Just before the new year, the Endangered Species Act turned 50 years old.

The Act has actually been very successful.

99% of the listed species have been prevented from growing extinct.

It's Monday, January 8th, but it's also Science Friday. I'm John Dankowski. In 1973, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act to save plants and animals

from the brink of extinction.

It's been revered as one of the most important environmental policies in US history

and it might have even helped to save some of your favorite critters,

like Humpback whales, bald eagles, manatees,

grizzly bears or even Hawaiian land snails. So we're going to look back today at

50 years of the ESA. Here's Ira Plato.

Joining me is Dr. Judy of the ESA. Here's Ira Flato.

Joining me is Dr. Judy Chi Castaldo,

biologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Services

branch of Species Status Assessment Science

Support, joining me from Madison, Wisconsin, and she's status assessment science support joining me from Madison, Wisconsin and she's not

speaking as a spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Welcome to Science Friday.

Thanks for having me.

Let's talk about how critical the Endangered Species Act is to conservation.

What does it allow scientists to do?

Well, I mean, the stated purpose of the act is to provide a means to

conserve, threaten, and endangered species as well as the ecosystems upon which

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