Wildlife funding could better prioritize recovery

[Cara J]

Some threatened and endangered species would be better off if Congress would show them the money rather than allocating funding to other species that don’t need it as much, a new study says. The study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows how much money is needed for the recovery of all species of concern in the U.S. and offers insight into how much funding these species are receiving. “This study was motivated by my interactions with federal agencies such as Fisheries Service and Fish and Wildlife Service that are charged with managing endangered species in the U.S.,” said Leah Gerber, a professor at the School of Life Sciences and director of the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes at Arizona State University. “These agencies are essentially challenged with an increasing magnitude of species that are of conservation concern.” In her study, Gerber estimated that $1.21 billion would be adequate to recover the 1,125 species that she evaluated. “[The agencies] have only been allocated less than 25 percent of this amount, and they’re doing pretty well,” she said. However, as species in conservation need are increasing, the limited funding for different species is not allocated in the most strategic [...]

 

Read more: http://wildlife.org/wildlife-funding-could-better-prioritize-recovery/