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Over the past 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has worked to help increase wolf numbers in the Northern Rockies. In 1995, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and to the wilderness of Central Idaho to reestablish the animals in the region's wildlands. Today, thanks to the Endangered Species Act, the howl of more than 700 wolves is once again heard in the Rockies, a place where many feared it had been lost forever.
Declines in the number of eagles were first noticed in the late 1800s following sharp drops in the numbers of waterfowl and other eagle prey. The direct killing of eagles and the cutting of trees required by eagles for nest building also played a part. To arrest these activities, Congress passed the Bald Eagle Protection Act in 1940. Unfortunately, the Bald Eagle Protection Act was unable to defend the bird against the effects of harmful pesticides, especially DDT, which poisoned eagles and made it difficult for them to reproduce. By the time the bald eagle was listed under the Endangered Species Act, there were only 500 breeding pairs in the wild in the lower 48 states. The banning of DDT, coupled with the habitat-protection standards of the Endangered Species Act, has delivered a remarkable comeback in bald eagle numbers since then. In 1995 the bald eagle was downlisted from "endangered" to "threatened" after some 5,700 breeding pairs were counted in the wild. Today, with approximately 9,100 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently considering a proposal to declare the bald eagle recovered and to delist the eagle.
Despite a concerted effort on the part of fisheries managers to restore healthy Coaster populations, the only surviving South-shore Coasters today are those spawning in the Salmon Trout River. The lands adjoining the river used by the Coaster brook trout are owned by the Huron Mountain Club, a private hunting and fishing preserve, which in 2006 joined the Sierra Club in petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Coaster under the Endangered Species Act. Listing the trout will enable conservationists to leverage the expertise and resources of the federal government to recover this valuable sportfish and to help ensure that potential threats, such as the Kennecott sulfide mine proposed upstream, are considered with an eye toward balancing the desire for a mine with the needs of the trout and Michigan's outdoor heritage.
A recovery plan for the Eastern prairie fringed orchid was approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1999. Recovery activities have placed a premium on cooperative efforts between government, nonprofit conservation organizations, and private landowners. These efforts have resulted in the seeding of 15 new sites with prairie orchid seeds to reintroduce the plant, expand its range, and move it further toward recovery. Photos courtesy USFWS. Up to Top |
Symbolic of wildlands everywhere, the gray wolf was once found through most of North America, from Alaska and Canada south through the lower 48 states and into northern Mexico. By the time the Endangered Species Act became law in 1973, the wolf was gone from the Rocky Mountains, having been exterminated by shooting, trapping, and poisoning for the benefit of the livestock industry. The wolf was one of the first large mammals to be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
When European settlers first arrived in North America, as many as one million bald eagles flew in the skies. The bird's prowess led it to be declared the National Emblem of the United States by the Second Continental Congress in 1782. Despite its association with the new nation's identity, it was more than a century before the safeguarding of eagles became a national concern.
A prized gamefish, the Coaster brook trout once spawned in literally dozens of Michigan streams and thrived in all the near shore waters of Lake Superior. Declines in the number of Coasters were first noted in the 1880s and stemmed from driving logs down streams, clearcutting forests, farmland runoff, and road and railroad construction. All of these activities impaired water quality in the region and created conditions that led to the destruction of productive Coaster brook trout habitat.
The Eastern prairie fringed orchid is a native of the nation's remaining areas of tallgrass prairie wetlands. In good conditions, the orchid can grow up to three feet tall, presenting a tower-like display for its white flowers. The drainage of the wetlands that the orchid needs for its survival has pushed the species to the brink of extinction. It was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1989 after its range declined 70 percent and the orchid was known to exist in only 52 sites in the United States.