Congress Urged to Spend $857 Million to Fully Fund Endangered Species Protection

More than 115 conservation groups urged Congress today to significantly increase the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s budget for endangered species conservation from $329 million to $857 million — nearly a three-fold increase over the fiscal year 2024 budget that would more accurately reflect the severity of the joint biodiversity and climate crises and the needs of the agency.

Today’s letter notes that the Service currently receives approximately one-third of the funding required to properly implement the Endangered Species Act’s mandate to protect and recover listed species. Record-high inflation rates combined with a $7.7 million funding cut to key program functions in the FY24 budget has resulted in even more reduced capacity at the agency, which already routinely struggles to perform its most basic duties under the Act.

“An investment in the Endangered Species Act today is an investment in our shared tomorrow,” said Mary Beth Beetham, legislative director for Defenders of Wildlife. “Shortchanging our ability to respond to the emergent needs of the joint biodiversity and climate crises is not worth the political points some members of Congress think they are scoring. The Endangered Species Act is our best tool for preventing extinction and we must invest in its proven track record of saving species and the ecosystems we all depend on from the brink.”

According to the Service’s own data, hundreds of endangered animals and plants receive less than $1,000 for their recovery in a typical year, while several hundred receive no funding at all. The requested budget increase would ensure every federally protected species receives a minimum of $101,000 per year to get them on the road to recovery.

“It’s gut wrenching to watch our natural world collapse and our most imperiled animals and plants decline knowing Congress could stop the extinction crisis if it just mustered the political will,” said Stephanie Kurose, government affairs deputy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Fully funding our most successful conservation law is a small price to pay for saving life on earth.”

The funding package in the letter includes a request of $70.1 million for the Service’s listing program — three times what is currently allocated. The listing program has been chronically underfunded for decades, and as a result more than 300 species are still waiting for protection under the Endangered Species Act. Nearly 50 species have been declared extinct while waiting for protections because of these funding shortfalls.

Additional Media Contact: 

Stephanie Kurose, Center for Biological Diversity, (202) 849-8395, skurose@biologicaldiversity.org

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.7 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.