FORUM: Using the Best Scientific Data for Endangered Species Conservation.

/ The Endangered Species Act calls for the use of the best scientific data in conserving threatened or endangered species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. The language of this act and other environmental laws and relevant judicial rulings also require assessments based on modern scientific standards that are routinely applied in ecological research. Particularly for the Endangered Species Act, "take" decisions should be made only after the supporting documents provide: (1) designation of critical habitat based on use and availability methods; (2) risk assessment(s) for proposed take and other project impacts; (3) ecosystem assessment by trained ecosystem ecologists; (4) a description of an adaptive management program involving more than post hoc adjustments to problems in mitigation design; (5) a description of the proposed scientific monitoring along with thresholds for application of adaptive management; (6) uncertainty analysis along with estimates of species' abundance and project impacts; (7) nonselective, academic-quality referencing of data, methods, and theory supporting the conclusions; and (8) reviews of the assessment by independent scientists. These standards have been rarely applied to assessments of environmental take, due to lack of incentives for cooperation among academic scientists, environmental consultants, and the government regulatory agencies. Particularly important is requiring the type of independent review used by academic scientists. Such review would help ensure that take decisions are based on use of the appropriate scientific standards, thereby qualifying the supporting data as scientific and the best available, no matter how limited the data. Until these standards are applied prior to political trade-off and pragmatism, the environmental laws will continue to have little bearing on conservation.KEY WORDS: Endangered Species Act; Habitat conservation plans; Independent review; Risk assessment; Scientific data; Uncertainty analysishttp://link.springer-ny.com/link/service/journals/00267/bibs/24n4p421.html</HEA