The Snail Darter and Environmental Strategies

So it turns out that one of the most controversial species in the history of American conservation–the snail darter–wasn’t an endangered species after all, or even a species. The snail darter was the first species that led to calls to kill the Endangered Species Act, when it was used by environmentalists as a tool to try and stop the building of the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River. Now, to be fair here, there was no good reason to build the Tellico. It was not needed for flood control or for energy production. It was done because the Corps of Engineers wanted to justify their budget, because they could, and because a few rich people could use the lake for water skiing. It was the 70s, the end of the dam building era, and the Army Corps and Bureau of Reclamation were trying to justify and continue their budgets.

So when the snail darter was discovered in the Tellico, it became a useful tool for environmentalists attempting to stop this boondoogle process. It didn’t work; the Carter administration allowed the Tellico to be built and while Carter was good on environmental issues generally, this was a black mark. It turned out the fish was discovered in other parts of the river and then other local rivers too, so even what they thought was endangered wasn’t that endangered. Now, it turns out to not be at all.

But the interesting issue is environmentalist strategy. These animals under the ESA became a tool. This was most notably successful with the northern spotted owl in stopping old growht logging in the Northwest. No one really cared about the owl, let’s be hoenst here. The owl was a proxy to save the last great forests. That’s fine. It also worked. The problem is that nature changes, partly because of humans and partly for other reasons. In this case, ove the last thirty years, the barred owl has moved to the Northwest and now kills spotted owls themselves (and sometimes mates with them). So now, in order to comply with the ESA, the Fish and Wildlife Service is engaging in mass slaughter of the barred owls to save the spotted owls. This is frankenstein wildlife management. But if the spotted owls went extinct, what would be there to save those last forests from logging? It’s not a great situation.