States today play a major role in implementing and enforcing environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. A thirty year review of ESA identified state leadership in species conservation as a necessary element in better conserving the nation's imperiled species, yet the theoretical and practical reasons and applications of an enhanced state role are little understood and have not been subjected to any meaningful analysis.This book, for the first time, presents the legal and policy analysis for federalism considerations in implementing ESA. The book undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the economic rationale for federalism in ESA administration; compares administration of ESA to other major environmental statutes; reviews various tools under the existing Act to enhance state role in species conservation; evaluates major case studies to determine roles the state can play in species conservation and recovery; and concludes with policy recommendations to encourage greater state involvement in species conservation.

PART I INTRODUCTION1. Federalism under the Endangered Species ActPART II FRAMEWORKS2. An Economic Perspective on Environmental Federalism: The Optimal Locus of Endangered Species Authority3. Cooperative Federalism and the Endangered Species Act: A Comparative Assessment and Call for ChangePART III OPPORTUNITIES FOR STATE & LOCAL INVOLVEMENT UNDER THE ESA4. Listing Decisions, Conservation Agreements, and State-Federal Collaboration: A Litigation Perspective5. The Evolution of Federalism under Section 6 of the Endangered Species Act6. California's Natural Community Conservation Planning Program: Saving Species Habitat Amidst Rising Developing7. Toward an Improved Federalism under the Endangered Species ActPART IV CASE STUDIES8. The Karner Blue Butterfly: Wisconsin's Statewide Habitat Conservation Plan9. The Red-Cockaded Woodpecker: Conservation Through Statewide Safe Harbor Agreements10. Saving Salmo: Federalism and the Conservation of Maine's Atlantic Salmon11. Oregon Coast Coho Restoration and the Endangered Species Act12. Grizzly Bear Conservation in the Greater Yellowstone EcosystemPART V CONCLUDING THOUGHTS13. Toward Greater State and Local Commitment