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Article: The United States Forest Service's response to biodiversity science.
- Article from:
- Environmental Law
- Article date:
- June 22, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Lewis & Clark Northwestern School of Law. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I. INTRODUCTION
Scientists agree that Earth is experiencing a mass extinction spasm.(1) Entire plant and animal species are disappearing daily; possibly more than seventy species disappear per day in the species-rich tropical forests alone.(2) This rate of extinction is approximately 100,000 times the rate scientists associate with normal "background" evolutionary extinction.(3) And even in the less-species-rich areas of the world the current extinction rate still exceeds background rates.(4) Indeed, the present extinction spasm may surpass all others known in Earth's history, both in magnitude and scope.(5) At the current rate, based on conservative estimates of ...