Race Reed April 20, 2026 Reading About the Endangered Species Act (Outside Reading)

Thinking about rewilding and bison led me to read more about the Endangered Species Act that was passed in 1973, which is basically the legal foundation for protecting species at risk of extinction in the US. What surprised me is how powerful it actually is on paper. It requires federal agencies to ensure their actions don't jeopardize listed species and it protects critical habitat, not just the animals themselves. 

But like the Clean Water Act, it's been under constant legal and political attack. There are ongoing debates about whether economic interests should be weighed against species protection and which species deserve to be listed in the first place. Reading about it made me think about what we discussed in class about environmental protections never being permanent. The bison we watched being reintroduced in the documentary exist partly because of legal frameworks like this one. Without them the story would look very different.


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