[Johnny555]

There's also the perverse incentives of developers and farmers not wanting endangered species to be "discovered" on their property because of the restrictions that will incur.

I'm not sure that's really a "perverse incentive".

By hiding, destroying, or not reporting the endangered species, they're going to develop the land and harm the species.

But if there were no endangered species act making them afraid of the endangered species being discovered, they'd have just developed the land anyway, so the end result is the same. But at least with the endangered species act, they face some legal repercussion if they are caught harming an endangered species.

[LanceH]

The "perverse incentive" is that people who might otherwise be hospitable to a reintroduced animal will likely lose control of their property if they do anything to help. They could put out feeders, cull predators or provide habitat. Instead they are encouraged (if they want to keep control of their property) to be as uninviting to these animals as possible.

[beerandt]

The incentive is to kill/not-kill the animals, not necessarily protect the habitat.

The only fix I can see is making it a worthwhile rational decision: incentives for reporting endangered animals that are worth more than the value in developing the property. But that has it's own pitfalls and potentials for abuse.

[bumby]

>The incentive is…not necessarily to protect the habit

Except many of the incentives explicitly state the goal is to protect habitat.

“How does a CCA or CCAA help species? These voluntary agreements reduce or remove identified threats to a species. Examples of beneficial activities include measures for restoring or enhancing habitat, expanding or establishing habitat…”

https://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/CCAs.pdf

[beerandt]

The land owner's incentive to be a bad vs good actor.

There aren't maps of some universal truth as to what habitat is protected for what species.

Many habitats aren't "known" and made protected until the endangered animal is actually discovered, on-site.

The land owner has incentive to prevent that discovery from happening, and therefore has incentive to kill the animals before they can be discovered on his property.