as stating that it was fortunate that the spotted owl evolved in the Northwest, acting as a surrogate for old growth forest protection, or some other cause would have had to be invented (Ray 86).
Wheeler is currently secretary of the California Resources Agency, and is experimenting with legislation that both protects endangered species and allows for economic development. Two years ago he organized a coalition of California real estate developers and conservationists to draft the Natural Communities Conservation Planning Program. The new state law encourages builders and protectors to make compromises in which development is permitted if enough land can be set aside to sustain a threatened species' ecosystem.
In its first test, the law is being used to protect the southern California habitat of a songbird called the gnatcatcher. Supported by billionaire developer Donald Bren as well as the Nature Conservancy, the gnatcatcher plan will preserve tens of thousands of acres across five counties while allowing the development of thousands of contiguous acres. Wheeler, a lawyer who worked for the Sierra Club after leaving the federal government, believes environmental law needs to be brought more in line with present scientific data (Zausner 124).
In 1973, there were considerable arguments over coverage of the Endangered Species Act. Then, and later in 1982 at reauthorization hearings, it was argued in Congress that taken to extremes, the Endangered Species Act could become unmanageable (Williamson 39). Sensible arguments were made to restrict the act to vertebrates. Experienced resource managers could imagine a debilitating problem created by numerous invertebrates such as soil nematodes becoming endangered and requiring habitat protection.
Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had 668 domestic species listed, most of which were plants and invertebrates. Another 100 have been accepted for listing but have ...