Vanishing

Vanishing: American Species Your Children May Never See

Many Americans have fond memories of a childhood spent in the outdoors. Many of us remember chasing butterflies, picking beautiful flowers, and climbing mountains inhabited by a multitude of trees, moss, and a host of critters. Sadly, as American interest in conservationism and biodiversity has decreased, so too have opportunities for younger generations to have similarly profound experiences in nature. Faced with the very real consequences of the sixth great extinction, Endangered Species Coalition decided to utilize our 2014 Top 10 Report to launch the Vanishing Species campaign, highlighting ten endangered American species that the next generation of children may not see. The goal of our Vanishing campaign is to educate, inspire, and engage the next generation of students, their families, and their communities about the importance of fighting to protect the Endangered Species Act and America’s biodiversity. It was out of these three goals that the Missing Species Report project was born.

History

For nine years, ESC has released a Top 10 Report to the public and policy makers, highlighting pressing conservation issues and providing a snapshot of the state of our nation’s endangered species. In our report, we focus on ten American endangered species that are thematically linked with one another, be it by the issues preventing their recovery or by the fact that all ten species had successfully recovered their populations. We use the stories we tell about these species to reach out to the public, and to heighten awareness and a sense of urgency about taking action to protect endangered wildlife. This annual report has proven especially successful at framing our issues in the media, and it frequently gets attention from state and federal lawmakers. It has also been used by our partner organizations to highlight the work that they carry out on specific species all across the country. These reports generally act as a springboard for a new ESC campaign, such as last year’s Vanishing Species report, which in turn launched our Vanishing Campaign.

Read the Top Ten Reports, No Room to Roam and Vanishing for more information.