Some choice quotes:
Of the roughly $1.2 billion (€1.09 bn) a year spent on endangered and threatened species, about half goes toward recovery of just two types of fish: salmon and steelhead trout along the West Coast. Tens of millions of dollars go to other widely known animals including manatees, right whales, grizzly bears and spotted owls.
At the bottom of the spending list is the tiny Virginia fringed mountain snail, which had $100 (€91) spent on its behalf in 2020, according to the most recent data available. […] yet it remains a step ahead of more than 200 imperilled plants, animals, fish and other creatures that had nothing spent on their behalf.
An analysis of 2020 data by news agency the Associated Press found fish got 67 per cent of the spending, […] mammals were a distant second with 7 per cent of spending and birds had about 5 per cent. Insects received just 0.5 per cent of the money and plants about 2 per cent.
Such spending inequities are longstanding and reflect a combination of biological realities and political pressures. Restoring salmon and steelhead populations is expensive because they are widespread and hemmed in by massive hydroelectric dams. They also have a broad political constituency with Native American tribes and commercial fishing interests that want fisheries restored.
From the article:
“The issue is not where the money is spent,” says Clark, now president of Defenders of Wildlife. “The issue is that there isn’t nearly enough of it.”
That is the most significant part of this.
However, single species conservation work is almost short sighted IMHO. The vast majority of the time the main issue for species that need conservation is loss of habitat.,You need to be conserving that habitat as a whole including the entire flora and fauna community from the ground up.
This also seems like a big issue with this report:
Not included in those percentages is money divided among multiple species.
Well, how much is that? How wide is that coverage? I felt bad for the poor mountain snail that got only $100, but if that’s only for specially allocated snail funds, maybe it’s covered elsewhere?
Maybe it isn’t covered elsewhere, and it’s still a problem. Wouldn’t know from this report.
I felt bad for the poor mountain snail that got only $100
Me too. I wish I knew where and how to donate to it, so I could bump that figure up even a little.
