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  Over 1,700 species are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species act, but funding disparities still exist.
  
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  Species like the manatee, right whale, grizzly and spotted bears, as well as grizzly and spotted owls are given tens or even hundreds of millions in funding, while other species are neglected.
  
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  The idea of redirecting funds from species that have exceeded their recovery plans, to those who receive little or no funding has been met with opposition.
  

Since the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1968, over 1,700 plant, mammal, fish, insect and other species are threatened with extinction or have been listed on the endangered list. The federal government’s data shows that the amount of money allocated to saving different biological kingdoms is vastly disparate.

About half of the $1.2 billion spent annually on endangered species and threatened species goes to the recovery of two fish types: steelhead trout and salmon along the West Coast. Tens of millions are spent on other well-known animals, including manatees. Right whales. Grizzly bears.

The large amounts of money spent on a few species has meant that others have been neglected for years, and in some cases decades. They are now at risk of extinction.

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According to the latest data, the Virginia fringed Mountain snail is at the bottom of the list. In 2020, $100 was spent on behalf of this tiny snail. According to government records the underground-dwelling slug has only been seen once in 35 years. Yet it is still ahead of over 200 endangered plants, animals and fish that have not had any money spent on them.

Climate change is increasing the threats facing organisms on the planet, and the number of species that are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Government officials struggle to implement the recovery measures required by law.

Some scientists argue that it is better to spend less money on expensive efforts that might not work, and instead put the money towards species that have less costly recovery plans.

Leah Gerber is a professor at Arizona State University who specializes in conservation science. She said that for a fraction of the money spent on spotted owls we could save cacti species with a smaller budget but less charisma.

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According to an Associated Press report, fish accounted for 67% of all 2020 spending. The majority of this was spent on several dozen populations of salmon and steelhead in California, Oregon, and Washington. Birds received about 5% of the money, while mammals were in a distant third place with 7%. Plants and insects received about 2% of the total money. Money divided between multiple species is not included in these percentages.

The species that received no funding included the stoneflies in Montana’s Glacier National Park threatened by climate changes, the California tiger-salamander, which has lost habitat to development, and flowering plants like the scrub lupine near Orlando, Florida where native habitats have been converted into theme parks.

These inequalities are a long-standing problem and are a result of combining biological realities with political pressures. The cost of restoring salmon and steelhead populations can be high because they are so widespread and constrained by hydroelectric dams. The fisheries restoration movement is supported by a wide range of political interests, including Native American tribes as well as commercial fishing interests.

Over the years, Congress has provided massive amounts of funding to agencies like the Bonneville Power Administration which operate dams on rivers where fish used to migrate to spawn. The money is used to build fish ladders near dams, for habitat restoration projects, and for monitoring by scientists, among other things.

According to the Congressional Record, and Faith Campbell who interviewed those involved in the bill’s passage in 1988 for a study published in Pace Environmental Law Review, more than half of the species protected by the Endangered Species Act were plants.

Ted Stevens, a powerful Republican senator from Alaska, led the opposition to the inclusion of plants when the Senate passed the bill. According to Campbell, they were added at the eleventh hour after a push from botanists at the Smithsonian Institution, and Lee Talbot a senior scientist with the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

At the time, botanists deemed more than 2,500 plant species to be threatened by extinction in the future. Most of the plants failed to receive protection because federal officials did not act before a Congressional deadline.

Currently, more than 900 plants, including trees, ferns and flowers, are protected. In 2020, the combined amount received by these groups will be about $26 millions.

“They’re catching-up in terms of numbers, but they still don’t get their fair share when it comes to money and attention,” said Campbell. Campbell is a long-time environmentalist who works now at the Center for Invasive Species Prevention. The threats are the same for animals. They don’t, however, have the same political power as, for example, a few dozen large animal species which attract positive attention or are in the way of people.

Gerber and other researchers claim that most plants receive less funding than is recommended in their recovery plans. Researchers claim that this has direct consequences. Species tend to decline if they are allocated less money than necessary, but have a better chance of recovering if given enough funding.

Gerber suggested that some of the money allocated to species receiving more than what their recovery plans require — such as the bull trout and gopher tortoise — be diverted to others who receive little or no funding. Some conservationists have reacted negatively to her ideas.

Former U.S. Former U.S.

Clark, the current president of Defenders of Wildlife, said that it was not about where money is spent. The issue is not enough money.

Gerber stated that she does not want anything to go extinct, but a strategic approach with the lack of resources is necessary.

She added, “Unfortunately the clock is ticking.” “We must act.”

Officials from the Department of Wildlife say that they are working to achieve this goal with money allocated for endangered species under the Climate Law signed by President Joe Biden last year.

The $62.5 million will be used to hire biologists who will create recovery plans for future conservation efforts, initially for 32 species but for up to 300 in the coming years.

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The list includes the colorful candy darter, which lives in rivers of the Southeast U.S.; the flowering shrub called marron Bacora from the Virgin Islands; the Panama City Crayfish in Florida and the tiny Stephens’ Kangaroo Rat in Southern California.

Officials say that the extra money will provide relief because the environmental review staff of the agency has decreased by 20% in the last two decades despite the fact that new species have been listed. According to Lindsay Rosa of Defenders Of Wildlife, the increased funding is particularly important, as more than half of the existing recovery plans for the agency are older than 20 years.

The law also included $5.1 million to fund recovery projects for hundreds of species in four groups, which officials have said were historically underfunded. These include Hawaii and Pacific Island plants, butterflies and Moths, Freshwater Mussels, and Desert Fish in the Southwest U.S.

Martha Williams, Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said in an Interview: “Each species is part of this greater web of life.” “They’re important.”