Endangered Species Q and A
Q. What is an endangered species?
A. Endangered is the official status of a species whose prospects for survival within the state are in immediate jeopardy.
Rare is the status of a species that is present in small numbers. If its environment worsens, its continued presence in the state may become endangered. Many species listed here are present in substantial numbers in other parts of their range. They are listed because their presence enriches and diversifies the state's environment.
Status undetermined describes a species that may be rare or endangered, but about which there is not enough information available to determine its status.
Watch list is the status of a species that is not currently rare or endangered, but has a restricted distribution or has experienced sufficient decline to indicate it may soon become rare or endangered.
Extirpated means the species formerly occurred in Missouri, but is not now known to exist within the state. Extirpated species still occur somewhere in their natural range outside of Missouri.
Extinct means the species no longer lives anywhere. The species has died out.
Q. Who decides when a species is listed as endangered?
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior develops the federal endangered species list. Federal listing is a rigorous process that includes peer review, a published notice in the Federal Register, and a period of public comment. It is a structured process that makes listing relatively slow and cautious.
The state listing process is less structured. In Missouri it is lead by the Endangered Species Coordinator with the participation of many Department biologists and managers as well as people from colleges, universities and participating organizations. In the past, committees of three to five people who are knowledgeable of the respective animal or plant group met to review and recommend a protection status. The revised checklist is distributed to the interested public for comments. Additional committee meetings are sometimes necessary to address specific concerns.
Q. How many endangered species are there in Missouri?
There are 306 species of plants and animals listed as state endangered in Missouri. A small subset of these is federally listed: nine plants and 21 animals. There are additional species listed by the state as rare, watch list or status undetermined.
Federal status is derived from the provisions of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Definitions are similar to those used by states but with a national view of populations.
Missouri status is determined by the Department of Conservation under Constitutional authority. Rule 3CSR10-4.111 of the Wildlife Code of Missouri and certain state statutes apply to state listed species.
Q. What happens if I find an endangered species on my land?
A. This depends on whether the species is a plant or an animal. An endangered plant on private property belongs to you so long as it continues to grow on your land. The only exception is if you use federal funds to develop your land (e.g., apply for a federal loan to build a poultry barn on the back 40). Then the federal agency participation in the action must ensure that federal funds are not being used to destroy a federally listed plant. If you are using private money, there is no such requirement. Otherwise, endangered species law means little unless/until the plant is moved from the land to be sold, traded, transported, etc. At that point the plant is no longer part of the land and may be protected by endangered species law.
An endangered animal on private land is a public resource. It cannot be "taken" except as allowed in the Wildlife Code. An endangered animal on private land is fully protected, and killing the animal is a violation of endangered species law. Can the landowner wait until the animal is gone and then destroy the habitat? Yes (with the exception of a bald eagle nest tree which is afforded additional protection by the Bald Eagle Protection Act). In general a private landowner cannot be forced to manage private land for an endangered species. On the other hand, intentional habitat alteration by a private landowner does affect fish and wildlife habitat and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could consider this "harassment" under the Endangered Species Act.
Does channelization and gravel removal in Niangua darter habitat constitute "harassment"? Probably, but endangered species managers have great flexibility in habitat modification issues and make every attempt to avoid conflicts. Few private landowners intentionally want to hurt endangered species or knowingly destroy their habitat. There are few potential conflicts that cannot be avoided when resource managers and private landowners work together.
In brief ...
- Killing an endangered plant on federal land is unlawful. Killing an endangered plant on private property is not a violation of endangered species law.
- Killing an endangered animal is a violation of endangered species law regardless of where is occurs, unless covered by permit.
Clearly a private landowner cannot lawfully take a listed species (unless the landowner has a permit) but the landowner probably can destroy the habitat (although this in not good fish and wildlife management).
Q. Have any Missouri landowners lost their property because of the presence of an endangered species?
A. Never.
Have there been willing sellers? Yes, many endangered species sites have been acquired by MDC or USFWS. Other land has been donated. For example, a mining company donated an endangered species site to avoid the continuing liability of an old mine and to protect Indiana bats. Pilot Knob Mine was donated to the USFWS after several people were seriously hurt in this old mine in Iron County. But there are land acquisition goals for some endangered species that we have not been able to reach because there are no willing sellers. With only 7 percent of Missouri managed as public land, most endangered species populations will remain on private land. It is neither realistic nor desirable to purchase every endangered species site in Missouri.
Q. Is there anything positive about finding an endangered species on my land?
A. Yes! Several years ago the Department conducted landowner contact programs for MIssouri bladderpod and Ozark cavefish. In both cases, the vast majority of landowners were positive and responsive to having endangered species on their land.
Not far from Lebanon, a young couple built a house in a small woods beside a cave. The cave supported a small colony of gray bats, a federally endangered mammal. These homeowners improved the habitat for bats by planting oak trees, protecting the woody vegetation along the stream, and being careful about use of insecticides. In return, the bats consumed their share of night flying bugs.
In the Osage River valley, landowners and fisheries managers are working together to protect habitat for the Niangua darter. Landowners are encouraged to remove gravel from better locations.
A southwest Missouri dairy farmer has cavefish living in a cave on his farm. The fish have been there for as long as he can remember. He tells visitors that the cavefish "are not hurting anyone, and they are a good indication we have clean water."
The Nature Conservancy has a voluntary registry program that recognizes several hundred private landowners who voluntarily manage endangered species sites in Missouri.
There really are hundreds and hundreds of examples of people living successfully with endangered species on their land here in Missouri. Admittedly, while some species fit in well to existing land uses, some may become problems.
Q. If species naturally become extinct, what's the point of trying save endangered ones?
A. Extinction is a natural process. However, current rates of extinction far exceed that of "background" extinction. The point is that much of the decline and subsequent loss of species today is not the result of slow and steady changes in the earth. The actions of humans are causing accelerated habitat loss; therefore, the species that depend on these habitats are declining. Endangered species are an indication that we are not making good land and water management choices. In almost all cases, people and human activities are causing the problems.
Q. Why are endangered species important?
A. Because every species plays a role in running its local ecosystem, every species counts. As native species disappear, local functions decline. Pest species multiply, flooding and erosion begin, water becomes polluted and so on. Rich natural diversity yields medicinal solutions, food for people, food for other wildlife, watchable wildlife, genetic resilience and longterm sustainability. Many endangered species, including pallid sturgeons and cavefish, are indicators of the health of the big river system and groundwater quality. As species decline they are an indication that the habitat of the species is declining as well.
And then, maybe we don't know ... yet. To paraphrase Aldo Leopold, the father of American conservation, "The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts."
Some species have no value to people except that they exist. Protecting endangered species is a quality of life issue that weighs differently for different people.
Q. Does Missouri have any spotted owls, kangaroo rats or snail darters?
A. No. But we do have short-eared owls (state endangered), meadow jumping mice (state rare), and Niangua darters (state endangered, federally threatened).
Some listed species occur mostly on public land, and the relationship with private landowners is negligible in Missouri. Other species (Niangua darter, Ozark cavefish, Indiana bats, decurrent false aster, Missouri bladderpod) occur mostly on private land, and recovery actions necessarily involve participation from private landowners.
Q. What good are mussels, bats and running buffalo clover anyway?
A.
Mussels
They clean the water. They are efficient filter feeders and remove significant amounts of silt, particulate matter and dissolved chemicals. For this reason, mussels are important indicators of the health of the ecosystem they inhabit.
Historically (before the invention of plastic), freshwater mussels supported a huge button industry and were once used regularly in jewelry making. Mussels were an important food item for native Americans. Though overlooked by most of us, Asians (and other cultures whose populations are increasing in the United States) do recognize freshwater mussels as food, increasing the need to regulate take in some areas.
Mussels from the Mississippi River basin support a multimillion-dollar cultured pearl industry. Most people are unaware that the "blank" inside a cultured pearl was fashioned from a freshwater mussel. This industry, almost wholly managed by the Japanese, exports thousands of tons of mussels annually. Not all species are suitable for this industry. Zebra mussels have accidentally been introduced to waters of North America. If they continue at the current rate of expansion, they threaten many species of sedentary aquatic fauna, including native freshwater mussels.
Bats
These flying mammals are the only major predator of night-flying insects (like mosquitoes). Most bats consume more than half their own weight in insects each night. Other forms of cave life depend upon the nutrients brought in by bats and released from their guano (feces). Bats have contributed much to man's knowledge through scientific studies of their echolocation abilities, their biology and certain aspects of their physiology.
All of the bats that occur in Missouri are insectivorous. As we continue to learn more about these furry little "angels of the night," we realize their importance in the natural scheme of things.
Running Buffalo Clover, other plants, fungi, etc.
The importance of running buffalo clover hasn't been discovered yet. Plants have provided us with many new materials. It was a fungus that gave us penicillin, and certain plants has yielded substances used in drugs to treat heart disease, cancer and a variety of other serious illnesses. At least a quarter of all prescriptions written annually in the United States contain chemicals discovered in plants and animals. If these organisms had been destroyed before their chemistries were know, their secrets would have died with them.
Q. How much money is the Department spending on endangered species conservation?
A. It is not possible to obtain a completely accurate account of how much we are spending on endangered species in Missouri. Some land acquisitions target endangered species sites, but those sites nearly always have other resource values that are made available to the public. The opposite is also true, some acquisitions targeting sport fish and game provide habitat for listed species as well.
Management is sometimes directed toward endangered species. Very often the management needed for the listed species is the same as, or fits into, other resource management. Example: you can't conduct a prescribed burn at Paintbrush Prairie solely for Mead's milkweed. It benefits quail, prairie chickens, big bluestem, and cottontails as well. We can't separate the cost of one from the other.
Some money is spent specifically on listed species, mostly for surveys, monitoring, restoration, and related activities. During 1994 the Department spent about $100,000 of state funds on federally listed plants and animals. Additional funds were spent on state listed species.
What Missourians are spending on endangered species is comparable to other states in the Midwest.
Q. How can I help conserve Missouri's endangered species?
A. Find out which species are rare in your area and what is being done to conserve them.
- Visit one of the many National Wildlife Refuges near you. Visit with the managers to learn about restoration or management efforts happening there. Ask about the appropriate method to view wildlife that will not disturb or harm wildlife.
- Volunteer for species surveys or protection efforts - bird counts, frog and toad surveys, special events, etc.
- Don't buy exotic or wild animals as pets, or plants not of cultivated origin. They are often difficult to keep and may be protected species.
- If planning a construction project, check with the state conservation program about endangered species before you begin the project.
- Report violations of conservation laws.
- Join a conservation group.
- Set an example by recycling and being careful not to litter. Some kinds of litter such as balloons and plastic six-pack rings can suffocate, entrap, or stangle wildlife. Participate in cleanup projects or start your own.
- Avoid using unnecessary lawn and garden chemicals, improper disposal of household chemicals, and causing water pollution or erosion of any kind.
