Conservationists are worried that new Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke will hurt the recovery of endangered species in the U.S., says The Huffington Post.
The DOI manages the Fish and Wildlife Service that, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is in charge of administering the Endangered Species Act. But Zinke’s record as a congressman from Montana shows that he’s often voted against greater protections for endangered species.
“Rep. Zinke cast at least 21 votes against endangered species protections, including voting to remove endangered species protections for the gray wolf and to prevent protection for greater sage grouse, lesser prairie chicken and northern long-eared bats,” said Leda Huta, executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition. As in the case of the greater sage grouse and lesser prairie chicken, many endangered species have lost their habitat to agriculture.
“About 700 native animals and more than 900 native plants are currently listed as threatened or endangered,” says HuffPost. According to the World Wildlife Fund, two-thirds of species could be extinct by 2020 due to human causes.
But, at least in the United States, some plants and animals saw a positive trend during the Obama administration, with 23 species having recovered enough to come off the endangered species list — more than during all of the previous administrations combined, said the Fish & Wildlife Service in a statement last year.