How Nixon Became the Unlikely Champion of the Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act was created by a somewhat unlikely hero: President Richard M. Nixon. Although Nixon expressed personal disgust with environmentalists in private, he also recognized that Americans’ interest in the environment was not a passing fad.

Nixon used his presidency to champion sweeping legislation to protect America’s air, water and animals. These accomplishments are often forgotten, overshadowed by the political disgrace that caused him to resign the presidency less than a year after he signed the law.

Despite the political conservatism that fueled Richard Nixon’s election, the United States became increasingly aware of environmental issues during the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring exposed the environmental effects of widely used pesticides like DDT, and in 1969 the United States experienced what was then its largest-ever oil spill in Santa Barbara due to a leak at an offshore oil rig. Images of pristine beaches turned into oil slicks and reports of thousands of dead animals further galvanized the nascent environmental movement.

Suddenly, the public wanted answers about the environment, and the new president obliged. In 1969, he created the Council on Environmental Quality, an executive office that coordinates environmental efforts. He took things even further during his first State of the Union Address in 1970, proposing a sweeping clean air and water initiative and putting environmentalism front and center.

“The great question of the seventies is, shall we surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water?” he said.

Though Nixon didn’t mention animals in the address, it was clear that he considered them a vital part of the environment. The nation had already identified an initial list of endangered species through the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 and widening its scope, including establishing fines for poaching endangered species, with the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1969.

Nixon kept pushing, and in 1970 he created the Environmental Protection Agency. Then, in 1972, he addressed Congress about his expanding environmental agenda. “My new proposal would make the taking of endangered species a Federal offense for the first time,” he told Congress, “and would permit protective measures to be undertaken before a species is so depleted that regeneration is difficult or impossible.” Nixon had just requested the most sweeping animal protection legislation of its day—the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Congress complied and he signed it into law on December 28, 1973.

The new law didn’t just protect individual species; rather, it focused on their habitats, too. “Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed,” Nixon told the nation during an address announcing that he’d signed the legislation.

Over the years, the Endangered Species Act dramatically increased the number of endangered and threatened animals. Before the law, only 417 breeding pairs of bald eagles were known to live in the lower 48 states. By 2006, there were more than 9,700 pairs. The wolf population grew from just a few hundred before the ESA to more than 5,000 today.

So should Nixon be remembered as a green champion? The president actually derided environmentalists in the privacy of the Oval Office. Environmentalists wanted to “go back and live like a bunch of damned animals,” he told Ford Motor Company chairman Henry Ford during a 1971 meeting. “They’re a group of people that aren’t really one damn bit interested in safety or clean air. What they’re interested in is destroying the system.”

But Nixon knew a social movement when he saw one. And, as Meir Rinde notes for the Science History Institute, Nixon was personally fond of national parks and the outdoors. More than anything, Nixon was a pragmatist. He may not have personally resonated with environmentalism, but he recognized people’s sense of urgency behind the movement and responded.

Endangered Species Act

On December 28, 1973, President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law in an effort to protect threatened species from extinction.

Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, people around the globe grew increasingly concerned about the plight of animals nearing extinction. As the bison neared extinction and the passenger pigeon disappeared, people began calling for wildlife conservation. Proponents of the conservation movement introduced the larger American public to the idea of extinction.

These animals were dropping in numbers due to many factors. Many were hunted for food, study, and personal or museum collections, while a large number of birds were killed for their feathers to adorn hats. Additionally, towns, cities, and farms expanded, encroaching on habitats, while pesticides and non-native species added to the burden.

U.S. #3105 honors 15 endangered species.

The first major step taken in the US was the Lacey Act of 1900, which was the first federal law to regulate commercial animal markets. It made it illegal to sell animals between states that violated state game laws. In the coming years, more laws were passed to protect animals, including the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929 and the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940.

U.S. #UX264-78 – Endangered Species postal cards.

Another major victory came with the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966. This act established a list of native US animal species that were endangered and provided limited protections for them. This act also allowed the Fish and Wildlife Service and federal land agencies to set aside habitats for the affected species. The first list appeared in 1967 and included 14 mammals, 36 birds, 6 reptiles and amphibians, and 22 fish.

U.S. #1783-86 honors four species of endangered plants.

The Endangered Species Conservation Act later amended this law in 1969. This act allowed for additional protection of animals at risk of “worldwide extinction,” prohibited them from being imported or sold in the US, and expanded the Lacey Act’s ban on interstate sales to include more species. The 1969 amendment also requested an international meeting for all nations to join in and adopt a worldwide treaty to protect endangered species. The conference was held in February 1973 and resulted in the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

U.S. #2955 – Nixon signed the act into law on this day in 1973.

Also in 1973, President Richard Nixon announced that he believed the current conservation laws weren’t strong enough and encouraged Congress to pass more wide-reaching and effective legislation. Congress enlisted the help of lawyers and scientists to pen a brand new Endangered Species Act (ESA). Nixon approved it and signed it into law on December 28, 1973. The ESA helped to completely shift the way environmental protection was handled in the US. Notably, the act’s goal was to protect the species as well as their ecosystems.

U.S. #3191g honors the recovery of some species in the 1990s.

Today the ESA protects over 2,300 species. In the years since its passage, over 70 species have been de-listed because their numbers have recovered due to conservation efforts.

Endangered Species Act | A History of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 | Timeline

The following timeline summarizes some of the many events in our nation&rsquos growing effort to conserve our endangered and threatened, and at-risk animal and plant species.

1903: President Theodore Roosevelt establishes the first National Wildlife Refuge at Pelican Island, Florida, to protect wood storks, brown pelicans, and other dwindling water birds. (Today, national wildlife refuges support nearly 300 endangered and threatened plant and animal species.)

1914: The passenger pigeon, once the most abundant bird in North America, and perhaps the world, becomes extinct.

1916: The United States and Great Britain (on behalf of Canada) adopted a uniform system of protection for certain species of birds that migrate between the United States and Canada. On July 3, 1918, the United States passed the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to implement the treaty.

1944: The whooping crane population reaches its lowest population level, with only 21 birds remaining.

1962: Rachel Carson&rsquos Silent Spring warns of impacts on wildlife and people from unregulated pesticide use.

1966: Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 authorizes land acquisition to conserve &ldquoselected species of native fish and wildlife.&rdquo

1969: Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 expands on the 1966 act, authorizing the compilation of a list of animals &ldquothreatened with worldwide extinction&rdquo and prohibits their importation without a permit. Crustaceans and mollusks are included for protection, along with mammals, fish, birds, and amphibians.

1970: The peregrine falcon is listed as endangered.

1972: The Environmental Protection Agency outlaws DDT as a pesticide because of its potential danger to people. The chemical is linked to the thinning of eggshells of bald eagles and peregrine falcons, reducing hatching success and contributing to their endangered status.

1973: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) - 80 nations sign this treaty to protect designated plant an animal species by regulating or prohibiting international trade in certain taxa except by permit.

1973: Endangered Species Act of 1973 supersedes earlier endangered species acts, broadens and strengthens protection for all plant as well as animal species listed by the U.S. as threatened or endangered, prohibits take and trade without a permit, requires Federal agencies to avoid jeopardizing their survival, and requires actions to promote species recovery. The ESA defines an &ldquoendangered species&rdquo as any species in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.&rdquo A &ldquothreatened&rdquo species is one likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.&rdquo The ESA has become one of the most effective tools in the continuing effort to protect imperiled species and their habitats in the U.S.

1975: The Smithsonian Institution, which was directed by the ESA to identify plant species in need of ESA protection, produces a report recommending more than 3,000 plant species for possible listing as threatened or endangered.

1977: First plant species are listed as endangered &ndash San Clemente Island Indian paintbrush, San Clemente Island larkspur, San Clemente Island broom, and San Clemente Island bush-mallow.

1978: Endangered Species Act Amendments of 1978 formalize the process under section 7 of the ESA by which Federal agencies consult with the FWS to ensure that their actions are not likely to jeopardize the survival of listed species or adversely modify designated &ldquocritical habitat.&rdquo Further, the amendments establish an Endangered Species Committee that may allow exemptions to this provision under special circumstances.

1978: Endangered Species Committee exempts the Grayrocks reservoir project in Wyoming from section 7 of the ESA but denies an exemption for Tellico Dam project in Tennessee.

1979: In September, Congress passes an appropriations bill that includes an exemption for the Tellico Dam project, flooding critical habitat of the snail darter.

1981: Black-footed ferrets are rediscovered near Meeteetse, Wyoming, ending fear that the species was extinct.

1982: Endangered Species Act Amendments of 1982 allow, by permit, the taking of listed wildlife incidental to otherwise lawful activities, provided that the permit holder implements a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for the species. The 1982 amendments also include a prohibition against collecting listed plants on Federal lands.

1983: The nation&rsquos first HCP is approved for the protection of listed species at San Bruno Mountain, California.

1985: The last nine remaining wild California condors are brought into captivity to prevent the species&rsquo extinction and to begin captive-breeding programs at the San Diego and Los Angeles zoos.

1987: The American alligator is delisted due to recovery.

1987: The red wolf is reintroduced into the wild at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina.

1989: Ivory imports are banned in the United States to help reduce poaching of African elephants.

1990: The northern spotted owl is listed as threatened, one of the factors leading to development of the Northwest Forest Plan a few years later.

1991: Captive-propagated black-footed ferrets are reintroduced into Wyoming several years after the last wild population was captured to prevent extinction from disease outbreaks.

1991: California condors are reintroduced into the wild in southern California.

1994: Eastern North Pacific population of gray whales is delisted due to recovery.

1994: The Arctic peregrine falcon is delisted due to recovery.

1995: Gray wolves are reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho.

1995: Pinehurst Resort, North Carolina, signs the first Safe Harbor Agreement in the nation it benefits the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.

1995: The Carlsbad Highlands Conservation Bank, the first official agreement of its kind for a listed species, was approved for use in association with the San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Plan.

1995: U.S. Supreme Court, in its &ldquoSweet Home&rdquo decision, upholds the FWS regulation that defines &ldquoharm&rdquo to include destroying or modifying habitat for an endangered or threatened species if the action results in the taking of the species.

1996: The California condor is reintroduced into northern Arizona.

1999: The American peregrine falcon is delisted due to recovery.

2000: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife develops the nation&rsquos first Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances it benefits the Columbian sharp-tailed grouse.

2001: Aleutian Canada goose is delisted due to recovery.

2003: Robbins&rsquo cinquefoil, a New England plant, is delisted due to recovery.

2004: California condors reproduce in the wild for the first time in 17 years.

2005: In Arkansas, birders report sighting the ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird thought for decades to be extinct.

2007: The bald eagle is delisted following recovery. (The southwestern U.S. population is later listed as threatened.)

2008: The FWS, Bureau of Land Management, and Center of Excellence for Hazardous Materials Management agree to the first joint Candidate Conservation Agreement/Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances it benefits the lesser prairie chicken and the sand dune lizard.

2008: Polar bear is listed as threatened due to habitat loss in the Arctic.

Endangered Species Act Under Scrutiny

The 40th anniversary of the nation&rsquos bedrock conservation law &mdash the Endangered Species Act &mdash is being met with celebration, appreciation and not surprisingly, renewed conflict.

Last week a group of 13 Republican lawmakers in Congress called for an overhaul of the influential federal law that safeguards imperiled fish, wildlife and plants.

The effort, spearheaded by U.S. Reps. Doc Hastings of Washington and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, is centered on &ldquotargeted reforms&rdquo that would &ldquonot only improve the eroding credibility of the Act, but would ensure it is implemented more effectively for species and people.&rdquo

Though experts don&rsquot expect the recent attempt to go anywhere, supporters of the ESA warn that the new proposals are an attack that would strip the law of any substance.

The ESA, which President Richard Nixon signed into law in 1973, is credited with fully recovering 31 species, including bald eagles, American alligators and gray whales, and giving additional protections to more than 1,500 others across the nation. In Montana, 12 species including the grizzly bear and whooping crane are protected as endangered or threatened.

Yet Hastings&rsquo report states that only 2 percent of the overall protected species have been recovered despite billions of dollars in federal and state spending, and that the ESA unnecessarily stalls proper land-use and is abused by environmental groups that perpetuate litigation.

Hastings, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, and his camp want to hand over more power to states, tribes, local governments and private landowners for species protection and management curb persistent litigation and encourage settlement reform increase transparency and prioritization within the ESA with a greater focus on species recovery and delisting and increase scientific transparency and accountability involving impact studies.

U.S. Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said he supports Hastings&rsquo proposed reforms and agrees that the ESA has created unintended consequences and costs across the U.S.

&ldquoWhat sums it up best for me is the ESA is like an old ranch pickup. It once served a useful purpose but it&rsquos in bad need of repair,&rdquo Daines told the Beacon. &ldquoIt&rsquos 40 years old &hellip I think there&rsquos some areas we can reform.&rdquo

Daines said he wants to strike a balance between wildlife protection and economic development.

&ldquoI have a passion for the outdoors and ensuring we protect our treasured resources and unique wildlife,&rdquo he said. &ldquoBut I believe we can do that and balance economic developments and common sense use of our lands.&rdquo

He continued, &ldquoI want to see more Montana-driven solutions and less Washington, D.C. driven policies. If we can put more of the control back to the states, back to Montanans, I think that&rsquos a better direction to head than to put that power and control in D.C.&rdquo

Yet others say the latest reforms would strike at the heart of the ESA and effectively dismantle it, and that states like Montana would not have enough resources or funds to properly manage and protect imperiled species.

&ldquoTheir idea for reforming the ESA is to kill it or gut it completely,&rdquo said Don Barry, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, an environmental group.

Barry has been closely tied to the ESA for nearly its entire 40-year lifespan, having spent 19 years in the U.S. Department of Interior as the chief counsel for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among other posts within environmental agencies. Defenders of Wildlife has been one of the foremost groups to challenge decisions related to the ESA.

He said the Hastings report reflects a false reality and bogus appreciation for conservation.

&ldquoUnder this bill, if adopted, it would stop completely in the tracks the listing of any new species,&rdquo Barry said. &ldquoYou would not be able to recover any new species and you would basically take away most of the protections for threatened and endangered species.&rdquo

He continued, &ldquoTime and time again, it&rsquos been proven that unless we have some environmental protections on the landscape we end up with dirtier water, dirtier air and species sliding into extinction.&rdquo

Barry said that handing over power to the states would put a sizable burden on agencies that are already short on funds and resources.

He also said that constant litigation stems more as a result of the government not doing its job than environmental groups suing at every turn.

&ldquoThe Justice Department is not settling if they have a strong case,&rdquo Barry said. &ldquoThese lawsuits end up with the environmental plaintiffs having a strong case to make that the government is not complying with the law.&rdquo

Daines sees it differently.

&ldquoI think we can strike a balance here. I think that the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of lawyers and litigation and some of these fringe extreme groups that tend to impose their will on the people of Montana,&rdquo he said. &ldquoUnfortunately it seems like political science is driving these debates instead of sound science and focusing on how do we recover these species.&rdquo

Daines said the Hastings reforms would try to get a vote on the House floor as a next step forward.

J.B. Ruhl, a Vanberbilt Law School professor and expert on the ESA, doesn&rsquot expect Hastings&rsquo proposals to survive beyond committee. It&rsquos the latest in a long line of attempts at reforming one of the nation&rsquos environmental cornerstones.

The ESA was last amended in the 1980s and has withstood several similar attempts since then, the last coming a decade ago. But all have been futile, reflecting the ESA&rsquos impressive stature and entrenched support among most Democrats and Republicans.

&ldquoThere have been several attempts at bipartisan reform of the ESA in the past 15 years. I&rsquom not saying that the motivations aren&rsquot genuine and that there aren&rsquot real issues out there to be debated,&rdquo Ruhl said. &ldquoBut the political reality is when you have the kind of divided Senate that you have, it&rsquos just highly unlikely.&rdquo

He added, &ldquoIt&rsquos a very important law and it has social and economic consequences that are very significant. It&rsquos become a very divisive wall over time.&rdquo

Richard Nixon: The Shy Guy

Who knew Tricky Dick was such a wallflower? Believe it or not (and we realize trust might be an issue here), Richard Nixon was a shy child—the kind who played the piano and only followed sports so that people would like him more. Sadly, the awkwardness didn't go away with age. Never a ladies' man, Nixon proposed to his wife, Pat, on their first date, and then obsessively pursued her for two years until she said yes. To spend time with her in the interim, Nixon even drove Pat on dates with other men.

Perhaps all Nixon wanted was a little attention—and in 1948, he finally got it. As a young Congressman, he spearheaded the investigation that exposed former State Department official Alger Hiss as a Soviet spy. The act quickly made Nixon the sweetheart of anti-Communist America. Later, he tried a similar tactic when he ran for Senate in 1950. During the race, he accused his opponent, Helen Gahagan Douglas, of being a Commie, calling her "pink right down to her underwear." His supporters mailed out thousands of postcards reading, "Vote for our Helen for Senator. We are with you 100%." It was signed "The Communist League of Negro Women Voters." It was neither the first time nor the last time Nixon (or his cronies) would use dirty tricks to advance his career.

Even after making it all the way to the White House, Nixon remained the socially awkward wallflower he'd been in his youth. As president, he did whatever he could to avoid talking to people, especially strangers. He spent hours alone in his office with a yellow legal pad, jotting down lists of enemies and thinking up ways to comport himself better in public. He usually ate lunch by himself at his desk, almost always nibbling on the same meal of rye crackers, skim milk, a canned Dole pineapple ring, and a scoop of cottage cheese.

As part of his insular world, Nixon's phone had direct connections to only three people—Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, and Domestic Policy Advisor John Ehrlichman. (Lyndon Johnson's phone, by contrast, had been wired to 60 people.) The three men formed a protective shield around Nixon, carefully guarding him from face-time with others, including other members of the Cabinet. Collectively, the trio became known as The Berlin Wall.

Is it any surprise, then, that this shrinking violet began to seethe with paranoia? Nixon wanted every room bugged and every conversation recorded. Of course, he never anticipated those recordings being used against him. Practically every moment of Nixon's presidency was caught on tape—tapes that are filled with off-color remarks about Jews, African Americans, and Italians. Of reporters, he once said, "I wouldn't give them the sweat off my balls."

Throughout his career, Nixon employed spies (called "plumbers" because they fixed leaks) to dig up dirt on his political rivals. And if they couldn't find anything through wiretapping or burglary, they often planted evidence. But in June 1972, five of Nixon's plumbers were arrested after breaking into Democratic Party offices in the Watergate Hotel. Nixon used everything in his power to cover up the connection to the White House, but of course, it was all recorded. When the Supreme Court finally subpoenaed the tapes, Nixon was busted. Feeling pretty stupid, he resigned—and the nation hasn't trusted politicians the same way since.

Watergate will always define Richard Nixon's administration. But to be fair, he also accomplished a great deal that benefited the country. Here's a glimpse of the sunnier side of Nixon's presidency.

Special Ops

Nixon wasn't the only president to tape all of his conversations, but he was the only president to do so using a recording device that never stopped. Notoriously bad with electronics, Tricky Dick had trouble remembering how to turn on the tape recorder, so his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, installed a voice-activated system in the Oval Office. It made the president's day-to-day life easier, but it also had one problem: It could never be turned off. Oops!

A Sweet-and-Sour Diplomat

In 1972, a trip to Communist China was a big deal, as America had no formal diplomatic relations with the country. So when Nixon decided to visit Chairman Mao Zedong that February, it shocked the world. But the trip almost ended before it began, when a member of Nixon's advance team—drinking vodka and smoking pot—nearly burned down the hotel where the president was supposed to stay. Nixon was determined, though. It was an election year, and of the 391 people who made up his Chinese entourage, 90 were from the media. Night after night, Americans watched on prime-time television as Nixon and Mao got along famously, and the Cold War began to thaw.

A Patron of the Arts

Nixon abhorred modern art, and even forbade its presence in the White House. But you'd never know it, because his advisors told him that publicly supporting the arts would boost his image. As a result, Nixon oversaw a six-fold increase in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). To Nixon's horror, however, some of that money went to Erica Jong's novel of sexual liberation, Fear of Flying. He also cringed at PBS' liberal programming and tried to slash its budget in 1972. But because the cuts might have hurt Sesame Street instead of left-wing commentators, the matter was dropped. Not even Nixon could stomach being known as the man who murdered Big Bird.

Champion of Mother Earth

OK, so Nixon didn't really care about the environment. But after the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, public outcry over the destruction of the environment became too great to ignore. How great? The first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970, and millions of Americans participated. In New York, no cars ran down Fifth Avenue. And in Washington, folksingers Pete Seeger and Phil Ochs sang at the Washington Monument. It was the largest single protest in American history, and Nixon paid attention. During his years in office, he signed the Endangered Species Act, strengthened the Clean Air Act, and created the Environmental Protection Agency.

Endangered Species Act | Overview

When Congress passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1973, it recognized that our rich natural heritage is of "esthetic, ecological, educational, recreational, and scientific value to our Nation and its people." It further expressed concern that many of our nation's native plants and animals were in danger of becoming extinct.

The purpose of the ESA is to protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. It is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The Service has primary responsibility for terrestrial and freshwater organisms, while the responsibilities of NMFS are mainly marine wildlife such as whales and anadromons fish such as salmon.

Under the ESA, species may be listed as either endangered or threatened. "Endangered" means a species is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. "Threatened" means a species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. All species of plants and animals, except pest insects, are eligible for listing as endangered or threatened. For the purposes of the ESA, Congress defined species to include subspecies, varieties, and, for vertebrates, distinct population segments.

For all the details, download the ESA fact sheet. [120KB]

ESA 101

In 1972, President Nixon declared that conservation efforts in the United States aimed toward preventing the extinction of species were inadequate and called on the 93rd Congress to develop comprehensive endangered species legislation. Congress responded, and on December 28th, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 was signed into law.

Champions of the Endangered Species Act in Congress

Last week, Earthjustice and 20+ partner organizations hosted an event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act and honor some of the most important champions of this visionary law.

On Dec. 28, 1973, Democrats and Republicans in Congress came together to pass the ESA—one of the most effective environmental laws ever enacted—with near-unanimous support. The Act was then signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon.

On Dec. 28, 1973, Democrats and Republicans in Congress came together to pass the ESA&mdashone of the most effective environmental laws ever enacted&mdashwith near-unanimous support. The Act was then signed into law by Republican President Richard Nixon.

The crowd at our anniversary event&mdashheld at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.&mdashwas comprised of members of Congress and their staff, federal wildlife agency staff, and representatives from environmental and conservation groups, among others.

Attendees were treated to opening remarks by author Terry Tempest Williams, who spoke eloquently about the purpose and great importance of the ESA.

Then, six ESA champions&mdashnearly all of whom are members of Congress&mdashreceived awards:

Sen. Ben Cardin (Maryland)
Rep. John Dingell (Michigan)
Rep. Jim Moran (Virginia)
Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania)
Rep. Mike Thompson (California)
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Earthjustice&rsquos Marty Hayden, VP of Policy and Legislation, poses with Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia.

Earthjustice&rsquos own Marty Hayden, Vice President of Policy and Legislation, presented the award to Rep. Jim Moran, Marty&rsquos congressman. Rep. Moran is the senior Democrat on the House Interior/EPA Appropriations Subcommittee and has been instrumental in defeating anti-ESA riders proposed again and again in the congressional appropriations context.

As part of his award presentation, Marty shared this great quote from the Rep. Moran in 2005, when Moran and other congressional allies fought hard against a terrible bill that would have severely weakened the ESA:

If we cannot find a way to live in harmony and conserve our natural resources in a sustainable way, we humans may, too, be doomed to extinction. The Endangered Species Act is a litmus test on the degree to which we are willing to conserve our livable environment.

Another big highlight of the night was awardee Rep. John Dingell&rsquos (Michigan) acceptance speech. Rep. Dingell is the longest-serving member of Congress ever. He is also an original author of the ESA. So it was quite moving to hear this leader, now 87 years old, reflect on a visionary law he brought into being four decades ago. Rep. Dingell closed his remarks by addressing younger people in the audience, stating that the fight is now ours to protect for future generations the &ldquoimportant and precious&rdquo natural treasures that &ldquowe so uniquely enjoy as citizens of the greatest nation in the world.&rdquo

Attwater's greater prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri)

Then: The Attwater's prairie-chicken is a subspecies of prairie-chicken endemic to prairies along the Gulf of Mexico. Historically, the bird's population approached 1 million individuals on an estimated 6 million acres of prairie habitat. By 1937, populations had declined to an estimated 8,700 individuals and have continued to decline since. Loss and fragmentation of its coastal prairie ecosystem and associated isolation of subpopulations brought about by agricultural conversion, urban and industrial expansion, overgrazing, and invasion of prairies by woody species have been the ultimate factors responsible for the prairie-chicken's decline.

Now: A captive breeding program was initiated for the Attwater's prairie-chicken in 1992. This program had two primary goals: preserve as much genetic variability as possible, and provide birds for supplementation of remaining populations and the re-establishment of extirpated populations.

A Graphical Look At Presidents’ Environmental Records

On Sept. 17, 1969 &mdash nearly 47 years ago &mdash Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a high-ranking aide to President Richard M. Nixon, dispatched an internal memo to one of his White House colleagues warning of the ominous consequences of climate change. He predicted that the Earth would get so warm and sea levels so high, that it could be &ldquoGoodbye New York, Goodbye Washington.&rdquo

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere &ldquohas the effect of a pane of glass in a greenhouse,&rdquo and its unrelenting rise should &ldquoseize the imagination of persons normally indifferent to projects of apocalyptic change,&rdquo Moynihan wrote to John Ehrlichman, Nixon&rsquos special assistant for domestic affairs. &ldquoThe C02 content is normally in a stable cycle, but recently man has begun to introduce instability through the burning of fossil fuels.&rdquo

For those who today recognize the dire consequences of climate change &mdash as the issue has finally achieved a high profile &mdash it might come as a surprise to learn about this early awareness. It shouldn&rsquot. While Nixon and his aides certainly were prescient, they weren&rsquot the only ones &mdash though presidents during those earlier times didn&rsquot do much beyond talk about it.

As early as 1903 &mdash when Republican Theodore Roosevelt was president &mdash &ldquoscientists were aware of (Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius&rsquos) theory that CO2 emissions could bring global warming,&rdquo says Spencer Weart, a climate historian and author of &ldquoThe Discovery of Global Warming.&rdquo But &ldquoit was regarded as speculative, and it had no policy implications since warming was not expected until centuries later, if at all, and was assumed to be benign,&rdquo he says.

Nixon&rsquos predecessor, Lyndon B. Johnson, knew of the dangers of climate change and spoke of them in a special message to Congress shortly after his 1965 inauguration. &ldquoAir pollution is no longer confined to isolated places,&rdquo he said. &ldquoThis generation has altered the composition of the atmosphere on a global scale through radioactive materials and a steady increase in carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.&rdquo

Moreover, a report written by his science advisory committee later that year confirmed the climate threat, describing atmospheric carbon dioxide from fossil fuels as &ldquothe invisible pollutant,&rdquo and foretelling many of the effects of today, including the melting of the Antarctic ice cap, increasing ocean acidity, and sea level rise.

&ldquoThe climate changes that may be produced by the increased CO2 content could be deleterious from the point of view of human beings,&rsquo&rsquo the report said.

Indeed, history suggests that concerns about the environment, including climate change, were the province of presidents from both parties it was a bipartisan issue long before the notion of protecting the environment became identified solely with liberal Democrats, and anathema to conservative Republicans.

In fact, &ldquoconservation was a cornerstone of GOP doctrine for more than a century,&rdquo says Norman J. Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. &ldquoThe Republican Party was the party of conservation and the environment. Teddy Roosevelt really established that marker for his party. His hunting notwithstanding, he promoted a reverence for nature and preserving public lands. It was a hallmark of progressivism and conservatism.&rdquo

Theodore Roosevelt&rsquos First Annual Message (as the State of the Union address was then known) outlined his aims to conserve and preserve forests, including the use of forests as wildlife preserves. In 1903, he issued an executive order that established a federally-protected wildlife refuge &mdash the forerunner of the present National Wildlife Refuge System &mdash that set aside Pelican Island on Indian River, Fla., as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds, the first of 53 wildlife sanctuaries he created during his presidency.

In 1916, Democratic President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation creating the National Park Service. The Service cares for and safeguards a system that covers 409 areas &ndash- more than 84 million acres &mdash and includes national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House.

But Nixon &ldquowas probably our greatest environmental president up to now,&rdquo says Stephen Hess, a senior fellow emeritus at the Brookings Institution, who served four presidents, including Republicans Dwight David Eisenhower, Nixon, Gerald Ford and Democrat Jimmy Carter. &ldquoHe was a very environmentally aggressive president, although that&rsquos not what people tend to remember about him.&rdquo

Nixon signed into law the National Environmental Policy Act, which among other things, required environmental impact statements for major new building projects and developments. He also approved the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He approved extending the Clean Air Act, which gave EPA the authority to regulate air quality. Later, Nixon also approved the Clean Water Act, the Pesticide Control Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and the Endangered Species Act, which replaced and strengthened earlier protections for endangered species initiated during the Johnson Administration.

&ldquoIn that regard, you could say he [Nixon] put in place the machinery that ultimately would deal with global warming,&rdquo Hess says.

When Democrat Jimmy Carter became president, the energy crisis was burgeoning, gasoline was in short supply, and he spoke of a &ldquocrisis of confidence&rdquo among Americans in major speech on July 15, 1979 devoted to a discussion about the nation&rsquos dependence on energy and foreign oil. Also, he was the first president to install solar panels on the White House roof. Although they were used to heat water, they were largely symbolic. One of the first things that his successor, Republican Ronald Reagan did upon assuming the presidency, was to remove them.

&ldquoThe Carter administration&rsquos energy concerns revolved around national energy independence, especially in response to the 1973 oil embargo and the second energy crisis in 1979,&rdquo says historian Weart. &ldquoRenewables were desired mainly because of U.S. vulnerability to oil shortages. If they kept back global warming, that was just a side benefit. There was also a feeling in the 1970s that conservation and solar power represented a &lsquosmall is beautiful&rsquo democratic approach, as opposed to corporate Big Oil and Big Coal.&rdquo

Weart adds: &ldquoIt was Reagan who removed the panels &mdash his people despised what they saw as leftist hippy environmentalism.&rdquo

Thus began the Republican backlash to the environment, which continues today. Reagan appointed Anne Gorsuch to head the EPA, a lawyer who believed the agency was over-regulating business. She cut its budget by 22 percent and reduced enforcement against polluters. Ultimately, she resigned amidst a scandal over mismanagement of the program to clean up hazardous waste dumps. Reagan also named James G. Watt to run the Interior Department, an administrator who was seen by his critics as someone who favored development over preservation.

At the same time, the Reagan administration did agree to sign the Montreal Protocol, the international treaty which helped to heal the hole in the ozone layer. His successor, George H.W. Bush, signed the 1990 amendments strengthening the Clean Air Act &mdash sections of which are being used as the basis for most of America&rsquos current climate policy.

Democratic President Bill Clinton was pressured to take action on climate change by his vice president, Al Gore, well known for his views on global warming. Yet Clinton knew that &ldquoRepublicans in Congress would have sunk any legislation, and Clinton had other priorities,&rdquo Weart says. &ldquoHe was unwilling to spend his limited political capital on an issue that would not become acute during his term in office.&rdquo

Two more sets of solar panels have found their way onto the White House in recent years. In 2003, Republican George W. Bush, while silent on climate change and the environment, nevertheless installed a nine-kilowatt rooftop solar photovoltaic system, as well as two solar thermal systems that heat water.

And President Obama installed solar panels on the residence in 2013.

Beyond that, however, President Obama has made protecting the environment and combating climate change a significant cornerstone of his presidential legacy.

Among other things, he played a major role in helping to secure a global agreement to reduce carbon emissions. He initiated the Clean Power Plan that &mdash if it survives a court challenge &mdash will substantially lessen carbon emissions from power plants. He rejected construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. He has set aside millions of acres of public land and waters for conservation protection. And he has promoted energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind.

&ldquoObama is our first truly proactive president,&rdquo on the environment and climate change, Weart says. &ldquoHe takes an above-the-fray, long-term view of his responsibilities to the nation and the world.&rdquo

Marlene Cimons is a freelance writer who specializes in health, science and the environment.