The Canada Lynx is one species in the National Park System whose existence is "threatened."/USFWS

The National Park Service more than a century ago was directed to manage national parks so as to “conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Today, the agency in places seems to be losing the battle when it comes to plant and animal species considered either "threatened" or "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act.

Today, the 13th annual Endangered Species Day, more than a few parks might be viewed as biodiversity hotspots rather than founts of wildlife protection. The passenger pigeon, Ivory-billed woodpecker, woodland caribou, Puerto Rican shrew, sea mink, California grizzly bear, Eastern cougar, and the Southern Rocky Mountain wolf. These are just a handful of the 100+ species that have gone extinct, or are teetering on that precipice, and are missing from the National Park System.

Across the world, species are being lost at a disturbing rate. According to a recent UN assessment, "the rate of species extinctions is accelerating..."

The Report finds that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before in human history. 

The struggle to keep species -- plants, animals, birds, fish, even insects -- from vanishing is ongoing across the National Park System.

* In south Florida, not only are highly endangered Florida panthers barely hanging on (though their population currently seems to be moving in the right direction) in an increasingly crowded landscape of developments and roads, but invasive Burmese pythons are feasting on birds and small animals in Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park.

"The Burmese Pythons exhibit a top-down pressure in the ecosystem; their large numbers ultimately threaten the ecosystem as a whole, particularly by reducing populations of wildlife that contribute to the overall shape and health of the environment," wrote Diana Djalili in a 2015 paper examining the snakes' impact at Everglades.

* Efforts to grow populations of the Red wolf in the Southeast (and Great Smoky Mountains National Park) have been hampered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the very agency that's supposed to keep species from blinking out. At Haleakala National Park in Hawai'i, more than 100 plant, animal, and insect species are listed as either endangered for threatened. 

"Some of the threatened and endangered species in Hawaii’s parks include the Hawaiian monk seals that give birth on Kalaupapa’s beaches, the flowering silversword plants that only live on top of the Haleakalā volcano, and two varieties of tiny, colorful Hawaiian picture-wing flies that perform elaborate courtship rituals at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park," said Kati Schmidt, communications director for the National Parks Conservation Association.

* Even tiny Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota has species in danger of being lost: the Western prairie fringed orchid, sheepnose mussel, and Topeka shiner. Buck Reef National Monument in the U.S. Virgin Islands has ten listed species, from endangered and threatened corals to endangered sea turtles and snakes.

* Shenandoah National Park in Virginia is the only home left for the Shenandoah salamander, an endangered species.

These species' fate is not due to indifference by the National Park Service, but rather by a lack of resources. According to the National Parks Conservation Association and Defenders of Wildlife, Congress has not adequately funded ESA programs within the Fish and Wildlife Service. The lack of resources has left an estimated 500 species still waiting for the Fish and Wildlife Service to assess whether they need ESA protection.

"The data show that the Service requires a budget of $486 million dollars across five programs to begin to make up for lost ground and put species on the path to recovery, starting in fiscal year 2020," read a letter sent to Congress earlier this year and signed by dozens of organizations. "Critically, this includes ensuring every listed species receives a minimum of $50,000 per year for recovery. This funding package will allow the Endangered Species Act to be implemented in the way Congress intended when it dedicated our country to protecting the species and the habitats that need it most."

That plea didn't go entirely unheard, as earlier this week Democrats in the House of Representatives released an appropriations bill for the Interior Department that includes more than $23 million -- a $5 million boost from current levels --  to be spent on assessing which species need protection under the Endangered Species Act. The legislation also would increase the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund by $10 million over 2019 levels to $63 million, the Center for Biological Diversity noted. 

“Chairwomen (Nita) Lowey and (Betty) McCollum deserve enormous credit for recognizing the severity of the extinction crisis and doing something about it,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This additional funding could help save hundreds of imperiled animals and plants from extinction.”

According to a study released earlier this year, the Endangered Species Act has been very successful at keeping species from being lost.

To date, only four species have been confirmed extinct with another 22 possibly extinct following protection. Another 71 listed species are extinct or possible extinct, but were last seen before protections were enacted, meaning the Act’s protections never had the opportunity to save these species. In contrast, a total of 39 species have been fully recovered, including 23 in the last 10 years. We estimate the Endangered Species Act has prevented the extinction of roughly 291 species since passage in 1973, and has to date saved more than 99% of species under its protection. --Extinction and the U.S. Endangered Species Act

And yet, according to Defenders and NPCA, "hundreds of endangered species receive less than $1000 a year for their recovery, with many receiving no funding at all."

On top of that, "the budget released by the Trump administration makes no progress towards eliminating this funding deficit," the two groups said. "Minor increases for Fish and Wildlife Service in some line items are offset by decreases in others, with the result being an overall $8 million cut to the agency’s Ecological Services program."

(Next Wednesday the House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife is scheduled to hold a hearing into the administration's proposed budget for the Fish and Wildlife Service.)

To show the national park units where endangered and threatened species live, and so point to parks where some of the most vital work needs to be accomplished, NPCA and Defenders earlier this year put together an interactive map that users can navigate through to see how their favorite parks fare in the race to preserve species.