The automatic nexus frequently drawn in legislation
between listing and conservation response represents a
reaffirmation of the community’s commitment to threatened
species conservation, providing a symbolic guarantee that, if a
species is shown to be at risk of extinction following an
exclusively empirical inquiry, something will be done about it,
regardless of competing values. But this is quite illusory,
creating a false sense of security. Closer examination shows
that, behind the veil, decision-making processes associated
with recovery planning and ad hoc command regulation do
allow the intrusion of other values.