS, to authorize
take in certain limited circumstances.
Endangered Species. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (2014): 1p. 1. Funk &
Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 20 Oct. 2015

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The U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973 distinguishes two groups of imperiled species: an
endangered species, which "Is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its
range," and a threatened species, which "Is likely to become an endangered species within the
foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range." Many experts, such as the
compilers of the authoritative "Red List of Threatened Species" regularly issued by the World
Conservation Union, use a more detailed breakdown, using such gradations as near threatened,
vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, extinct in the wild, and extinct.
Drisccoll, Colleen M., and Robert J. Paradowski. Endangered Species Act (ESA). Salem Press
Encyclopedia Of Science (2015): Research Starters. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
The Endangered Species Act has been successful in saving and increasing the population of some
endangered species and ecosystems. There is disagreement, however, as to how far the U.S.
government should go in its protection and their habitats. The Lacey Act of 1900 was the first
law to authorize federal government action to preserve wildlife. The Lacey Act authorized
federal enforcement of state wildlife regulatory laws and allowed the U.S. secretary of
agriculture to preserve and restore bird species.