There are 1,197 species of plants and animals in the United States listed as threatened or endangered. Of the 10 to 30 million species estimated to exist on the planet today, scientists estimate that 17,000 become extinct every year. That is not an alarming figure. Most of the species that ever existed are today extinct from natural processes. Which brings us to what has always been the bottom line in the West.
Water is for fighting.
If water is what will unlock the door to species survival, Frampton holds the key. And, as in other parts of Interior Department policy, it is seldom a matter of representative debate about the outcome. Such promises of water for irrigation brought people West at the beginning of the 20th century. Probably the most common issue at the heart of most disputes in the West today are over rights still held to that water. In an ever-growing West it is ever more the most valuable commodity.