An endangered act

Washington Post: It's not an anniversary that was marked with parades or cards or television specials. But the 30th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, signed into law on Dec. 28, 1973, by President Nixon, is nevertheless worth pausing to reflect on. In recent years, skeptical members of Congress have frequently complained that the Endangered Species Act is "broken" and so riddled with litigation and ill-defined rules that it ought to be abandoned. Controversies over obscure plants and toads have led many to ridicule the act's stringent provisions. The congressional committees with jurisdiction over the law are now all controlled by members who oppose the act. As a result, it has not been reauthorized since 1988, when Ronald Reagan was in the White House, though it remains in effect by default.
Success
But however despised, the law has been a success, at least in one sense. Thanks to the legislation, the American bald eagle, whose near-extinction had become a symbol for environmental degradation, is still flying. Species as varied as the gray and red wolves, the American alligator, the black-footed ferret and the California condor have also recovered, and their numbers are increasing. The act has also inspired conservation efforts around the world, including a ban on trade in elephant tusks and the redesign of fishing nets, which once killed large numbers of endangered turtles in the Gulf of Mexico and now allow them to escape.
The key to the act's future is flexibility and a more cooperative attitude.