The Endangered Species Act at 50: "The most dazzling and impactful environmental feat of all time"

2023 was a major anniversary for the Endangered Species Act – it's now 50 years old. With historian Douglas Brinkley we mark a milestone:

When Theodore Roosevelt was president, he lamented that the North American bison, once 40 million strong, had been nearly wiped out by commercial hunters. An avid birdwatcher, Roosevelt also mourned the fact that hunting and habitat loss had killed some 3 billion passenger pigeons in the 19th century alone, driving the species to extinction.