US Endangered Species Act Blazed a Trail for Nature Conservation

In the late 1960s, Americans became alarmed that their national bird was at risk of extinction, due to harms including pollution, habitat loss and poisoning from the toxic pesticide DDT. It was a wake-up call that entire species were in peril from modern human expansion.

The result was that on Dec. 28, 1973, then-President Richard Nixon signed the US Endangered Species Act into law. It stipulated that if a plant or animal could be classified as endangered or threatened, officials would create and follow a science-based plan to save it, regardless of cost.

Fifty years later, 99% of the species ever listed under the ESA are still around. ...