JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau | Posted: Sunday, January 4, 2004 12:00 am
On Dec. 28, the Endangered Species Act turned 30.
The ESA is currently protecting 1,260 U.S species of plants and animals and 559 foreign species, according to information provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the World Wildlife Fund.
1966 - Congress passes the Endangered Species Preservation Act. It aims to provide for the listing of fish and wildlife species native to the United States as threatened or endangered. The act also authorizes limited habitat acquisition.
1969 - Congress expands federal protection of imperiled species with the passage of the Endangered Species Conservation Act. The act expands the list of threatened and endangered species to include invertebrates and international species. It also prohibits the importing of listed species.
1973 - President Richard Nixon signs the Endangered Species Act of today into law. "Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed," Nixon says at the Dec. 28 bill signing ceremony.
1973 - Gray wolves in the lower 48 are listed as threatened.
1975 - Grizzly bears in the lower 48 states are listed as threatened. Populations of the bears still inhabit Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Washington.
1977 - Five plants on San Clemente Island become the first plants listed under the ESA.
1978 - Congress reauthorizes the ESA after the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the protection of the snail darter against the completion of the multi-million dollar Tellico Dam in Tennessee. The reauthorization bill also creates the cabinet level Endangered Species Committee to resolve conflicts like the Tellico Dam controversy. President Jimmy Carter signs the bill into law on Nov. 10.
1982 - Congress again reauthorizes the ESA, creating the incidental take permit and adding habitat planning provisions. President Ronald Regan signs the law on Oct. 13.
1987 - Experts capture the last remaining wild California condor as part of the effort to prevent the extinction of the species.
1988 - Congress reauthorizes the ESA through 1992, creating annual appropriations to fund the bill.
1991 - The California condor is reintroduced into the wild.
1993 - The federal Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan is released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The plan outlines the conditions and requirements necessary to remove the grizzly bear from the ESA list.
1995 - The gray wolf is reintroduced under the ESA in 1995 into Yellowstone National Park and portions of central Idaho.
1999 - The bald eagle is proposed for delisting due to recovery, in part due to such ESA actions as increased habitat protections, the reintroduction of the species and the implementation of penalties for killing the birds.
1999 - The American peregrine falcon is delisted, in part due to a 20-year ban on the pesticide DDT and the reintroduction of the falcon in several states.
2003 - The gray wolf is downlisted from endangered to threatened in Yellowstone and central Idaho following the successful reintroduction of wolves into the wild. USFWS officials estimate a delisting petition for the gray wolf could come as early as 2005.
Compiled by JEFF GEARINO
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, World Wildlife Fund.