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ODJ283 III. THE ESA IS A DRIVING FORCE AND MECHANISM FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT. A. Regardless of definitions, conservation of biodiversity is what the ESA is all about. 1. Congressional debate when the Act was passed explicitly relied on the need to conserve biological heritage as the driving rationale behind the ESA. B. The ESA currently is the single tool most suited to coordinating a comprehensive federal strategy to manage ecosystems, or watersheds. 1. One of the express purposes of the ESA is to "provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered . . . and threatened species depend may be conserved, [and] to provide a program for the conservation of such. . . species." 16 U.S.C. & 1531(b). 2. Section 7 (a) (1) further requires federal agencies "to utilize their authorities in furtherance of the purposes of this Act by carrying out programs for the conservation of endangered .. and threatened species". 16 U.S.C. & 1536(a) (1). 3. In 1994, these provisions formed the basis for a mUlti-agency Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Implementation of the Endangered Species Act, which directs the signatory agencies to use their existing statutory authorities, including the Federal Land Policy Management Act, the National Forest Management Act, and other statutes, in concert with the ESA to accomplish "ecosystem management" without congressional action. 4. The ESA and FWS's increasing focus on habitat management and conservation for the benefit of listed species, whether linked with these other authorities or not, promise a type of management and regulatory activity on the public lands like none seen before. 5. Indeed, even without any conscious focus by the Service on biodiversity and ecosystem management, the ESA and its regulatory mechanisms, linked with current principles of conservation biology, has 16