This is certainly one of the main points of contention, not just with this project, but with all endangered species decisions in which property rights are diminished.
Meantime, Twenty-nine percent of the potential impact of designating "critical habitat" to this area of Nebraska relates to non-governmental conservation activities -- purchasing land, giving easements as compensation, managing and restoring habitat -- and the dollar figure for these activities is estimated at "between $3.8 and $6.6 million" (www.fws.gov). Other impacts include: the cost of the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) ($1.8 million, 8% of impact); transportation and public works (4% of impact; about $922,000); agriculture-related land use value issues (1% of impact; up to $258,000); and "section 7 consultations" (less than 1% of impact; cost of government staff engaging in the project) (www.fws.gov).
Issues Pertaining to Endangered Status: Threats & factors contributing to the beetle's potential demise: The Salt Creek Tiger Beetle (hereafter referred to as "beetle") is threatened by the ongoing encroachment into its limited habitat by "extensive degradation" for "commercial, residential, transportation, and agricultural development" beginning in the late 1800s, according to the NESFO report. The U.S. Geological Survey maps show that 99% of the remaining population of the struggling beetle can be found within a 1-mile radius of Interstate 80 and the North 27th Street Interchange. This particular area is being developed rapidly and exacerbating the loss of habitat for the beetle is the fact that levees, reservoirs, and the channelization of Salt Creek have resulted in "the degradation and loss of saline wetlands" (NESFO). Moreover, other threats are ongoing: a) the grazing of livestock...
The wildlife professionals have the knowledge and legal authority to protect and enhance the habitat of the beetle. Society should do whatever is necessary under the law to protect endangered subspecies and species, based on solid, believable science. The debate over which species should and should not be protected under the ESA will not end any time soon; science vs. business is a battle that has been ongoing for centuries. As evolutionary trends indicate, if the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle is allowed to thrive in safe, healthy habitat, it will then continue to pass on to future members of its subspecies its strongest genes (natural selection at work).
Works Cited
Northwest Economic Associates. (2007). Economic Analysis of Critical Habitat Designation
For Salt Creek Tiger Beetle. Report Prepared for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arlington
Virginia. Retrieved Oct. 27, 2009, from http://www.fws.gov.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (2006). Commonly Asked Questions and Answers About
Proposed Critical Habitat Designation for the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle. Retrieved Oct.
26, 2009, from http://www.fws.gov.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (2009). Recovery Outline for the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle.
Retrieved Oct. 27, 2009, from http://www.fws.gov.
