In the half-century since Congress passed the Endangered Species Act, more than 1,600 species have been protected, and dozens have been saved from likely extinction. Nevertheless, the landmark environmental law has been consistently underfunded by lawmakers and attacked by industry. Here’s the ESA by the numbers, plus a sampling of some of the less iconic critters it has protected over the years.
291
Estimated number of extinctions the ESA has prevented since the law was passed in 1973.
71
Number of U.S. species known to have gone extinct prior to the ESA’s passage.
47
Estimated number of species that have gone extinct while being considered for ESA listing.
26
Estimated number of species that went extinct after ESA listing, including the Oahu creeper and Morro Bay kangaroo rat.
12 years
Average time an imperiled species must wait for an ESA listing decision.
30.6 years
Average amount of time after listing for a species to be delisted, owing to recovery; the time ranges from 8.2 years to 52.9 years.
23
Number of species the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delisted in 2021 due to extinction, including a dozen bird species from Hawai’i.
4%
Estimated rate by which U.S. amphibian populations are declining annually, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
1/3
Estimated amount of endangered species’ recovery needs covered by federal ESA-related spending over the last two decades.
5% of listed species (mostly salmon and sturgeon) receive more than 80% of funding, while 80% receive just 5% of funding.
$2,686
Average annual federal expenditure per ESA-listed species.
$1.3 billion
Amount the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies estimates it would cost annually to implement three-quarters of every state’s wildlife action plan.
$528 million
Amount appropriated to ESA-related activities in fiscal year 2021.
$58.3 million
Total expenditures for the bull trout in 2020.
$10 million
Total expenditures for the Rio Grande silvery minnow in 2020.
$300
Total expenditures for the Palos Verdes blue butterfly in 2020.
$100
Total expenditures for the Hutton tui chub in 2020.
Illustrations by Daryn Ray/High Country News
Data visualization by Luna Anna Archey/High Country News.
SOURCES: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Environmental Conservation Online System; U.S. Forest Service; National Wildlife Federation; Congressional Research Service; Environmental Protection Agency; U.S. Geological Survey; Center for Biological Diversity; “Extinction and the U.S. Endangered Species Act” by Noah Greenwald, Kieran F. Suckling, Brett Hartl and Loyal A. Mehroff, 2019
This story is part of High Country News’ Conservation Beyond Boundaries project, funded by the BAND Foundation.
Jonathan Thompson is a contributing editor at High Country News. He is the author of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became the Battlefront of American Public Lands.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Endangered Species Act by the numbers.
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