Lily Jones: There are currently about 1,300 species listed on the Endangered Species Act.
Delia Malone: That's absolutely right, and you know, if it were not for the Endangered Species Act, about 227 of those species would've gone extinct. About 110 of those species have been successfully recovered. Everything from blue whales to the California condor, to gray wolves, in Colorado species like the black-footed ferret.
And what the Trump administration is proposing is that the habitat that species rely on to survive, their nesting habitat, their foraging habitat, their protective cover, that you can destroy that, as long as you don't directly kill the species. You may as well shoot them. They would suffer not as long a death because by destroying the habitat that they rely on, you're essentially destroying the species.
LJ: The people who are proponents of this bill are saying, well, the Endangered Species Act has failed, and we need to change the language surrounding it to more directly protect the animals and encourage private lands to conserve these species. Do you think there's any merit to that argument?
DM: Absolutely none whatsoever. With the idea that private lands should be stepping up. I agree with that. But there's already provisions in the Endangered Species Act for private landowners to protect species. Black-footed ferrets were about almost the first species listed, and that was back in 1973. They are still not recovered. There's about 300..300 of them only in Colorado. Now, thankfully, there are numerous private landowners that have stepped up to say that yes, you can have them on my land. And what private landowners are given is what's called a safe harbor agreement. In other words, if a black-footed ferret is accidentally killed on their property, they are not prosecuted for that.
LJ: One of the talking points for this bill is that very few of the species that have been listed under the act have actually been taken off. Can you speak to that and why that might be?
DM: The reason for the lack of recovery of black-footed ferrets, along with the lack of recovery for most of the species that are on the endangered species protections is the ongoing threats and the elevated threats. The biggest cause of endangerment is habitat loss and habitat alteration. And looming large right now is our warming climate. Those threats have actually increased. To delist, in other words, to remove a species from endangered species protection. One of the requirements is that the threats be reduced or eliminated. If the threats aren't reduced, if the threats aren't abated, that species cannot be delisted.
LJ: I see. Okay. Critics of this move are saying that the administration is trying to make it easier for logging companies and extractive mining companies to come in and profit off of this land. Would you agree with that?
DM: That is exactly why they're trying to do what they're trying to do. So let's choose a different species. Let's choose the lesser prairie chicken. And lesser prairie chickens in Colorado are severely endangered. The Trump administration right now is trying to remove them from those protections because they like to live in places where there's oil and gas development. If we get rid of protections, then we don't have to worry about them.
LJ: If this bill does get passed and these revisions to the ESA are made, how do you see that affecting your work and affecting our area?
DM: Well, you know, I think the first step is that there will be legal pushback. There is no doubt that he's gonna get away with this without there being just a lot of organizations and a lot of individuals saying no, ‘you just cannot do this to the life of our planet, not for your short term gain and greed.’ How will it affect my work? It'll make it more difficult. Because my work and the work of many, many people is to protect and ensure the long term survivability of the plants and animals that we depend on.
That was KDNK's Lily Jones speaking with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program's Delia Malone. This is a developing story that KDNK will continue to follow.
