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Who Gives a Damn About Some Stupid Fish Anyway? Mark Shaffer Vice President, The Wilderness Society Although the title in the program is pretty good, I want to use this opportunity to talk about issues that are broader than a particular fish. Therefore, I would like to title today's presentation Endangered Species and Biodiversi ty - Why We Should Care. We have already heard two very good presentations that outline what the Endangered Species Act is all about, and the effect the Act is having on American communities. Rather than continue the debate about the specifics of the Endangered Species Act, I want to discuss endangered species, and the relationship of endangered species to a word that we are hearing more about, but one I think many people still are not very comfortable or familiar with, namely biodiversity. Then, I would like to talk about why we should fundamentally go through all these gyrations in order to deal with this kind of issue, - and to offer some suggestions about how we can deal with the values that we are trying to sustain, in ways that go beyond the traditional Endangered Species Act. We have all heard some of the many, different controversies and issues. I have listed some of the famous controversial endangered species that you may not remember as being controversial if you were not paying attention twenty years ago when the Act was passed. There is quite a bit of controversy concerning the American alligator and whether, in fact, it was truly endangered or should be listed. The Bald Eagle is used as a patriotic sYmbol of the Endangered Species Act. It represents why we need the Act, and why it works. The next three species represent the hard core second phase of the Endangered Species Act controversies. Pat talked about the Spotted Owl this morning. The Desert Tortoise is one that many people in this room, if you are not familiar with yet, may become familiar with. Some people have suggested that the Desert Tortoise will become to grazing what the Spotted Owl is to timbering. I do not know whether that is a true assessment or not, but it certainly remains a controversial issue. Thirdly, the Colorado Squawfish is one of the fish that we are really talking about without naming names when water projects on the Colorado River are proposed. Those are some examples of famous endangered species and the types of controversies they produce. The first two species listed here, the American Alligator and Bald Eagle, are actually doing pretty well. Questions concerning the status of the American Alligator and Bald Eagle were actually questions of controlling harvests, or questions of controlling the. release of pollutants into the environment. We have begun to solve those kinds of issues. Those last three species, including the Spotted Owl, Desert Tortoise and Colorado Squawfish - are much more difficult to deal with because it is no longer a question of controlling the release of some chemicals into the environment, but rather a question of how to manage land and water. Land and water are so fundamental to this country, its society, and its economy, which is why they are presenting the 79