Current:Home > NewsThe Endangered Species Act at 50: "The most dazzling and impactful environmental feat of all time" -SovereignWealth
The Endangered Species Act at 50: "The most dazzling and impactful environmental feat of all time"
View
Date:2025-04-18 14:32:48
2023 was a major anniversary for the Endangered Species Act – it's now 50 years old. With historian Douglas Brinkley we mark a milestone:
When Theodore Roosevelt was president, he lamented that the North American bison, once 40 million strong, had been nearly wiped out by commercial hunters. An avid birdwatcher, Roosevelt also mourned the fact that hunting and habitat loss had killed some 3 billion passenger pigeons in the 19th century alone, driving the species to extinction.
Roosevelt roared from his bully pulpit: "The wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So, we must. And we will."
It would take another six decades, though, before the United States caught up with Roosevelt—but when it did, it went big.
On December 28, 1973, Richard Nixon put his presidential signature to the far-reaching Endangered Species Act, which for the first time provided America's iconic flora and fauna with serious legal protection.
The remarkable success of the Endangered Species Act is undisputable. An astonishing 99% of the threatened species first listed have survived. Due to the heroic efforts of U.S. government employees, bald eagles now nest unmolested along the Lake Erie shoreline; grizzlies roam Montana's wilderness; and alligators propel themselves menacingly across Louisiana's bayous.
Whether it's protecting a tiny Kirtland's warbler in the jack pines of Michigan, or a 200-ton blue whale in the Santa Barbara Channel, the Endangered Species Act remains the most dazzling and impactful environmental feat of all time.
In Northern California the Yurok Tribe has successfully reintroduced the California Condor back to its ancestral lands.
Recently, a federal judge approved the reintroduction of gray wolves in Colorado.
And while America is still mourning musician Jimmy Buffet, his conservation legacy lives on with the Save the Manatee Club in Florida.
Upon reflection, what President Nixon said in 1973 still holds true: "Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed."
For more info:
- "Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening" by Douglas Brinkley (HarperCollins), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- douglasbrinkley.com
- Save the Manatee Club
- Yurok Condor Restoration Program
Story produced by Liza Monasebian. Editor: David Bhagat.
- In:
- Endangered Species Act
- Endangered Species
veryGood! (425)
Related
- Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving time
- Tropical system set to drench parts of Gulf Coast, could strengthen, forecasters say
- Jordan Love’s apparent leg injury has the Packers feeling nervous
- NASCAR Atlanta live updates: How to watch Sunday's Cup Series playoff race
- Small twin
- Mega Millions skyrockets to $800 million. See the winning numbers for September 6 drawing
- ‘The Bear’ and ‘Shogun’ could start claiming trophies early at Creative Arts Emmy Awards
- Unstoppable Director Details Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's Dynamic on Their New Movie
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- AEW All Out 2024 live updates, results, match card, grades and more
Ranking
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- Demi Moore on 'The Substance' and that 'disgusting' Dennis Quaid shrimp scene
- Julianne Hough's Honest Revelations: What She's Said About Sexuality, Love, Loss and More
- A 14-year-old boy is charged with killing 4 people at his Georgia high school. Here’s what we know
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- Kelly Stafford Reveals the Toughest Part of Watching Quarterback Husband Matthew Stafford Play Football
- Mother’s warning to Georgia school about suspect raises questions about moments before shooting
- Watch as time-lapse video captures solar arrays reflecting auroras, city lights from space
Recommendation
A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
As US colleges raise the stakes for protests, activists are weighing new strategies
Georgia school shooting suspect was troubled by a broken family, taunting at school, his father said
AEW All Out 2024 live updates, results, match card, grades and more
Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
Recreational marijuana sales begin on North Carolina tribal land, drug illegal in state otherwise
Cottage cheese is more than its curds: Get to know the health benefits
Waffle House CEO Walt Ehmer has died at age 58