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The Endangered Species Act: A Wild Success
Center-supporter actions in 2013 to celebrate the Act's 40th Year

2013 wound up as a big year for the plants and animals we fight for every day. And one of the world's most powerful and most successful laws protecting wildlife from extinction — the Endangered Species Act — celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Some of our most iconic species, including the California condor, Mexican gray wolf and black-footed ferret, have been saved from extinction as a result of the Act's protections. But despite its unparalleled four-decade track record of saving endangered species, the Act is still under attack.

To honor this landmark law during the landmark year of 2013 — as well as to keep it strong for species still in dire need of its help — the Center and allies hosted a year-long national campaign recruiting “ESActivists.” Our ESActivists played an important role in helping us spread the word about the Act’s incredible effectiveness by writing letters to the editor and educating friends and neighbors on the need to protect biodiversity. Letters to the editor are very important because they can build support for species protection and help bring the issue to the political forefront.

Each month of the year 2013, we reached out to supporters in a different U.S. region to recruit ESActivists who generated LTEs and op-eds about the Act’s achievements. We ended up with more than 200 letters to the editor and op-eds, which we distrbuted in February 2014 to every member of Congress in our report A Wild Success: American Voices on the Endangered Species Act at 40. Here are just a few of these activists’ achievementsin Web-page form.


PUBLISHED LETTERS TO THE EDITOR BY CENTER SUPPORTERS— BROWSE BY REGION:

Northeast

Pacific Northwest

California

Southwest

Gulf Coast

Florida

Hawaii

Southeast

Great Lakes

Rockies

OP-EDS HONORING THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT'S 40TH ANNIVERSARY:

December 21, 2013"As the nation marks the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, the Coachella Valley is doing its part," Editorial, Desert Sun

November 23, 2013 – "Axel Ringe: Endangered Species Act also Protects Nature, People, Economy,"Axel Ringe, Knoxville News Sentinel

June 30, 2013 – "Lessons From a Beetle on Endangered Species Act's Power," Buffalo Bruce McIintosh, Journal Star

May 24, 2013 "Political Meddling + Endangered Species Act = Trouble," Noah Greenwald, The Huffington Post

May 11, 2013 – "Protecting wild, endangered species a benefit to us all," Glenn Normandeau, Concord Monitor

April 29, 2013 – "Grijalva: My Colleagues Want to Gut Endangered Species Act," Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, Roll Call

April 24, 2013 – "Don't weaken the successful Endangered Species Act," Jeff Miller, The Oakland Tribune

April 20, 2013 – "A 21st-century blueprint for saving Oregon species from climate change,"  Bill Bradbury, The Oregonian

April 18, 2013 – "Endangered Species Act deserves protection," Michael Lehnert, The San Diego Union-Tribune