Chapter 9 



Maintaining Biological Diversity 



in the United States 



HIGHLIGHTS 



Many U.S. public laws and programs addressing the use of natural resources 

 and the activities of private groups contribute significantly to the conservation 

 of biological diversity. However, diversity is seldom an explicit objective, and 

 where it is mentioned, it is not well-defined. The resulting ad hoc coverage 

 is too disjunct to address the full range of concerns over the loss of diversity. 



Existing laws and programs focus on either onsite or offsite conservation, which 

 impedes establishment of effective linkages between the two general approaches 

 to maintaining diversity. Links help define common interests and areas of po- 

 tential cooperation between various institutions — important steps in defining 

 areas of redundancy, neglect, and opportunity. 



Personnel of federally mandated programs that deal directly with maintenance 

 of biological diversity, such as the National Plant Germplasm System and the 

 Endangered Species Program, have stretched budgets to meet their mandated 

 responsibilities. It appears, however, that these programs will be unable to con- 

 tinue to meet their mandates without significant increases in funding and 

 staffing. 



OVERVIEW 



Federal legislation authorizes onsite conser- 

 vation of species and communities and offsite 

 collection and development of plant and ani- 

 mal species of economic importance. The Fed- 

 eral Government consequently supports pro- 

 grams for agricultural plant and animal 

 conservation and for onsite conservation of 

 selected species, but little consideration is given 

 to a myriad of other diversity maintenance ob- 

 jectives. The numerous Federal onsite pro- 

 grams are not well-coordinated to promote a 

 comprehensive approach. State and private ef- 

 forts fill some gaps, but in many cases, main- 

 taining diversity is not a specific objective, 

 merely a result. 



Many organizations or programs discussed 

 in this chapter focus on one aspect of diversity 

 maintenance: plant seeds, rare animal breeds, 

 or onsite conservation of endangered species. 

 This chapter considers Federal mandates re- 

 lated to diversity conservation, onsite conser- 

 vation, offsite plant and animal conservation, 

 and microbial conservation. In each case. Fed- 

 eral, State, and private activities are assessed, 

 although these categories are arbitrary and, in 

 fact, biological diversity maintenance programs 

 frequently fall into more than one category. 



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