14 ILLINOIS AUDUBON BULLETIN 
Endanger 
HABITAT ACQUISITION: $7.1 MILLION LAND 
PURCHASES SET FOR ENDANGERED 
ANIMALS 
A hard fact about helping En- 
dangered species to recover is that 
it is expensive — particularly the 
acquisition of habitat. 
Land costs, especially in areas 
scheduled for development, are 
under heavy inflationary pressure 
these days. Unfortunately, it is 
often just such areas that are the 
natural and only habitats of some 
of our most critically endangered 
animals. 
In laying out the Endangered 
Species Program’s land purchases, 
we have had to plan on paying 
several thousand dollars per acre. 
In Hawaii, for example, we must 
pay up to $10,000 an acre in order 
to preserve wetlands for Endan- 
gered waterbirds. 
The initial purchase cost is only 
one concern in deciding what 
lands to acquire within our budget. 
We also have to consider the long- 
term costs of developing, operat- 
ing, and maintaining the purchased 
land as a refuge. We have to take 
into account the possibility that 
these ongoing costs may cut heav- 
ily into other Program activities as 
time goes on. 
Accordingly, where it is both le- 
gally permissable and agreeable to 
all concerned, we try to enter into 
arrangements whereby other Fed- 
eral agencies and individual states 
can share or assume the manage- 
ment costs. 
The ceiling placed on Endan- 
gered Species Program authoriza- 
tions makes it essential for us to 
explore such alternative arrange- 
ments as much as possible. (Funds 
for land acquisition come from the 
Land and Water Conservation 
Fund, which is financed by receipts 
from Outer Continental Shelf min- 
eral leasing and the tax on out- 
board motor fuel). 
The Program currently is sched- 
uled to acquire a total of 8,895 
acres for $7.1 million under its 
regular FY 1977 budget. 
Acquisition Plans for FY 77 
All of our regularly scheduled 
projects for FY 77 would be addi- 
tions to refuge lands acquired ear- 
lier. In Mississippi, for example, we 
plan to buy 2,770 acres at an es- 
timated cost of $2.5 million to add 
to the Mississippi sandhill crane 
