Our whole nation benefits from the preservation of natural habitats and their diversity of animal and plant species—yet small groups of private landowners often bear most of the costs of setting land aside for conservation purposes. This imbalance has generated many conflicts since the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973 and remains one of the most controversial issues to be resolved as the ESA makes its way through Congress for reauthorization.

To provide policy makers, landowners, and other stakeholders in the ESA debates with impartial baseline information, this book offers multidisciplinary perspectives on the role that private property plays in protecting endangered species in the United States. The opening chapter traces the evolution of the ESA and set forth the parameters of the debate over regulation of private property. Four subsequent chapters explore the judicial and economic implications of ESA and suggest how issues of scale and diversity affect the implementation of the ESA on private property. The volume concludes with eight principles to help frame the ongoing ESA reauthorization debate, developed by the University of Wyoming's Institute for Environment and Natural Resources Policy Board, the sponsor of the research presented in this book.

The contributors to this volume include University of Wyoming faculty members, as well as outside experts. Editor Jason F. Shogren is the Stroock Distinguished Professor of Natural Resource Conservation and Management and Professor of Economics at the University of Wyoming. He recently completed a term as a senior economist on the President's Council of Economic Advisers responsible for environmental and natural resource policy.

• Abbreviations
• Foreword (William D. Ruckelshaus)
• Preface
• 1. Introduction (Jason F. Shogren)
• 2. The Evolution of the Endangered Species Act (Stanley H. Anderson)
• 3. Judicial Application of the Endangered Species Act and the Implications for Takings of Protected Species and Private Property (Murray D. Feldman and Michael J. Brennan)
• 4. Biological Effectiveness and Economic Impacts of the Endangered Species Act (Jason F. Shogren and Patricia H. Hayward)
• 5. The Intent and Implementation of the Endangered Species Act: A Matter of Scale (Jeffrey A. Lockwood)
• 6. The Private Lands Challenge: Integrating Biodiversity Conservation and Private Property (John F. Turner and Jason C. Rylander)
• 7. Principles to Measure the Endangered Species Act Reauthorization Debate (Policy Board of the Institute for Environment and Natural Resources)
• Contributors
• Index