The bald eagle may be soaring back from near-extinction, but hundreds of other imperiled species are foundering, as the federal agency charged with protecting them has sunk into legal, bureaucratic and political turmoil.
In the last six years, the Bush administration has added fewer species to the endangered list than any other since the law was enacted in 1973.
The slowdown has resulted in a waiting list of 279 candidates that are near extinction, according to government scientists, from California's Yosemite toad to Puerto Rico's elfin-woods warbler.
Beyond the reluctance to list new species, a bottleneck is weakening efforts to save those already listed. Some 200 of the 1,326 officially endangered species are close to expiring, according to environmental groups, in part because funds have been cut for their recovery.
"It's wonderful the bald eagle is recovering -- one of the most charismatic and best funded species ever," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, a former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who now works for Defenders of Wildlife, an advocacy group. "But what's happening with the other species? This administration has starved the endangered species' budget. It has dismantled and demoralized its staff."
Bryan Arroyo, acting assistant director of endangered species for the Fish and Wildlife Service, acknowledges a 30% vacancy rate in the program's staff, and the fact that the agency's top position has been left unfilled for more than a year.
"We have a national deficit, and we are in the midst of a war," he said. "We have to live within the president's budget."
The Bush administration has added 58 species to the endangered list, 54 of those in response to litigation.
By comparison, 231 mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, insects and plants were protected by the president's father, George H.W. Bush, during his four years in office.
Since 2000, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service budgets for the sorts of interventions that saved the bald eagle -- reintroducing breeding pairs, guarding nests and acquiring land -- have been slashed by 15% in real dollars. Bush's fiscal 2008 budget calls for an additional 28% in cuts.
Meanwhile, the endangered-species staff is rife with infighting, according to a report last month by the Interior Department's inspector general. And recovery programs, listing decisions and efforts to remove wildlife from existing protections have been heavily influenced by Bush appointees with close ties to industries that have contested the law.
