ASSOCIATED PRESS • August 4, 2023
Enacted in 1973 amid fear for iconic creatures such as the bald eagle, grizzly bear and gray wolf, the Endangered Species Act, the bedrock U.S. law intended to keep animal and plant types from dying out, extends legal protection to 1,683 domestic species. More than 99% of those listed as “endangered” – on the verge of extinction – or the less severe “threatened” have survived. Fifty years after the law took effect, environmental advocates and scientists say it’s as essential as ever. Habitat loss, pollution, climate change and disease are putting an estimated 1 million species worldwide at risk. Yet conservative administrations and lawmakers have stepped up efforts to weaken it, backed by landowner and industry groups that contend the act s tifles property rights and economic growth. Members of Congress try increasingly to overrule government experts on protecting individual species.