Search

The passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 was the culmination of a long history of wildlife-management legislation and a seven-year effort to pass an effective endangered species law. Efforts to protect wildlife began in the 1600’s with colonial regulations. After independence, the earliest conservation laws were enacted by the states to protect game animals and timber. State fish and wildlife services were established beginning in 1865, a development that coincided with a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that affirmed state ownership of wildlife.

The first law to authorize federal government action to preserve wildlife was the Lacey Act of 1900. Using the federal power to regulate interstate commerce, the Lacey Act authorized federal enforcement of state wildlife regulatory laws and allowed the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to preserve and restore bird species. In 1920, the U.S. Supreme Court used federal treaty-making authority to override state law and uphold the constitutionality of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The federal government further asserted its authority in the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929 and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of 1934.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), the foremost authority on species conservation status, in 2024, over 45,00 species of plants, fungi, and animals worldwide were considered threatened with extinction (meaning their conservation status is vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered, according to IUCN categories). In 2022, BirdLife International announced that about half of the world's bird species were in decline, with roughly one-eighth of all known living species threatened with extinction. Amphibians are among the most immediately threatened types of animals.