Assessing State Laws and Resources for Endangered Species Protection

This report provides a detailed analysis of state endangered species laws and funding to implement the federal Endangered Species Act. The study compares state endangered species protections against the federal law in terms of: existing statutes, the extent of species covered, standards and provisions for listing species, authority for recovering planning, designation of critical habitats, substantive and land-use restrictions, consultation for public action, and habitat modification. The report concludes that without significant state law reforms and massive expansions of funding in most states, devolution of federal authority and responsibility over threatened and endangered species to states is likely to undermine conservation and recovery efforts, lead to a greater number of species becoming imperiled, and result in fewer species recovered