USF&WS
Press Release - Jan 24, 2006
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today released a report to Congress on
Federal and State government spending associated with implementation of the
Endangered Species Act (ESA) in fiscal year 2004. The report provides a
species-by-species account of expenditures made for the conservation of
endangered and threatened species.
The Service and 30 other Federal agencies reported expenditures this fiscal
year and all 50 States were involved in the reporting process. Total
expenditures reported for 2004 were $1.4 billion, of which $793 million was
reported as expenditures for specific individual species and $60 million
was reported for land acquisition.
Also included in the total was $559 million reported as “Other ESA
Expenses,” a category added to the report in fiscal year 2001 to better
quantify the costs related to implementing the ESA that could not be
allocated to individual species. This category includes those costs for
activities such as law enforcement, recovery coordination, consultation and
activities benefiting multiple species. Expenditures by all agencies for
most staff salaries, operations, maintenance and other support services are
also included under this category.
Because of improvements in reporting methods, the report cannot easily be
compared to previous expenditures reports. The variability in costs is due
to the following:
§ changes in how each agency and State calculates
their expenditures;
§ changes in the number of agencies reporting;
§ changes in the number of listed species;
§ changes in the agencies’ abilities to track
expenditures.
For more information, you can find the Endangered Species Expenditures
Report for fiscal year 2004 at
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/pubs/expenditurereports.html
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency
responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and
plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American
people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge
System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small
wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national
fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services
field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the
Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores
nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat
such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments
with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance
program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes
on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.