Editors' Summary:

Efforts to reauthorize the ESA have been uniformly unsuccessful since the current authorization expired in 1992. Here are five steps the newly elected Administration can take to build a stronger and more effective ESA, even without reauthorization: (1) revitalize the listing priority framework; (2) promote recovery; (3) enhance incentives for habitat conservation on nonfederal lands; (4) address priority issues related to ESA §7(a)(2) consultation process and its prohibitions on jeopardy to species or adverse modification of critical habitat; and (5) increase funding for ESA implementation. By pursuing these administrative steps, President-elect Barak Obama can lay the groundwork for the eventual reauthorization of the ESA and a new commitment to conserving endangered species.