The Impact of the Endangered Species Act on Incentives for Landowners

When Congress passed the Endangered Species Act, it envisioned treating endangered species differently from threatened ones. The federal agency in charge with implementing the statute decided to overrule Congress past a regulation essentially saying we're going to treat endangered and threatened species the same. If you regulate them differently based on how close they are or how at risk they are, you align the incentives for property owners with the interest of species.