Defenders of Wildlife to Honor 50 Years of U.S. Endangered Species Act Throughout 2023

The 50th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act marks a monumental American victory in defending wildlife against extinction. This anniversary, on December 28, 2023, is an opportunity to highlight this important wildlife law. Throughout 2023, Defenders of Wildlife will mark the occasion with events, stories and more.

Former Defenders of Wildlife President and CEO, Jamie Rappaport Clark, oversaw the listing of 161 species and the recovery and removal of the Aleutian Canada goose and others from the Endangered Species Act (ESA) during her tenure as Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service from 1997-2001.

“A national commitment to combating the biodiversity crisis must start with supporting and strengthening the Endangered Species Act,” said Clark. “We are losing species faster than ever before, and the Endangered Species Act is more critical than ever to saving nature in the U.S.” 

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The ESA has prevented the extinction of more than 95% of listed species and put hundreds on the path to recovery. ESA protections helped more than 50 species, once on the road to extinction, recover and thrive in the wild once again.

Species like Whooping cranes, California condors and Black-footed ferrets had dwindled to populations that numbered in the low double digits before making significant comebacks under the ESA. Two species of lesser-long nosed bats had been reduced to only a single colony each prior to rebounding with ESA protections. American peregrine falcons went from only a few hundred pairs at most to thousands thanks to the ESA and committed conservation efforts across the country. 

These conservation success stories, and many more like them, are all rooted in the political consensus of national lawmakers and the conviction that threatened and endangered species and the ecosystems they inhabit are a key part of America’s national heritage. These creatures survive thanks to the ESA, passed nearly unanimously by Congress—a far cry from its treatment today.  

“Back then there was almost unanimous congressional support for stopping extinction. Today, large numbers of lawmakers are willing to do the bidding of special interest groups and cast pro-extinction votes that fly in the face of the science and overwhelming public support for wildlife protection,” said Robert Dewey, vice president of government relations for Defenders of Wildlife. “The willingness of many lawmakers to disregard scientific evidence and public support makes the challenge of protecting endangered species much more difficult than in the past.” 

More than 2,000 species of plants and animals are currently listed as threatened or endangered. These range from the Red wolf, with a population of barely more than a dozen in the wild, to the lesser-known American burying beetle and Hay’s spring amphipod, which is found only in Washington, D.C. 

“One of the most ingenious, though sometimes abused, elements of the Endangered Species Act is the mandate that best available science be used to guide key decisions,” said Dr. Lindsay Rosa, director of Defender’s Center for Conservation Innovation. “It is a legal acknowledgment that conservation should be grounded in quality science and not in politics.”

Despite its bipartisan origin and legacy of success, the ESA continues to be attacked by anti-wildlife politicians. Year after year, these policymakers work to undermine and defund the act, limiting the development and implementation of recovery plans for imperiled species.

A Defenders of Wildlife analysis shows that for the upcoming fiscal year, Congress undercut the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s budget for the ESA by roughly 45% of the current need. To fully implement the Endangered Species Act, the agency needs $841 million. Disappointingly, the new Congress is expected to be increasingly hostile toward conservation and the Endangered Species Act.

Join Defenders of Wildlife in 2023 as we honor the anniversary of this landmark law and draw attention to its importance, legacy of success, great needs, innovations and outlook.