While the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is heavily criticized, a new report from the Center for American Progress shows that the ESA is effective -- fewer than 1 percent of listed species ever go extinct. However, the act has its limitations from lack of funding to the decades that it takes to list a species as endangered.
Unfortunately, America's wildlife does NOT have decades anymore. In the United States, 1 in 5 plant and animal species is at risk of extinction, and realistically not every imperiled species will receive protection under the ESA.
The authors of the study see a solution: a voluntary, at-risk classification that's aligned with federal, state and tribal interests and resources. The authors suggest that this voluntary conservation initiative would encourage more funding streams for conservation and better land management.
Some protection is better than no protection, and some species can't wait decades for protection under the ESA. Please sign and share this petition urging the Obama administration to add the at-risk classification before it's too late.
