While laws regulating the hunting, fishing, and trapping of wildlife have a long history, it was not until rather recently that fears of species extinctions resulted in legal protection. The Endangered Species Act of 1973, or ESA, provides legal protection in the United States to both domestic and foreign endangered species and declares plants and all invertebrate animals eligible for protection.

In addition, the ESA requires federal agencies to develop programs for the conservation of two categories of species: endangered species, which face the highest danger of extinction, and threatened species, which face a lower danger of extinction. Agencies are also prohibited from authorizing, funding, or engaging in any action that would jeopardize an endangered or threatened species or that might destroy or alter so-called critical habitat, areas essential for the survival of a listed species. The ESA was followed by 30 years of legislative acts that generally broadened the range of protected species and tied their legal protection more closely with science (Table 3.3).

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Protection of endangered species and their critical habitats often clashes with economic activities. An endangered fish called the snail darter prevented a dam from being built in Tennessee for many years, while the Northern spotted owl has blocked the cutting of old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. As a consequence, a variety of economic interests have tried repeatedly to weaken the Endangered Species Act, in part by limiting the funding that gets appropriated to it each year.

Nevertheless, the law has been remarkably successful in conserving and restoring a wide variety of species. Approximately 1,400 species in the United States and 2,000 globally have been listed and placed under the protection of the ESA. Some of the most well-known species listed under the ESA include the Florida panther, blue whale, California condor, and whooping crane. It is a sign of the success of the ESA that several formerly endangered species have recovered sufficiently to be removed from the endangered species list, a process called delisting. Many species have now been delisted, including the Yellowstone grizzly bear population and the bald eagle (Figure 3.26).

The major treaty regulating international trade in wildlife is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES (pronounced “sight-ees”), which came into force in 1975 and has been signed by nearly 180 nations. CITES protects approximately 5,000 animal species and 29,000 plant species, which are listed in three appendices. Appendix I of the Convention lists species threatened with extinction, which can be traded only under exceptional circumstances. Appendix II includes species that are not presently threatened by extinction, but for which trade is regulated by import and export quotas to avoid threats to their survival. Appendix III consists of species protected by at least one country that has asked for assistance from other signatories of CITES for help in regulating trade of the species.

The nations that have signed CITES and many prominent nongovernmental organizations, such as the World Wildlife Fund or World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Conservation International, and the Wildlife Conservation Society, are cooperating to reduce wildlife trafficking and the threat it presents to endangered species. In the United States, one of the critical tools to enforcing CITES is the Lacey Act. First passed in 1900 and amended in 2008, the Lacey Act forbids the trading of illegally harvested plants and animals. For example, if an endangered ebony tree is illegally harvested in Madagascar, outside of U.S. jurisdiction, one can still be prosecuted for importing it to or trading it in the United States. In 2012, for instance, Gibson Guitar pled guilty to importing ebony for its guitars in violation of the law.

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