The road back: endangered species recovery success with partners

This is dedicated to Mollie Beattie, the former Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, who lost her personal struggle with brain cancer on June 27, 1996. During her three-year tenure as Director, Mollie challenged the Service to adopt an ecosystem approach to fulfill its conservation mission. She believed that this approach, supported by the development of new partnerships and the strengthening of old ones, would assure success. Mollie dedicated her life to conserving wildlife and the ecosystems that support them. She worked tirelessly to make the Endangered Species Act work better, because she believed that Aldo Leopold was correct: “The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.” Restoring a threatened or endangered species to a secure status is seldom an easy process. It requires the cooperation and involvement of a wide array of interests, including Federal, State, and local agencies; Tribal governments; scientists from a variety of disciplines; conservation organizations; the business community; landowners, and other concerned individuals. Without their help, the successes described in this report could not have been achieved. This report was made possible by the many people who shared their ideas, species accounts, and beautiful photographs, and by Mollie Beattie.