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Article: Overcoming challenges to species recovery.
- Article from:
- Endangered Species Bulletin
- Article date:
- March 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1973, when the Endangered Species Act (ESA) became law, the endangered and threatened species list numbered only 77 species, none of which were invertebrates or plants, and iconic species such as the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), gray wolf (Canis lupus), and grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) were very rare and severely reduced in range within the conterminous United States. These creatures symbolize why the ESA was voted into law by an overwhelming majority in Congress, and with such a clear purpose: "to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a ...