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New Study Documents America's Astonishing Natural Abundance

To Address Looming Extinction Crisis, Conservation Group Commits $1 Billion

Washington D.C.— March 16, 2000 — America is far richer in plant and animal species than previously believed — but the survival of the country's unique natural heritage is in serious jeopardy.

That's the conclusion of a new study released today that features the most complete analysis of U.S. plants and animals ever conducted.

Precious Heritage-the Status of Biodiversity in the United States, was written by scientists from The Nature Conservancy, the nation's largest private conservation group, and the Association for Biodiversity Information (ABI), a leading source for scientific information on rare and endangered species. The findings of this groundbreaking book were announced today at the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoological Park by Nature Conservancy President and CEO John Sawhill and ABI Board Chair Mary Klein.

By documenting the presence in America of more than 200,000 native species-double the previous estimate-the study highlights the U.S. as a globally important center of diversity, home to fully 10 percent of all species described by science thus far.

Among the book's key findings:

• As many as one-third of the nation's species are at risk, and at least 500 species have already gone extinct or are missing.
• The U.S. supports a broader variety of large-scale ecosystems, such as prairie and tundra, than any other nation on Earth.
• The single biggest threat to species survival is loss of habitat, with almost 60 percent of America's landscape already severely altered.
• Despite these trends, there is still time to protect the nation's natural heritage.

"For nearly 50 years, The Nature Conservancy has been committed to conserving America's natural riches, from wetlands, to prairies, to barrier islands, so in some ways these findings confirm what we've believed all along," said Sawhill. "The news in Precious Heritage — both good and bad — provides us with an even greater impetus to protect these priceless landscapes for future generations of Americans."

To that end, Sawhill announced that The Nature Conservancy would commit $1 billion in private funds to protecting critical natural areas around the country and abroad through its new Campaign for Conservation. "It is not enough simply to talk about the problem," Sawhill said. "We have to take action as well."

Published by Oxford University Press, Precious Heritage draws on more than 25 years of information compiled by Natural Heritage programs from all 50 states. Operated in most cases by state agencies, Natural Heritage programs maintain databases that contain the most reliable scientific information on the condition and location of species across the country. This new book represents the first time that the information housed in each of the state Natural Heritage programs has been collected and analyzed from a national perspective, thus providing the most comprehensive look yet at the nation's overall biological health.

"The good news is, Americans enjoy an incredibly rich natural heritage, from rare fish surviving in desert oases, to the world's tallest trees-California's coast redwoods-to Hawaii's honeycreepers, colorful birds whose evolutionary story rivals that of the famous Darwin's finches," says the book's lead author, Dr. Bruce A. Stein. "The bad news is that Americans risk losing much of this wealth if current trends continue."

That sobering assessment comes as no surprise to the Conservancy, which has been operating as a modern-day "Noah's Ark" for nearly 50 years, acquiring and protecting land where rare and endangered plants and animals still cling to existence. In an effort to get out in front of the extinction curve, the Conservancy has broadened its conservation work in recent years to focus on protecting entire landscapes before their species become endangered.

The book is illustrated with maps pinpointing the biodiversity "hot spots" around the U.S., including a special section on aquatic species and their plight. It points out the astonishing abundance of unique life forms found only in America's streams, rivers and lakes. A single river in Tennessee, for example, contains more fish species than are found in all of Europe. The study also reveals the U.S. as one of the most diverse countries on an ecosystem scale, harboring a high percentage of the world's broadleaf forests, temperate grasslands, and Mediterranean-climate vegetation.