It is a common misconception that once a species is listed, habitat protection applies to every species. One of the things that we touched on in this act is that it requires the use of a safety net for the federal government to step on a landowner's rights. We haven't seen any instances where that has even begun to happen. The fear that most landowners have is often not appropriate in the context of the act. The act applies to federal land, unless a safety net is invoked. So the federal government is not sitting on people's fence posts watching to see whether they're protecting habitat. It can only be invoked if they invoke the safety net order.
On June 2nd, 2009. See this statement in context.