Wildlife defender.

• Author: Fantle, Will
• Position: Jasper Carlton of the Biodiversity Legal Foundation - Interview

Boulder, Colorado

The Endangered Species Act is on the chopping block again. When Congress passed the Act in 1973, it called for periodic review and reauthorization. Thus, in mid-November, right after the fall elections, environmentalists gathered in Washington, D.C., for a strategy session on renewing the Act. A tug and pull ensued between those who want full support for it and those who would go along with weakening the Act.

"America is dying and the Endangered Species Act is needed more than ever," says Jasper Carlton, founder of the Colorado-based Biodiversity Legal Foundation, and one of the environmentalists urging full reauthorization. "It's the strongest conservation law passed by any country ever."

Carlton himself is the country's most confrontational user of the Act. In the past dozen years, he has initiated eighty-five endangered species cases.

"I have successfully sued every secretary of the interior--from James Watt to Bruce Babbitt--to enforce the Endangered Species Act," he says. Under current law, he explains, his cases "cannot lose."

"How can you reasonably compromise the last habitat for endangered species?"

The Biodiversity Legal Foundation differs from other wildlife defenders in that it frequently charges to the aid of unglamorous species, such as toads, frogs, salamanders, and obscure plants. "We aggressively defend all life forms equally," Carlton says. Carlton has a particular fondness for investebrates--bugs to the rest of us--calling them the "building blocks" of natural systems. Another key goal of the Foundation is protecting large habitats for communities of species and natural ecosystems.

But Carlton has also sued to protect "flagship" species, such as Ursus Horribilis--the grizzly bear. His lawsuit terminated the sport-hunting of grizzlies in Montana's wilderness areas. Grizzly bears range extensively in the wild and Carlton thinks if a thriving population can be maintained, then the ecosystem the bears depend on will remain vibrant as well.

The Biodiversity Legal Foundation bases its legal challenges on evidence gathered from the top life-science experts. Its grounding in the law and science has enabled the organization to win even when its lower-court victories have been appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.

"Unless I miss my bet," Carlton says, "the world will want to beat a path to intact ecosystems in fifteen to twenty years. Future generations will...