Geoff: This year marks the 50th
anniversary of the endangered
species act.
It was the most comprehensive
legislation for preserving
species at risk of extinction
and made the United States a
global leader in environmental
law.
But today, congress is divided
over how far its protections
should go.
William brangham reports on the
act's legacy and uncertain
future.
William: For the last three
months, this juvenile sea turtle
named "Kempsville" has been
receiving intensive care at the
national aquarium in Baltimore.
>> There we go.
That is it.
William: Kempsville was rescued
in Virginia, and is now fighting
off multiple infections, and
recovering from surgery where
medics removed a fishing hook
from its throat.
Kempsville is named after its
species, the Kemp's Ridley.
Found mainly in the gulf of
Mexico, it's the world's
smallest and most endangered sea
turtle.
The principal threat, says the
aquarium's rehabilitation
manager Caitlin bovery, is human
activity.
>> The Kemp's Ridley is
threatened by fisheries bycatch,
habitat degradation from
development, by all kinds of
human impacts, from marine
debris to pollution that is
related from runoff and things
like that, as well as our
increasing climate temperatures.
William: For bovery's team, each
turtle they save is a win in the
fight against extinction.
>> Every Kemp's Ridley is
critically endangered.
So it's incredibly important to
make sure that they return to
sea.
William: The species has slowly
rebounded since the 1980s when
there were only a few hundred
nesting females; today, there
are an estimated 20,000 of the
turtles.
>> It's really one of the most
incredible conservation stories
and recovery stories that we
have from the endangered species
act.
William: Under the act, when a
species is deemed near or at
risk of extinction, it's put on
a federal list and legal
protections kick in that limit
activities and projects that
could kill or harm that species,
or its habitat.
For the Kemp's Ridley, that
meant protections like: Creating
a new nesting colony and
requiring commercial shrimp
boats to use special devices in
their nets that allow turtles to
escape.
>> We've seen recovery, real
tangible recovery.
William: Today, these turtles
are just one of more than 1,600
plant and animal species in
America listed under the act.
>> The time has come for man to
make his peace with nature, let
us renew our commitment, let us
redouble our effort.
William: Signed by president
Nixon in 1973, the endangered
species act passed with
near-unanimous bipartisan
support.
>> Congress decided that what we
choose to say about ourselves as
Americans is what we choose to
save.
William: Environmental law
professor Robert Fischman says
the act is unique because it
prioritizes saving species over
economic cost.
>> The endangered species act
makes the strong moral statement
that, as a matter of federal
law, we should not cause fellow
animals on Earth to go extinct
whatever the cost.
William: Over the decades, it's
been credited with saving iconic
species like the gray wolf, the
bald eagle, and the grizzly
bear.
>> We need a leader, not a
logger!
William: But it's also led to
bitter clashes between
conservationists and industry.
In 1990, the northern spotted
owl was added, halting logging
on millions of acres of forest
in the pacific northwest.
>> I wonder how many of you are
like me that are sitting there,
wondering how we've come to the
brink of losing our jobs, and
our homes, and our communities.
>> The spotted owl issue was a
signal that our forests in the
northwest were in trouble.
William: Jamie Rappaport Clark
is the CEO of a conservation
non-profit known as "Defenders
of wildlife" and a former
director of the U.S. Fish and
wildlife service.
>> The species that are
increasingly in crisis are just
the canaries in the coal mine.
They're sounding the alarm
that should should trigger our
initiative to right the wrong
before it's too late.
William: While there's still
bipartisan support for the law,
many in congress disagree on how
it should be implemented.
>> The endangered species act is
a very important piece of
legislation.
It was put in place with good
intentions, but it's been 50
years since there haven't been
any real changes to it.
William: Republican
representative Bruce Westerman
chairs the house committee on
natural resources and aims to
reform the endangered species
act.
He supports reinstating
trump-era policies that
conservationists say weakened
its protections.
>> You cannot be shortsighted
and say, "At all cost, we must
save this species."
I think we should do everything
we can to save all the species.
Would not want to see anything
go extinct.
We've also got to use a bit of
rationale and reason and look at
-- what we need to be doing is
what we need to be doing is
actively managing these forests
in these natural areas to create
the habitat that allows these
animals to thrive.
It doesn't need to be a tool
just to stop all kinds of
development.
William: He argues that the law
isn't doing what it set out to
achieve.
>> People will say it's got a
99% effective rate, meaning that
99% of the animals that have
been listed under the act have
not gone extinct.
Only 3% of the animals that have
been listed have actually been
recovered.
And if you look at the original
-- that was the intent of the
endangered species act,
recovery.
William: Clark says blaming the
law for the severity of the
current extinction crisis is
misguided.
>> It's going to take a while to
bring them back.
It's not a light switch to flip
on and off.
By the time the endangered
species act is brought into play
, the species is oftentimes in
real dire straits.
William: That's why
environmental law professor
Robert Fischman says the federal
government needs to go further
than the endangered species act.
>> It's cheapest and easiest to
conserve species before they
decline to the point where
they're in danger of extinction.
What we really need is to extend
the safety net beyond the
endangered species act so that
we can catch these 17,000
declining species before they
reach critical endangerment.
William: This year, a bipartisan
bill was reintroduced in the
senate that would invest more
than $1 billion a year in state
and tribal conservation efforts
to do just that.
For now experts say,
individuals, the private sector,
and nonprofits like the national
aquarium are trying to fill in
the gaps.
>> For the animal rescue program
here and the sea turtle
stranding response nationwide,
there's no federal funding
available.
William: While sea turtles like
kempsville have advocates, for
many other animals, the
endangered species act remains
the last line of defense.
For the pbs newshour, I'm
William brangham.