MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • December 28, 2020
Federal conservation and wildlife protection laws have existed since the mid-19th century. But in February 1972 President Richard Nixon (R) told Congress, “It has only been in recent years that efforts have been undertaken to list and protect those species of animals whose continued existence is in jeopardy….We have already found, however, that even the most recent act to protect endangered species, which dates only from 1969, simply does not provide the kind of management tools needed to act early enough to save a vanishing species.” Congress passed stronger legislation and Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law on December 28, 1973.