ESA recovery plans through time

The number of species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA; black line) has increased steadily since the law was passed in 1973, but the number of species with recovery plans (blue dashed line) has lagged behind. The number of species lacking plans (orange line) shows variation through time as recovery planning waxes and wanes in importance, and the number of species with draft plans or recovery outlines has increased in recent years (purple dotted line). Data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's ECOS website, https://ecos.fws.gov.