Despite the cost not one species has been recovered and then delisted as a direct result of the Endangered Species Act since it was passed over 20 years ago. 9 COMMENTS ON METHODOLOGY All estimates are taken from recovery plans approved by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. All figures for plan estimates are in constant (1994) dollars and are rounded to the nearest thousand and then ranked in descending order. No estimation of cost was attached to any plan 'task' other than those estimations included within the plan itself. Within recovery plans many tasks are deemed to have an annual cost. If some specified time frame for a task was provided, then the product of the duration and annual cost was included in the total estimate for the plan. If no time of duration was specified then the figure was only counted once. Although the duration of many tasks is deemed 'continuous' in recovery plans, only those costs specifically detailed were included. Many plans identify tasks that are 'ongoing,' with few exceptions, costs for tasks that had taken place before the plan had been drafted are not included in the plan estimates. There is a great variation between the manner in which the "Implementation Schedules" (generally the source for estimated costs of tasks) are constructed. A good faith effort was made to accurately and conservatively total the costs which could be identified APPENDICES Samples of Recovery Plan Implementation Schedules: Blunt-Nosed Leopard Lizard (from 1980 plan) Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse & California Clapper Rail Hawaiian Monk Seal Sample Action Diagram: Higgins' Eye Pearly Mussel 10 |