-> United States Senate
> Washington DC 20515
>
> Dear Senator
>
> I am writing to strongly urge you to oppose the Bush
> Administration's
> budget proposal to make the listing of species under
> the Endangered Species
> Act and the identification of their critical habitat
> subject to the
> exclusive discretion of the Secretary of the
> Interior.  This provision is
> an example of the worst kind of anti-environmental
> rider.
>
> In addition, I urge you to support a significant
> increase in funding for
> the listing of imperiled species and the
> identification of their critical
> habitat under the ESA.
>
> The administrations proposed budget continues a
> trend of dangerous
> under-funding of endangered species and critical
> habitat identification
> programs under the Department of the Interior.  This
> trend has denied
> deserving species the protections of the ESA and
> contributed to the
> extinction of no less than 39 species over the past
> 20 years.  The
> requested $2 million increase in the Fish and
> Wildlife Service budget for
> the listing and critical habitat identification
> programs is not adequate to
> address the backlog of species listings and critical
> habitat designations.
> By the Service's own estimate, a minimum of $120
> million is necessary to
> eliminate these backlogs and allow the agency to
> effectively conserve our
> natural heritage.
>
> To help ensure that American does not lose any
> additional species due to
> funding shortfalls and the resulting backlog,
> conservationists have been
> forced to rely on impartial courts as an arena of
> last resort.  Over the
> past 10 years, court actions have resulted in
> protecting valuable parts of
> our natural heritage including Atlantic and Pacific
> salmon stocks, the
> Jaguar and the Canada lynx.  Instead of addressing
> the funding shortfall,
> the administration has chosen to promote an
> anti-environmental rider that
> would effectively end this type of citizen
> involvement in the process.
>
> The administration has proposed as part of its
> budget a measure that would
> effectively deny citizens access to the courts to
> conserve species by
> prohibiting the government from using any funds to
> comply with court orders
> encouraging a species and its critical habitat to be
> protected under the
> ESA.  This measure would also make all future
> listing and critical habitat
> decisions subject to the discretion of the Interior
> Secretary, thereby
> increasing the politicization and reducing the
> scientific rationale behind
> species conservation measures.
>
> Enforcement of the Endangered Species Act is
> critical to conserving our
> nation's natural heritage.  I urge you to work to
> oppose all efforts to
> weaken this important conservation law and to work
> to increase funding for
> the listing line item in the FWS budget so that the
> wave of species
> declines and extinction facing our country can be
> arrested.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>Charles Winterwood

Chair
Iowa Chapter
Sierra Club
3839 Merle Hay Rd.
Suite 280
Des,Moines IA 50310

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