Species Protection & Development In today's world, all resources are scarce.

In today's world, all resources are scarce. These resources include land, labor, time, good quality air and water, raw materials, biological diversity, and information. Whenever there exists a finite quantity of a resource, a method of allocation must be decided upon. For most resources, in a capitalistic society, the method used is the economic marketplace. In the case of threatened or endangered species, the United States Congress has declared that the cost to saving a species is irrelevant; all species must be saved from extinction (Mann, & Plummer, 1995, p. 32); the market has no power. This legislated position forces society to reallocate the use of other resources in ways which are inefficient. In the state Oregon, with the spotted owl controversy, this reallocation does not maximize the total economic, social, recreational, and any other benefit which accrues to society. The spotted owl lives in a very large ecosystem which supports many other animals and has been used in the past by people for economic, and recreational benefit. A compromise which would save jobs, the timber industry, and still leave space for the spotted owl needs to be arranged.

A controversy is beginning, within the scientific community and with the conservationists, over whether or not heroic measures should be taken for an individual species (Yoon, 1995, p. 40-1). When the Endangered Species Act was passed, most of the population assumed that it would protect the megafauna, thos

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lly, the butterfly will become extinct or die out without any encouragement from man, if people do not step in and clear the land of scotch broom. The developer, in this case, is willing to set aside land just for the butterfly and see that this patch of land remains suitable for breeding of the butterfly. The Department of Fish and Game has said that the area is too little and negotiations continue while nothing is being done to stop the natural destruction of the butterfly's habitat which is expected by the year 2000 (Mann, & Plummer, 1995, p. 35). The developers could choose to wait for the land to be overgrown, and the butterfly to become extinct before developing the property. Nothing compels land owners to enhance the habitat, or stop the overgrowth of the land, to allow the butterfly to continue to have suitable plants on which to lay its eggs. The developers offer of a compromise appears to be made in good faith and even be unnecessary, for the developers, if they are willing to wait a few years. The Department of Fish and Game should accept what it has been offered and require provisions for the lands immediate enhancement and allow the development to proceed. The large habitat of the spotted owl is also ripe for

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