FLESH-E ATING BEETLE BLOCKING HIGHWAY.

THIS FRONT-PAGE HEADLINE in the October 7, 1990, Tulsa World certainly was an eye-catcher. The accompanying article described the route of a proposed highway in Oklahoma that threatened the habitat of an endangered species known as the American burying beetle. Construction of the road, which would have provided better and safer access to a hospital for local Choctaw residents, was canceled.

Eventually this situation was resolved to everyone's satisfaction: The beetle was found in other areas and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation was able to build the road. Yet the question the incident raised over whose concerns should take precedence, endangered species or people, has come up repeatedly since the passage of the Endangered Species Act and spawned hundreds of controversies.

The issue of land use is the primary axis on which the entire endangered...