Endangered Species

The endangered species act of 1973 gives federal agencies and environmental groups a powerful weapon in the fight to rescue animals and plants from the brink of extinction. But biologists and conservationists say the federal program focuses too much on individual species. They would like the emphasis to shift to preserving entire ecosystems that support a range of plants and animals. Business interests, on the other hand, would like Congress to give the government more flexibility to balance ecological needs with economic concerns. This conflict pits the goal of preserving grizzly bears, wolves, owls, salmon and other threatened and endangered species against the need to protect workers' jobs and the economic well-being of their communities and states