Tag: Endangered Species Act
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Where the sturgeon go: how age-related differences in habitat use shape exposure of white sturgeon to population risks
By Jon Walter, Gabriel Singer, Scott Colborne, Andrew L. Rypel, and Erin Tracy . . . White sturgeon are a prominent member of the sturgeon family in North America. They are generally considered the largest fish found in North American freshwaters (up to 12 feet long) and are quite long-lived (reaching 100 years or more).…
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How redefining just one word could strip the Endangered Species Act’s ability to protect vital habitat
This blog is a cross-post from one featured on The Conversation on May 13, 2025. By Mariah Meek & Karrigan Börk It wouldn’t make much sense to prohibit people from shooting a threatened woodpecker while allowing its forest to be cut down, or to bar killing endangered salmon while allowing a dam to dry out their habitat. But that’s…
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California Water under a Trump Administration, Part 2 of 2
By Karrigan Börk Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series of blogs that examines how the incoming Trump Administration may—or may not—be able to change how water is managed in California. The first blog covered three issues: the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), updates of the Bay-Delta Water Quality Plans, and major infrastructure projects. The…
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Is Ecosystem-Based Management Legal for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta?
by Brian Gray (PPIC Water Policy Center), William Stelle (former NOAA Fisheries West Coast Administrator), and Leon Szeptycki (Stanford University, Water in the West)* Introduction In a recent three-part series posted on this website, a group of independent experts (including one of the authors here) proposed new ways to manage the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem. The…
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The ESA, fish and me
“Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.” — President Richard Nixon upon signing the Endangered Species Act on Dec. 28, 1973 By Peter Moyle The Endangered Species Act turns 40 this week, and I…
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Are Central Valley steelhead really ‘threatened’?
By Peter Moyle The primary goal of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) is to shorten the government’s list of “endangered” and “threatened” species. The American Peregrine falcon, the brown pelican, the eastern Steller sea lion and California populations of the gray whale are among the iconic creatures that have recovered to large populations and…