JACKSON - Supporters of the Endangered Species Act say the law has been the difference between existence and extinction of many plants and animals, but that more needs to be done to ensure permanent recovery of imperiled species.

Calls for increased commitment to the act comes on its 30th anniversary -- celebrated Dec. 28 -- as the Bush administration is considering moves to make significant changes to the law.

Jeff Kessler of Biodiversity Associates in Laramie said the ESA has prevented scores of species in Wyoming from going extinct. He cited the Colorado butterfly plant, the black-footed ferret and Kendall Warm Springs dace - a fish found in a thermal pond near Pinedale - as ESA success stories.

"What hasn't worked so well is getting them recovered to larger areas they used to inhabit," Kessler said. "Putting a species on the list does not protect it and recover it. Taking action is what protects and recovers species."

Kessler said the success of the ESA lies in acknowledging "the web of life."

"Who's to say if you let that fish or that bird or that reptile go extinct, that that's OK?" Kessler said. "At some point it may start a cascade of extinctions."

And, he said, the commitment to protect a species needs to extend to all.

"People, whether they're land managers, private citizens or elected officials, do seem to put some energy and resources into protecting big, cute critters, but much less so for ugly or creepy-crawly ones," he said.

Wyoming's poster-animals for the ESA include the gray wolf and grizzly bear. But scores more - including the whooping crane, bald eagle and Wyoming toad - have benefited from the act as habitat saved for larger animals such as bears also benefits smaller animals.

Still, the Bush administration is considering removing the critical habitat designation from the ESA, arguing there is not enough money to conduct surveys and draw maps of each species' critical habitat. The administration has also said the law is "broken" and needs to be fixed, in that there isn't an adequate way to remove something once it has been listed.

Conservation groups argue removal of the critical habitat component will allow the administration to open up wildlife sensitive areas to energy development.

Kessler said it is suspect for the administration to cite money as a reason to weaken the ESA.

He said Wyoming plans to spend $449 million in 2004 on transportation, which is $440 million more than the entire federal government is spending on the listing of endangered species.

"So, when opponents of endangered species protection bring up the 'cost,' it seems to really pale in comparison to what even a low population state like Wyoming spends on things like roads," he said.

If there is an ESA scorecard, the Bush administration has proven itself the weakest participant in the ESA. The administration has listed just 24 species in its three-year tenure - all because of a court order. By contrast, the Reagan administration listed an average of 32 species each year, Bush Sr. listed 58 per year and Clinton listed 65. Bush is the first president since the law was signed by Richard Nixon not to list any species by his choosing.

Currently, there are 516 animals and 744 plants listed as endangered or threatened.

Meredith Taylor of the Wyoming Outdoor Council said the ESA's biggest success has been to call attention to ecosystems at risk.

"In places like greater Yellowstone where we're seeing species come forward in dire straits" the act has helped, she said. Taylor said the ESA helps ecosystems across the country return to natural states, as the gray wolf has helped maintain the predator-prey balance in and around Yellowstone.

"Does it do enough? The short answer is no," she said. "It raises a red flag. … What we really need to do is go back to what (former Interior Secretary Bruce) Babbitt suggested and avoid train wrecks and prevent species from being listed in the first place."

Taylor said preventing species from needing to be federally protected should happen by preserving critical habitat and migration corridors.

Kessler agreed, and said there's a way for people to coexist with plants and animals to allow for the survival of both.

"In the words of the ESA, we can adapt what we do on land and in the water in a way that doesn't drive species unnaturally to extinction," he said. "That hasn't been backed up by action in many instances by a variety of players, and that's what it's going to take to save life on this planet. People agree it's doable. Why would we choose to cause species of wildlife to go extinct when we can prevent them and still lead our lives as a society?"