Policy Statements » Letters from the President:
Letter to Keystone Center on Endangered Species Act Working Group
October 3, 2005
Dr. Peter S. Adler, President
The Keystone Center
1628 Sts. John Road
Keystone , CO 80435
Dear Dr. Adler:
As President of the nation's premier organization of ecological scientists, the Ecological Society of America (ESA), I am pleased that the Keystone Center has been charged with tackling key questions related to the Endangered Species Act. This is clearly a very challenging task and your Center seems a most appropriate venue to move the debate forward.
I am concerned, however, that the current composition of the panel includes only one independent scientist. I strongly encourage you to consider adding one or two additional independent ecological scientists to this panel. While we support the need for a wide scope of perspectives, we believe it is extremely important to also have several individuals around the table with no particular affiliation who have the scientific grounding needed to understand the mechanics of managing species.
Our Society of 9,000 ecological scientists has among its membership several outstanding independent experts who not only have the scientific training pertinent to understanding management of endangered species, but also are extremely creative thinkers about how we might better achieve the goals of the Act, particularly ways in which one might combine incentives with successful conservation. Several of these members are part of the Society's special Rapid Response Team, having pledged to make themselves available on short notice to help address the very types of issues with which the Keystone Working Group on Critical Habitat has been tasked.
In case you are not familiar with the Ecological Society of America, we are a scientific, non-profit, 9000-member organization founded in 1915. Through ESA reports, journals, membership research, and expert testimony to Congress, we seek to promote the responsible application of ecological data and principles to the solution of environmental problems. The Society publishes four scientific, peer-reviewed journals: Ecology, Ecological Applications, Ecological Monographs, and Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment .
We realize your Center has been charged with a formidable challenge and hope one or two of our Rapid Response Team experts might be considered as critical additions to the panel you are putting together. ESA's Director of Public Affairs, Nadine Lymn (202 833-8773, ext. 205; Nadine@esa.org) can quickly put you in touch with one or two of these scientists.
I hope you will give serious consideration to our request and look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Nancy B. Grimm, Ph.D.
President
