Decades ago, the spotted owl and the Endangered Species Act were used to shut down much of the U.S. timber industry. Since then we have seen the ESA mis-used to halt beneficial uses of public and private property – even when there was no threat of the species going extinct. The insertion of emotionally charged, politically driven management rather than science-based decision making has lead to unhealthy forests, destructive insect epidemics, catastrophic wildfires, degradation of watersheds, a rampant wolf population, and destruction of our environment.