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Member Survey The NESARC Board is reviewing legislative, regulatory and other options for politically achievable reform of the ESA. As part of that process, the Board would like your advice and thoughts on what ESA problems you or your organization face today and what reform efforts would be the most meaningful. The results of this survey will be used as part of the ongoing discussions at the NESARC Board meeting planned for February 24th. The Board would like each NESARC member to respond to this survey. In addition, we encourage individuals that are part of a larger NESARC Member organization to separately respond. In those instances, we ask that individuals responding identify their affiliated NESARC membership. Contact Information Name: Organization: Phone: Background Type of Organization/Member Association Corporation Landowner Public Agency Small Business Governmental Other Scope of Activities/Purpose Agricultural Developer Environmental Generation/Transmission Governmental Irrigation/Water Supply Rancher Timber Other Region National Alaska/Hawaii Mid Atlantic (NC/VA/WV/DC/MD/DE/PA/NJ) Midwest (ND/SD/NE/KS/MO/IA/MN/WI/IL/IN/OH/MI) Mountain West (MT/ID/WY/NV/UT/CO/AZ) Northeast (NY/CT/RI/MA/VT/NH/ME) Southwest (OK/AR/TX/NM) South (MS/LA/AL/GA/FL/SC/TN/KY) West Coast (WA/OR/CA) What specific ESA activities have you or your organization been involved in, regardless of the position being advocated? (Check all that apply.) Petitions for FWS/NMFS to take actions compelled by the ESA (e.g. petition for listing of delisting a species or designating critical habitat) Listing determinations Critical habitat designations Submission of public comments or participation in public hearings ESA rulemaking proceedings Litigation Technical/Advisory Committees Recovery plan development Informal or formal consultations with FWS/NMFS on impacts of federal agency action on listed species under Section 7 Development of a habitat conservation plan, safe harbor agreement, or candidate conservation agreement Development of a Section 6 Cooperative Agreement What specific ESA problems are you or your organization presently facing? Views on the Ways to Improve the ESA Please note that the following questions are focused on assessing the broad categories of reform important to NESARC members. After completion of the survey and NESARC Board deliberations, the next step will be developing more specific proposals of legislative, regulatory or other initiatives which go to the level of identifying specific standards, legislative language or policies to be included in an ESA reform proposal. Please identify your top five concerns about the ESA. Lack of success in recovering species Excessive economic burden on landowners/businesses Ineffective protection of habitat Interference with use of private property (including water rights) Potential for take liability Uncertainty created by listing/critical habitat/recovery planning process Lack of cooperation from local FWS/NMFS officials Too much litigation Impact on local economies Agencies are inflexible in their approaches to species protections Lack of good science Lack of clear goals for recovering and delisting species Other Over the years, very few species have been successfully "recovered" through the ESA. In your experience, what are the biggest obstacles to achieving recovery for a listed species? (Check all that apply.) Not enough money committed to species recovery efforts (federal, state, or private) Inflexibility of the law Inconsistent implementation of the law by agency personnel Lack of cooperation between agencies, stakeholders, and environmental groups Need more incentives for voluntary conservation Delays in recovery plans and critical habitat designations Difficult to protect necessary habitat Need for better enforcement of "take" restrictions to halt adverse impacts on species Fails to identify ways to increase population and habitat in balance with existing activities Agencies are inflexible in their approaches to species protections Other Assuming that changes can be made to the existing language in the ESA, please rank the following ten reform efforts from the most to the least beneficial -- with #1 as the most beneficial Limit the economic impacts of ESA protections on landowners/businesses Allow for multi-species and ecosystem protections rather than the single-species approach Streamline ESA regulations and remove the red tape Give state and local governments a broader role in ESA implementation Protect existing contracts, private property rights and water rights Increase flexibility/incentives for species and habitat conservation on private property Require timely agency decisions Improve science in ESA decisions Ensure compensation for the "taking" of private property through ESA actions Reduce the amount of ESA-related litigation Other Assuming that you cannot change any of the existing language of the ESA, please rank the following ten measures from the most to the least beneficial -- with #1 as the most beneficial Increase federal funding of state and local conservation projects Improve FWS/NMFS personnel interaction with the public New incentive programs (e.g. tax,grants,loan guarantees) for species and habitat conservation Encourage ESA mitigation banking Require independent, periodic review and recommendations of ESA implementation Encourage/require development of regulatory guidance on ESA actions Streamline habitat conservation programs for protection of habitat on private property Establish nationwide biological database for use in ESA decisions Create voluntary funding sources (i.e. ESA Stamps) for conservation on private property Establish a technical assistance program to help property owners/permittees Other Are you involved in, or know of, any programs that you believe are ESA success stories? If so, please describe. What has been your most positive experience with the ESA? What has been your most frustrating experience with the ESA? Thanks!