Required Reading

Read the Public Citizen case from the last class.

Endangered Species Act. Read the listing criteria.

Questions for class discussion

1. Come prepared to answer the Public Citizen questions from the last class.

2. When the USFWS makes a decision to list a species as endangered, they typically do not quantitatively assess the probability of extinction. That is, they do not come to a conclusion like, "There is a 8% chance that the Yellowstone grizzly bears will go extinct within 200 years." Your instructor believes that the USFWS practice of not undertaking quantitative risk assessments leads the courts to better scientific decisions, as compared to those they might make if the USFWS provided them with quantitative risk assessments. Why?