by Kenneth Jost

About the author: Kenneth Jost covers legal issues for the CQ Researcher, a weekly report published by Congressional Quarterly.

When Congress passed the Endangered Species Act in 1973, it declared that endangered wildlife and plants are of “esthetic, ecological, educational, historical, recreational and scientific value.” Supporters of the law continue to stress the value of individual species. But critics complain that the benefits of protecting species are outweighed by the costs in actual spending, economic disruption and political discontent.

Biodiversity Is Valuable

Biologists write broadly about the benefits of biodiversity in both concrete and less tangible ways. “Biological diversity is the key to the maintenance of the world as we know it,” Edward O. Wilson, the celebrated Harvard entomologist, writes in his influential 1993 book The Diversity of Life.

In his book, The Value of Life...