The endangered Endangered Species Act The core of the act's safety net is the requirement that, before any federal agency (such as the U.S. Forest Service or the Department of Transportation) can take an action that may affect protected species, it must first consult with federal wildlife scientists to ensure that its action will not negatively affect them. This "consultation" requirement is widely regarded as the statute's most effective conservation tool. Last month, the outgoing Bush administration proposed drastically altering that requirement. So instead of being required to consult with independent scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service, federal agencies would be allowed to consult with themselves. Under such "self-consultations," agencies could decide, entirely on their own, that their actions would not have any negative effects on protected wildlife....